CAT Catco Reinsurance Opportunities Fund Limited

RNS Number:0431K
Cambridge Antibody Tech Group PLC
4 May 2000


For Further Information Contact:

Cambridge Antibody Technology        
Tel: +44 (0) 1763 263233
Dr David Glover, Medical Director        
John Aston, Finance Director
Rowena Gardner, Communications Manager       

HCC De Facto (Europe)
Tel: +44 (0) 20  7496 3300
Nikul Odedra (trade)
Sue Charles (city/financial)

BMC Communications/The Trout Group (USA)
Tel: 001 212 477 9007
Brad Miles, ext 17 (media)
Jonathan Fassberg, ext.16 (investors)


ONE YEAR RESULTS FOR CAT-152 IN GLAUCOMA SURGERY

Presented at the Association for Research in Vision & Ophthalmology (ARVO)
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, 4 May 2000

Melbourn, UK   Cambridge Antibody Technology ("CAT") today announced one year
results from its Phase I/IIa clinical trial of CAT-152, a fully human
monoclonal antibody against TGFb2, designed to prevent post-operative scarring
in patients undergoing surgery for glaucoma.   Scarring is the major reason
for failure of such surgery. The data were presented at the Annual Meeting of
the Association for Research in Vision and Opthalmology (ARVO), the largest
meeting for ophthalmic research.

The trial was a double-blind randomised study of CAT-152 versus placebo in 24
patients undergoing trabeculectomy at two major UK eye hospitals.  The primary
objective was to establish safety and tolerability of CAT-152 injected at/near
the site of operation. Results were presented for all patients followed for
one year post surgery. 

CAT-152 appeared to be safe and well tolerated in this group of patients with
no serious local injection site reactions and no drug-related serious adverse
events reported. At one year after surgery the proportion of patients who had
not required either  intervention  or  resumption  of  topical medication was
11 of 16 (69%) on CAT-152 compared to 2 of 8 (25%) on placebo. Mean
intraocular pressure at one year was 3mm Hg lower in the CAT-152 group than in
the placebo group, ie: better controlled despite less medication. 

Commenting on the results Dr David Glover, CATs Medical Director, said:

"We are encouraged that the results with CAT-152 at one year could represent
evidence of clinically relevant anti-scarring activity, albeit based on low
patient numbers. The patients in this trial are being followed for a further
year, and a  larger Phase II clinical trial is already underway with further
trials planned to start early next year."


Notes to Editors:

Glaucoma and Glaucoma Surgery
Glaucoma is the name for a group of eye conditions in which the optic nerve is
damaged at the point where it leaves the eye. The main cause of this damage is
raised pressure inside the eye (intraocular pressure, IOP). 
Glaucoma affects 2% of people aged over 40 years, and the percentage of people
affected rises with age such that 5% of over 65s are affected, rising to
around 8% of over 75s. 
Glaucoma is a major source of blindness. Treatment is generally aimed at
lowering the pressure in the eye to prevent long term damage to eyesight.  Eye
drops are the mainstay of treatment but more than 10% of patients require
surgery to control pressure.  Scarring is the main cause of failure of surgery
for glaucoma.  There are no approved treatments to prevent this scarring. CAT
has estimated that at least 250,000 patients undergoing operations in the US
and Western Europe each year could benefit from treatment with CAT-152.
Trabeculectomy lowers IOP by improving the drainage of fluid in the eye.
Patients are classified as failures of surgery if there is a need to resume
topical medication and/or further surgery is required.

CAT-152       
CAT-152 is a fully human anti-TGFb2 monoclonal antibody developed by CAT to
specifically neutralise the cytokine TGFb2, overactivity of which is believed
to cause scarring in and around the eye.  CAT-152 is being developed as a
treatment to prevent scarring in the eye following glaucoma surgery.

Cambridge Antibody Technology (LSE:CAT)
CAT is a UK biotechnology company using its proprietary technologies in fully
human monoclonal antibodies for drug discovery and drug development.  Based in
Melbourn, 10 miles south of Cambridge, England, CAT currently employs around
150 people.  
CAT is listed on the London Stock Exchange, having raised #41m in its IPO in
March 1997. An Open Offer and International Offering in March 2000 raised
#93m.
CAT has a world-leading platform technology for rapidly isolating fully human
monoclonal antibodies using phage display systems.  CAT has an extensive phage
display antibody library, currently incorporating around 100 billion distinct
antibodies. This library forms the basis for the companys strategy to develop
a portfolio of clinical development programmes and for discovering new drug
leads using functional genomics.  Four fully human therapeutic antibodies
developed by CAT are at various stages of clinical trials.
CAT has a number of license and collaborative agreements in place with
pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies including: Eli Lilly, Pfizer, BASF
Pharma, Genentech, ICOS Corporation, Genetics Institute, Wyeth-Ayerst, Human
Genome Sciences, AstraZeneca and Searle. 


END
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