Oct. 12, 2009 (PR Newswire) --
NEW HAVEN, Conn., Oct. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- VION PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. (OTC Bulletin Board: VION) announced today that it had hired the investment banking firm Merriman Curhan Ford & Co. to assist in evaluating its strategic alternatives. These alternatives include any combination of a restructuring of the Company and its debt and a sale of the Company or its assets. The Company may also consider financing options.
As previously reported, the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC), which is the cancer drug advisory panel of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), voted in favor of Vion completing a randomized study defining the efficacy and safety of the Company's lead oncology therapeutic Onrigin(TM) (laromustine) Injection prior to receiving regulatory approval from the FDA. Vion had presented data for Onrigin(TM) for remission induction treatment for patients sixty years of age or older with de novo poor-risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML). As Vion would need to raise additional capital to finance a new randomized trial, the Company is evaluating its strategic alternatives. If Vion is unsuccessful in achieving a restructuring, sale, financing or any other strategic transaction or combination thereof, it may have to consider curtailing or ceasing operations or liquidating its assets.
About Vion Pharmaceuticals
Vion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is committed to extending the lives and improving the quality of life of cancer patients worldwide by developing and commercializing innovative oncology therapeutics. Vion has two agents in clinical trials, Onrigin(TM) (laromustine) Injection and Triapine®. The Company has submitted a New Drug Application to the FDA for Onrigin(TM) for remission induction treatment for patients sixty years of age or older with de novo poor-risk AML. The FDA's Oncologic Drug Advisory Committee has recommended to the FDA that a new randomized trial for Onrigin(TM) be completed prior to regulatory approval. Triapine®, a potent inhibitor of a key step in DNA synthesis, is being evaluated in clinical trials sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. For additional information on Vion and its product development programs, visit the Company's Internet web site at www.vionpharm.com.
This news release contains forward-looking statements.
