NEW YORK, May 01, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SIGA Technologies, Inc. (SIGA) (NASDAQ:SIGA), a health security company specializing in the development and commercialization of solutions for serious unmet medical needs and biothreats, today announced that Nasdaq has halted trading of the company’s common stock; the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee has a scheduled meeting to evaluate the company’s lead product, TPOXX®, an oral small molecule antiviral treatment for smallpox. The panel, comprised of independent medical experts, will consider whether the benefits of TPOXX outweigh its risks.
“We look forward to presenting our comprehensive data package that we believe demonstrates the benefits of TPOXX.” said Dr. Phil Gomez, Chief Executive Officer of SIGA Technologies, Inc. “The support of the independent medical experts that comprise the advisory committee panel would provide valuable additional feedback reflecting the strength of our application for TPOXX.”
The FDA has previously announced that its target final action date for the oral TPOXX NDA is August 8, 2018.
ABOUT SIGA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. and TPOXX®
SIGA Technologies, Inc. is a company specializing in the development and commercialization of solutions for serious unmet medical needs and biothreats. The company’s lead product is TPOXX®, also known as tecovirimat and ST-246®, an orally administered and IV formulation antiviral drug that targets orthopoxvirus infections. While TPOXX is not yet approved as safe and effective by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, it is a novel small-molecule drug of which 2 million courses have been delivered to the Strategic National Stockpile under Project BioShield. For more information about SIGA, please visit www.siga.com.
About Smallpox1
Smallpox is a contagious, disfiguring and often deadly disease that has affected humans for thousands of years. Naturally occurring smallpox was eradicated worldwide by 1980, the result of an unprecedented global immunization campaign. Samples of smallpox virus have been kept for research purposes. This has led to concerns that smallpox could someday be used as a biological warfare agent. No cure or treatment for smallpox exists. A vaccine can prevent smallpox, but the risk of the vaccine's side effects is too high to justify routine vaccination for people at low risk of exposure to the smallpox virus.
1 http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/smallpox/basics/definition/con-20022769
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, including statements relating to the submission and approval of TPOXX® by the FDA. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, and SIGA cautions you that any forward-looking information provided by or on behalf of SIGA is not a guarantee of future performance. More detailed information about SIGA and risk factors that may affect the realization of forward-looking statements, including the forward-looking statements in this press release, is set forth in SIGA's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including SIGA's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016, and in other documents that SIGA has filed with the SEC. SIGA urges investors and security holders to read those documents free of charge at the SEC's web site at http://www.sec.gov. Interested parties may also obtain those documents free of charge from SIGA. Forward-looking statements are current only as of the date on which such statements were made, and except for our ongoing obligations under the United States of America federal securities laws, we undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
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