IDP Idera Pharmaceuticals

Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMEX: IDP) today announced two presentations of data for two new potential applications in oncology of its novel agonists of Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) being held in Los Angeles, CA, April 14-18, 2007. The first presentation covered a preclinical study in which Idera�s lead oncology candidate, IMO-2055, in combination with the multikinase inhibitor sorafenib, showed enhanced antitumor activity compared to either agent alone in a mouse xenograft model. The second presentation covered a preclinical study in which an analog of IMO-2055 optimized for mice was administered by the intranasal route and showed potent antitumor activity in mouse models of lung metastases of colon carcinoma and melanoma. �The new data in a mouse model show IMO-2055 has additive antitumor activity with sorafenib, and adds to our previous data of additive antitumor activity by IMO-2055 observed in combination with other targeted agents such as VEGF and EGFR inhibitors,� said Robert W. Karr, M.D., President of Idera. �Our new data on intranasal delivery show promise for a potential new route of administration specifically to treat lung tumors.� Abstract 4771 entitled, �The combination of IMO-2055, a synthetic agonist of toll-like receptor-9 (TLR9), and the multikinase inhibitor sorafenib tosylate (Nexavar�) demonstrates enhanced antitumor activity in a human non-small cell lung cancer xenograft model,� was presented by Bernardo Chavira of TGen Drug Development Services in the session Cancer Therapeutics 2. The combination of IMO-2055 and sorafenib in the study lead to increased antitumor effects and increased survival, with survival means of 30.0 days in the IMO-2055 group, 27.8 days in the sorafenib group and 41.3 days in the combination group (P