ZIOPHARM Announces Unanimous Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) Approval for Phase 1 Study of Ad-RTS-IL-12 in Subjects With Recurrent or Progressive Glioblastoma

ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc. ZIOP today announced the unanimous approval of the National Institutes of Health's Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) for the initiation of a Phase 1 study of Ad-RTS-IL-12, an adenoviral vector engineered to express interleukin-12 under the control of veledimex, an oral activator, in subjects with recurrent or progressive glioblastoma or grade III malignant glioma (brain cancer). ZIOPHARM has announced plans to launch a Phase 1 study of Ad-RTS-IL-12 in malignant glioma in the first half of 2014. The Company is currently studying Ad-RTS-IL-12 in Phase 2 studies in melanoma and breast cancer. "Malignant gliomas remain one of the deadliest forms of cancer.  The stimulation of an immune response is a novel and intriguing therapeutic approach," said E. Antonio Chiocca, M.D., Ph.D., Chairman, Department of Neurosurgery, and Co-Director of the Institute for the Neurosciences, Brigham and Women's Hospital/ Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and Harvey Cushing Professor of Neurosurgery, Harvard Medical School.  "Important variables to the efficacy and safety of such therapies include the immune-privileged status of the central nervous system, the processes that contribute to the suppression of immune responses and the ability to modulate a brain tumor specific immune response.  See full press release