Taxus Cardium Pharmaceuticals Group Inc. will report at the Biotechnology Industry Organization's 2014 BIO International Convention on a pre-specified interim analysis from its international ASPIRE Phase 3 registration clinical study of Generx(R) Ad5FGF-4, Cardium Therapeutics' angiogenic gene therapy product candidate for patients with myocardial ischemia due to coronary artery disease. Cardium will report on positive safety and statistically significant efficacy data from a randomized, multi-center, controlled study's primary registration endpoint of improvement in cardiac perfusion (blood flow) with Generx compared to the control group. Myocardial perfusion was measured by single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), a standard way of measuring blood flow at rest and during stress.

Blood flow under stress was inadequate in all patients entering the study, as it is in millions of patients with heart disease worldwide. Patients were then randomized to receive the Generx product candidate or standard medical treatment for myocardial ischemia. Eight weeks following administration, the group of patients who received Generx were found to have significant improvements in myocardial blood flow under stress, as compared to the control group -- and the degree of improvement in Generx patients was of a magnitude that is similar to that observed following coronary interventions such as bypass surgery or angioplasty and stenting.

The ASPIRE clinical study represents the fifth clinical study under the Generx gene therapy worldwide development program, which when completed will have evaluated over 780 patients at over 100 medical centers in the United States, Western Europe, South America, Canada and the Russian Federation, where the current ASPIRE study is being conducted. The Generx program is considered the large angiogenic cardiac gene therapy registration dossier in the world.