Xoma 052 Results Encouraging

XOMA has announced the new results of Xoma 052, as an entirely new anti-inflammatory approach for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

XOMA 052 is a master signaling protein which triggers inflammatory pathways in the body, which in diabetes results in reduced insulin production in pancreatic beta cells. By targeting the inflammatory component of type 2 diabetes, XOMA 052 has the potential to be a novel, disease-modifying treatment for Type 2 diabetes.

The result includes data from 39 type 2 diabetes patients for which combined data were available in the US and Switzerland. A total of 30 patients were randomized to receive a single IV dose of XOMA 052 at 0.01, 0.03 or 0.1mg per kilogram of body weight, and nine patients received placebo.

Steven Engle, Chairman and CEO of XOMA, said: We continue to develop evidence supporting one of the most significant potential medical advances in decades -a move from insulin therapy to anti-inflammatory treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes. Our results have provided not only the safety data that is typical in a Phase 1 trial but also encouraging signs of biological activity.

Recently, our first US patent covering XOMA 052 issued and we completed enrollment of the Phase 1 program with 98 patients. We look forward to initiating Phase 2 trials in the third quarter of 2009, he added.