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Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (CTI) to Sponsor Conference in Italy on Women, Smoke and Lung Cancer

Posted on: Wednesday, 17 October 2007, 09:00 CDT

BRESSO, Italy, Oct. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (CTI) (Nasdaq: CTIC; MTAX) will sponsor a conference entitled "Women, Smoke and Lung Cancer" in Milan on Wednesday, October 24. The conference, organized by the National Observatory of Women's Health (O.N.Da), will inform women about the dangers and consequences of smoking, provide an update on lung cancer research, and the importance of prevention and early detection as well as advancements in the treatment of the disease.

The event will be held in Sala Consiglio of Palazzo Turati, Via Meravigli, 9/B, Milan, at 6 pm CET. Speakers will be Giulia Veronesi, Vice Director of the Department of Thoracic Surgery at the European Institute of Oncology, Gianni Ravasi, Director of the Division of Thoracic Surgery of the Humanitas Clinical Institute and President of the Fight Against Cancer Italian League, and Paolo Bidoli, Director of the Medical Oncology Unit of Azienda Ospedaliera San Gerardo in Monza.

"The scientific evidence continues to mount that advanced lung cancer behaves differently in women than in men, especially among women who have normal estrogen levels where current cancer therapy has made little impact on their survival," said James A. Bianco, M.D., President and CEO of CTI. "Through the bioengineering of an effective chemotherapy agent, paclitaxel, to a biodegradable polyglutamate polymer, resulting in a new chemical entity that is metabolized in the presence of estrogen, our PGT-307 trial can answer the important question regarding gender differences in developing personalized medicines to improve survival in this terrible disease."

"Our preclinical studies conducted in our research and development facility in Bresso have shown an increased anticancer activity of XYOTAX in tumor-bearing mice supplemented with estrogen. We observed that estrogen can increase tumor growth as well as the expression of cathepsin-B, one of the lysosomal enzymes that metabolize XYOTAX, releasing the active chemotherapy agent, paclitaxel. We believe that these data strongly support the potential of our PGT-307 trial to demonstrate the important relationship between levels of estrogen and the effectiveness of XYOTAX in women with lung cancer," said Gabriella Pezzoni, Ph.D., Scientific Director of Cell Therapeutics Europe S.r.l. (Milano).

Women and Lung Cancer

After increasing for many years, beginning in the 1980s the mortality and morbidity of lung cancer have decreased in men but have constantly increased among women. According to present projections, we can anticipate that lung cancer in 2007 will likely be the number two cancer killer of women in Italy. About 6,200 women die each year in Italy from lung cancer related to cigarette smoke.

About O.N.Da -- Osservatorio Nazionale sulla Salute della Donna

O.N.Da was founded with the objective to study the health and well being of the female population, through research projects, publications, conferences and involving Institutions, Scientific Companies, Universities. Its main objective is promoting a culture of gender health.

About Cell Therapeutics, Inc.

Headquartered in Seattle, CTI is a biopharmaceutical company committed to developing an integrated portfolio of oncology products aimed at making cancer more treatable. For additional information, please visit http://www.cticseattle.com/.

Media Contact: Dan Eramian T: 206.272.4343 C: 206.854.1200 Susan Callahan T: 206.272.4472 F: 206.272.4434 E: media@ctiseattle.com http://www.cticseattle.com/media.htm

Cell Therapeutics, Inc.

CONTACT: Dan Eramian, +1-206-272-4343, cell, +1-206-854-1200, or SusanCallahan, +1-206-272-4472, fax, +1-206-272-4434, media@ctiseattle.com, both ofCell Therapeutics, Inc.

Web site: http://www.cticseattle.com/

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall

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