Here's Why OXiGENE Surged 55% Early Tuesday Morning

Shares of OXiGENE Inc OXGN, a nano-cap biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the development of vascular disrupting agents for the treatment of cancer, surged higher by more than 55 percent early Tuesday morning. Investors and traders reacted to OXiGENE's announcement that the "Journal of Clinical Oncology" published a favorable article detailing results from the company's Study GOG-0186I. This also marks the first published report of the beneficial effects of combination vascular targeted therapy (VTT) for women with recurrent ovarian cancer. The study consists of 107 patients at 67 sites in which patients receive either CA4P (fosbretabulin) plus bevacizumab (CA4P combination) or bevacizumab alone (control). The study has already met its primary endpoint by demonstrating a statistically significant improvement in PFS for patients receiving the CA4P combination compared to the control. "I'm excited about the therapeutic potential of CA4P when used in combination with bevacizumab for the treatment of recurrent ovarian cancer," stated Bradley J. Monk, M.D., Director of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center and the Principal Investigator of the study. "In this randomized Phase 2 trial, the combination including CA4P prolonged progression free survival (PFS) compared to bevacizumab alone, and preliminary data show it also improved overall survival for these women. In addition, the safety profile of combination vascular targeted therapy, including hypertension, was acceptable with appropriate management. I look forward to further studying this promising therapeutic approach in the upcoming FOCUS trial."