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Shares of oncology-focused drug developer, EntreMed, Inc. (Nasdaq: ENMD) were up as much as 28 percent from Wednesday’s closing price in morning trading on Thursday. The company recently announced a second quarter net loss of $4.9 million, or 62 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $3.1 million, or 46 cents per share for the same period a year ago.
According to EntreMed’s Executive Chairman, Michael Tarnow, the second quarter was “pivotal” for the company. “During the second quarter, we achieved a critical milestone with the initiation of a multi-center Phase 2 study for ENMD-2076 in ovarian cancer patients,” he said in a statement.
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ENMD-2076 is an orally-active, Aurora A/angiogenic kinase inhibitor with a unique kinase selectivity profile and multiple mechanisms of action. Preclinical studies with ENMD-2076 demonstrated significant antitumor activity, including tumor regression, in multiple solid and hematological malignancies. ENMD-2076 has been shown to inhibit a distinct profile of angiogenic tyrosine kinase targets in addition to the Aurora A kinase. Aurora kinases are key regulators of mitosis (cell division), and are often over-expressed in human cancers.
Last month, the company announced the publication of preclinical data for its Phase 2 oncology drug candidate, ENMD-2076 an Aurora A/angiogenic kinase inhibitor, which demonstrated significant activity against multiple myeloma (MM) cell lines and in MM models in vivo. Results of the study, conducted by EntreMed’s collaborator, Sherif Farag, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at the Indiana University School of Medicine, were published in the on-line version of the British Journal of Haematology on June 15, 2010 and were scheduled to be published in print in the August 1.
For the first six months of 2010 the reported net loss was ($7.1 million), or ($0.95) per share as compared to ($6.6 million), or ($0.98) per share for 2009.
As of June 30, 2010, EntreMed had cash and short-term investments of approximately $8 million.
EntreMed announced a 1-for-11 reverse stock split on June 30, 2010, to better enable the company to maintain its listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market. As a result of the reverse split, the number of shares of outstanding common stock will be approximately 9.5 million, excluding stock options and unexercised warrants and subject to adjustment for fractional shares.
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