Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp. Updates Oxygent Clinical Development Plan

Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp. Following a Steering Committee meeting last week in China with its partner Beijing Double-Crane Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Double-Crane), Alliance has updated its clinical development plan for Oxygent (perfluorochemical [PFC] emulsion) to focus primarily on supporting the initial clinical development of Oxygent in China. The clinical development plan for China is to investigate Oxygent in maintaining hemodynamic stability during major surgery, thereby potentially reducing or avoiding intraoperative transfusions of donor blood in major surgery. In addition, the Phase 2 clinical trial in China will incorporate oxygenation endpoints of postoperative improvement of organ function, such as the gut, heart, brain and kidney. As a result, Alliance will discontinue enrollment in the current French study and evaluate a new protocol to correspond to the China Phase 2 study. Alliance is currently transferring the manufacturing technology to enable Double-Crane to manufacture Oxygent in China. Following the manufacture of clinical supplies in China, Double-Crane plans to submit an IND to the sFDA, which is anticipated to be completed in 2008. Alliance will seek additional funding to support this plan.

About Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp.
Alliance is a development-stage pharmaceutical company that is currently focused on developing its lead product, Oxygent, which is based on its proprietary PFC technology. Oxygent is being developed as an intravascular oxygen carrier designed to augment oxygen delivery in surgical patients.

SOURCE: Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp.