Oct. 7, 2009 (PR Newswire) --

TUSTIN, Calif., Oct. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: PPHM) today announced that it has established a new Anti-Viral Research Group in its R&D organization. The new group has responsibility for coordinating, expanding and leveraging the company's multiple external collaborations already underway or planned to assess the potential utility of Peregrine's phosphatidylserine (PS)-targeting antibody platform for the prevention and treatment of a broad range of serious infectious diseases, including viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHF) and other biodefense threats, HIV, influenza, cytomegalovirus (CMV), leishmaniasis and malaria.

Peregrine's broad-spectrum PS-targeting antibodies are being assessed in anti-infective applications by more than a dozen leading research institutions. These collaborative efforts include studies assessing PS-targeting antibodies as potential therapeutics for HIV, VHF and CMV; studies assessing anti-PS antibodies as vaccines or vaccine adjuvants for the prevention of HIV and other infectious diseases; and studies of PS-targeting antibodies as potential topical microbicides against sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV and herpes viruses. Peregrine and its collaborators have already secured over $60 million in research funding to evaluate the potential of the company's PS-targeting platform in a wide range of viral infections, and Peregrine researchers believe there is significant potential for additional applications of the technology in other infectious diseases.

"We are establishing our new Anti-Viral Research Group to maximize the clinical and commercial potential represented by the increasing interest from major research institutions and private and public funding agencies in studying our PS-targeting antibody platform as a novel approach to the prevention and treatment of a range of serious infectious diseases," said Steven W. King, president and CEO of Peregrine. "A growing body of published scientific research confirms that PS plays an important role in the development of many serious viral diseases, as well as in protozoan-caused illnesses such as malaria and leishmaniasis, conditions that impact the lives of millions of people worldwide each year. We believe that our PS-targeting antibody platform has the potential to address the large commercial markets represented by these diseases and to significantly impact the well-being of people around the globe. As a result, we see many opportunities to both optimize our current collaborations and to obtain new funding and support from additional external sources. This is the focus and mission of the Anti-Viral Research Group, and we are confident that it will be successful in identifying additional resources to help advance our PS-targeting anti-infective programs in the near and mid-term."

PS, a lipid molecule normally found only on the inside of cell membranes, becomes exposed on the outside of the membranes of certain viruses and virally infected cells. A rapidly growing body of published scientific research confirms that exposed PS is directly involved in the pathogenesis of many serious infectious diseases. Exposed PS enables viruses to evade immune recognition and dampens the body's normal responses to infection. By masking the exposed PS, PS-targeting antibodies are believed to block these effects, allowing the body to develop a robust immune response to the pathogen.