RedHill Biopharma Announces National Cancer Institute Grant Supporting YELIVA(TM) Phase II Hepatocellular Carcinoma Study

• The $1.8 million U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant, awarded to the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), is intended to support a research program covering a variety of solid tumor cancers, including a Phase II study with YELIVA(TM) (ABC294640) for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, planned to be initiated in Q3/2016 at MUSC and collaborating institutions 
  
  
• RedHill previously announced positive top-line results from a Phase I study with YELIVA(TM) in patients with advanced solid tumors; A Phase I/II study with YELIVA(TM)was initiated in the U.S. in patients with refractory/relapsed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL)
   
• A Phase I/II study with YELIVA(TM) for refractory or relapsed multiple myeloma is planned to be initiated in Q2/2016 and is supported by a $2 million NCI grant awarded to Apogee Biotechnology Corp. (Apogee); A Phase II study to evaluate YELIVA(TM) as a radioprotectant to prevent mucositis in cancer patients undergoing therapeutic radiotherapy is planned to be initiated in H2/2016
   
• YELIVA(TM) is a proprietary, first-in-class, orally-administered, sphingosine kinase-2 (SK2) selective inhibitor with anticancer and anti-inflammatory activities, targeting multiple oncology, inflammatory and gastrointestinal indications
   
• The development of YELIVA(TM) was funded to date primarily by grants and contracts from U.S. federal and state government agencies awarded to Apogee, including from the NCI, the Department of Health and Human Services Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), the Department of Defense and the FDA Office of Orphan Products Development

TEL-AVIV, Israel, May 04, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RedHill Biopharma Ltd. (NASDAQ:RDHL) (TASE:RDHL) ("RedHill" or the "Company"), a biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on development and commercialization of late clinical-stage, proprietary, orally-administered, small molecule drugs for inflammatory and gastrointestinal diseases and cancer, today announced that the U.S. National Cancer Institute ("NCI") has awarded the Medical University of South Carolina ("MUSC") a $1.8 million grant to support a broad range of studies on the feasibility of targeting sphingolipid metabolism for the treatment of a variety of solid tumor cancers. One component of the studies includes a planned Phase II study with YELIVA(TM) (ABC294640) for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma ("HCC"), the most common primary malignant cancer of the liver1. YELIVA(TM) is a proprietary, first-in-class, orally-administered sphingosine kinase-2 (SK2) selective inhibitor.