Mateon Announces Issuance of US Patent for Cathepsin Inhibition

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Oct. 10, 2016 -- Mateon Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:MATN), a biopharmaceutical company developing vascular disrupting agents (VDAs) for the treatment of orphan oncology indications, today announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued U.S. Patent 9,458,103 to Mateon and Baylor University for “Compositions and methods for inhibition of cathepsins.” The patent covers compounds which modulate cathepsin activity, particularly cathepsin L or cathepsin K, and methods of using these compounds for the treatment of conditions in which their regulation may be therapeutically useful.

“I am pleased to have this patent issued,” stated William D. Schwieterman, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Mateon. “For the past few years we have been working with Baylor University to pursue discovery and development of novel, small-molecule therapeutics that may be effective in oncology indications, and we are continuing several interesting, early-stage opportunities in this field.”

Cathepsins have been validated as an important enzymatic class to target in drug discovery research, and eleven cysteine protease cathepsin enzymes have been identified to date in humans, with different structures and functions. Cathepsin L has a function in the growth and metastasis of primary tumors and has been implicated in diabetes, immunological responses, degradation of the articular cartilage matrix, and other pathological processes, including osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis. Inhibition of cathepsin L has also been shown to block Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Ebola pseudotype virus infection. Cathepsin K plays a role in bone resorption and has implications in osteoporosis.

About Mateon
Mateon Therapeutics, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company seeking to realize the full potential of vascular targeted therapy (VTT) in oncology. VTT includes VDAs such as the investigational drugs that Mateon is developing, and anti-angiogenic agents (AAs), a number of which are FDA-approved and widely used in cancer treatment. These two approaches have distinct yet complementary mechanisms of action.

At Mateon, we believe that we can significantly improve cancer therapy by employing these two complementary approaches simultaneously. When utilized this way, VDAs obstruct existing blood vessels in the tumor leading to significant central tumor cell death while AAs prevent the formation of new tumor blood vessels.

Mateon is committed to leveraging our intellectual property and the product development expertise of our highly skilled management team to enable VTT to realize its true potential and to bring much-needed new therapies to cancer patients worldwide. 

Safe Harbor Statement
This news release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any or all of the forward-looking statements in this press release, which include the timing of advancement, outcomes, data and regulatory guidance relative to our clinical programs and achievement of our business and financing objectives may turn out to be wrong. Forward-looking statements can be affected by inaccurate assumptions Mateon might make or by known or unknown risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the inherent risks of drug development, manufacturing and regulatory review, and the availability of additional financing to pursue and continue development of our programs. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to materially differ from those in the forward-looking statements is contained in Mateon's reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Mateon's reports on Form 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. However, Mateon undertakes no obligation to publicly update forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise. Please refer to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015.

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