CytRx Corp. Reports Operating Results (10-K)

CytRx Corp. (NASDAQ:CYTR) filed Annual Report for the period ended 2010-12-31.

Cytrx Corp. has a market cap of $93.5 million; its shares were traded at around $0.8568 with and P/S ratio of 9.8.

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The maximum tolerated dose was determined to be 240-360 mg given twice per day, based on evidence of increasing potential liver toxicity at higher doses. Common adverse events (observed in greater than 20% of patients in the 240 mg twice per day dose group) were gastrointestinal toxicity, swelling, and fatigue. There was no evidence of fluid accumulating around the lungs, or significant changes in a certain heart rhythm called QTc prolongation, which are serious side effects known to occur in patients treated with approved drugs for this indication. Approximately 13% of patients across all dose groups discontinued dosing due to unacceptable toxicity.

Tamibarotene for the treatment of NSCLC. More than 220,000 new cases of lung cancer occur in the U.S. each year, and more than 1.5 million occur annually worldwide. Deaths due to lung cancer account for the majority of cancer-related deaths (180,000 in the U.S., 1.35 million worldwide) and the five-year survival ranges between 8%-15%. Non-small cell-lung cancer, or NSCLC, accounts for 85%-90% of all lung cancers, with subsets adenocarcinoma representing 35%-40%, squamous cell carcinoma accounting for 25%-30% and large cell carcinoma accounting for 10%-15%.

A recent Phase 2 clinical trial conducted by Arrieta et al. and published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Clinical Oncology (2010; 28: 3463-3471) compared ATRA added to a regimen of paclitaxel plus cisplatin to a regimen of paclitaxel plus cisplatin alone as a treatment for patients with advanced NSCLC. The group administered ATRA plus the chemotherapy agents showed improved response rates of 55.8% versus 25.4%, and increased progression-free survival of 8.9 months versus 6.0 months. Median overall survival was increased from 9.5 months to 23.5 months when ATRA was added to the above chemotherapy regimen, representing a 14-month median extension of life.

Clinical data. Tamibarotene is approved in Japan under the brand name Amnolake for use in relapsed or refractory APL. The approval was based on data from two studies in Japanese patients. In the pivotal study, the effectiveness of orally administered tamibarotene was administered to 42 patients with APL, 39 of whom were evaluable for response. Patients included individuals who had never received treatment for APL and patients who had been previously treated with ATRA. Tamibarotene was administered orally at a dose of 6 mg/m2/day for eight weeks. The overall complete response rate in these patients was 61.5%. In patients who had a recurrence of APL following ATRA therapy, the response rate was 81%. RAS was reported in three patients, or 7.3% of the patient group.

Development Plan. There is currently a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) in place with the FDA for a Phase 2 registration clinical trial, known as STAR-1, which is evaluating the efficacy and safety of tamibarotene as a third-line treatment for APL. The STAR-1 trial is ongoing and currently includes six clinical sites in the U.S. We recently reported that, of the 11 patients enrolled in the STAR-1 trial to date, three (27%) achieved a hematologic complete response, and four (36%) a morphologic leukemia-free state. In addition, in September 2009, we initiated a dose escalation clinical trial with tamibarotene combined with TRISENOX® (arsenic trioxide) injection (marketed by Cephalon, Inc.) in patients with relapsed APL.

Until early 2008, we owned approximately 85% of the outstanding shares of common stock of RXi and our financial statements included the consolidated financial condition and results of operations of RXi. On February 14, 2008, our board of directors declared a dividend of one share of RXi common stock for each approximately 20.05 outstanding shares of our common stock, which was paid on March 11, 2008 and which reduced our ownership of RXi shares to less than 50%. As a result, our financial statements after March 11, 2008 no longer consolidate the financial condition and results of operation of RXi, but instead reflect any ongoing investment in RXi based on the equity method of accounting. In 2009, the investment balance in RXi was reduced to zero, and we stopped recording our share of losses from RXi. On June 30, 2010, we sold 2.0 million common shares of RXi and our ownership in RXi was reduced to approximately 3.1 million shares of common stock. We thereafter began to account for those shares as available for sale, and increases or decreases in the value of these shares were included as part of comprehensive income or loss. This investment was shown on the balance sheet at market value, based on RXi s closing stock price as reported on The Nasdaq Capital Market. We sold our remaining number of shares of RXi common stock in December 2010 for approximately $6.9 million.

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