XTLbio
has initiated the Phase 1a clinical trial of XTL-6865
for
the treatment of hepatitis C
Rehovot,
Israel, 29 September 2005 - XTL
Biopharmaceuticals Ltd (“XTLbio”)
(LSE:
XTL; NASDAQ: XTLB) today announced that it has initiated the Phase1a clinical
trial of XTL-6865 for the treatment of hepatitis C (“HCV”). This trial is being
conducted under an investigational new drug application (“IND”), filed with the
Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) in April this year. The trial is a
multi-center trial and will be conducted in the US and Israel.
XTL-6865
is being developed to prevent HCV re-infection following a liver transplant
and
for the treatment of chronic HCV disease. XTL-6865 is a combination of
two fully
human monoclonal antibodies (Ab68 and Ab65) against the hepatitis C virus
E2
envelope protein. A single antibody version of this product was tested
in a
pilot clinical program that included both Phase I and Phase II clinical
trials
and provided preliminary evidence of anti-viral activity in humans.
Michael
Weiss, XTLbio’s Chairman, commented:
“Earlier
this year, we set the initiation of clinical trials with XTL-6865 as a
significant corporate milestone for 2005. We are very pleased to have
accomplished this milestone, and look forward to the further advancement
of this
important product in our HCV portfolio”
Contacts:
XTLbio
Jonathan
Burgin, Chief Financial Officer Tel:
+972
8 930 4440
About
XTL Biopharmaceuticals Ltd.
XTL
Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. (XTLbio) is a biopharmaceutical company developing
drugs
against hepatitis. Established in 1993, XTLbio became a public company
in 2000
and its ordinary shares are listed on the Official List of the UK Listing
Authority and are traded on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol
XTL and
on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Israel, and ADR’s, representing 10 ordinary
shares each, are traded on The NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol
XTLB.
Cautionary
Statement
Some
of the statements included in this press release may be forward-looking
statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. For those
statements, we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking
statements contained in the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995.
Among the factors that could cause our actual
results to differ materially, and therefore affect interest by investors
in our
securities, are the following: the results of prior trails with XTL-686are
not
necessarily indicative of the results we may have in the Phase 1a and 1b
trials;
and other risk factors identified from time to time in our reports filed
with
the various regulatory bodies. Any forward-looking
statements set forth in this press release speak only as of the date of
this
press release. We do not intend to update any of these forward-looking
statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date
hereof.
This press release and prior releases are available at www.xtlbio.com.
The
information in our website is not incorporated by reference into this press
release and is included as an inactive textual reference only.