CytRx Corporation Announces Filing of Key Provisional Patent Applications for Ultra-High Potency LADRtm Drug Candidates

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CytRx Corporation (NASDAQ: CYTR), a biopharmaceutical research and development company specializing in oncology, today announced that it has filed provisional patent applications covering two series of drug candidates from its LADRtm (Linker Activated Drug Release) Technology Platform.  The newly filed applications cover compounds, pharmaceutical compositions and methods of use thereof.  When granted, these new patents will expand CytRx's intellectual property estate and the Company will own worldwide rights for each.

"These newly filed patent applications cover LADRtm drug conjugates with two distinct classes of ultra-highly potent cytotoxic payloads," said Steven A. Kriegsman, CytRx's Chairman and CEO.  "A strong patent estate is at the core of our business model and strengthens our competitive advantage in the marketplace, and we intend to leverage the LADRtm technology with potential pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners.  When granted, these newly filed patent applications will significantly strengthen our intellectual property portfolio and support the ongoing development of our cutting-edge LADR technology assets which have the potential to improve outcomes for patients with cancer."

Felix Kratz, PhD, CytRx's Vice President of Drug Discovery commented, "The LADRtm platform is a discovery engine designed to create a pipeline of anti-cancer molecules that will avoid unacceptable systemic toxicity while delivering high potency agents directly to the tumor.  We are awaiting final toxicology results from four lead compounds in order to nominate one or more candidates for advancement into Investigational New Drug (IND) enabling preclinical studies.  We look forward to announcing our selection during the first quarter of 2018 and to presenting data on these new candidates with the medical community at a major scientific meeting in 2018."

About the LADRtm Technology Platform

CytRx's innovative LADRtm (Linker Activated Drug Release) technology employs a broad portfolio of novel linker molecules that selectively bind to circulating albumin and can be linked to a wide variety of anti-cancer payloads.  The Company's research efforts currently center on creating new molecules from the combination of ultra-high potency cytotoxic payloads with tunable linkers.  The molecules that CytRx is currently evaluating concentrate at the tumor site providing targeted delivery of the cell killing payloads.

About CytRx Corporation

CytRx Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company specializing in research and clinical development of novel anti-cancer drug candidates that employ linker technologies to enhance the accumulation and release of drug at the tumor. CytRx is also rapidly expanding its pipeline of ultra-high potency oncology candidates at its laboratory facilities in Freiburg, Germany, through its LADRtm (Linker Activated Drug Release) technology platform, a discovery engine designed to leverage CytRx's expertise in albumin biology and linker technology for the development of a new class of potential breakthrough anti-cancer therapies.  Aldoxorubicin, CytRx's most advanced drug conjugate, is an improved version of the widely used anti-cancer drug doxorubicin and has been out-licensed to NantCell, Inc. 

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events or results described in the forward-looking statements, including risks and uncertainties relating to plans for regaining compliance with the Nasdaq rules and higher share price of our common stock; the ability of NantCell, Inc., to obtain regulatory approval for its products that use aldoxorubicin; the ability of NantCell, Inc., to manufacture and commercialize products or therapies that use aldoxorubicin; the amount, if any, of future milestone and royalty payments that we may receive from NantCell, Inc.; our ability to develop new ultra-high potency drug candidates based on our LADR^TM technology platform; and other risks and uncertainties described in the most recent annual and quarterly reports filed by CytRx with the Securities and Exchange Commission and current reports filed since the date of CytRx's most recent annual report. All forward-looking statements are based upon information available to CytRx on the date the statements are first published. CytRx undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Investor Relations Contact: 
Argot Partners 
Michelle Carroll 
(212) 600-1902 
[email protected]

SOURCE CytRx Corporation