EXHIBIT 99.1
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MATRITECH CONTACTS: CYTOGEN CONTACT:
MEDIA RELATIONS INVESTOR RELATIONS INVESTOR RELATIONS
Brooke Tyson Richard Sandberg Michael Becker
O'Neill and Associates Chief Financial OfficerChief Executive Officer
617-646-1023 617-928-0820 609-750-8289
NMP22(R) BLADDERCHEK(TM) NOW AVAILABLE TO U.S. PHYSICIANS
FROM BOTH CYTOGEN AND MATRITECH
-Cytogen and Matritech to Collaborate on Marketing
to Oncologists and Urologists-
Newton, MA & Princeton, NJ (November 3, 2003) - Matritech Inc. (NASDAQ: NMPS)
and Cytogen Corporation (NASDAQ: CYTO) today announced that NMP22 BladderChek is
available in the United States from both Matritech and Cytogen. Matritech will
focus on developing sales of NMP22 BladderChek to urologists in the United
States, while Cytogen will exclusively sell the product to oncologists only,
after December 31, 2003.
Matritech and Cytogen intend to work together through 2004 to make BladderChek
the standard of care for the detection and management of bladder cancer. This
restructuring of product marketing responsibilities better utilizes the
strengths and established networks of each company.
NMP22 BladderChek is a highly accurate and convenient point-of-care test for
bladder cancer that requires only a few drops of a patient's urine. BladderChek
returns results in 30 minutes and provides physicians with a new enhancement to
cystoscopy for improved detection and early diagnosis of bladder cancer.
Clinical trial results demonstrated that NMP22 BladderChek detected four times
more early stage bladder tumors and 2.5 times as many life threatening,
high-grade tumors as cytology, a widely used laboratory-based bladder cancer
urine test. It is expected that NMP22 BladderChek will be used in conjunction
with cystoscopy, a clinical procedure for the visual identification of tumors in
the bladder.
Cytogen's Chief Executive Officer Michael Becker said, "With our growing
portfolio of proprietary and licensed products for oncology, this realignment
allows us to concentrate important selling resources at Cytogen to focus on
these products. Under our amended agreement with Matritech, we will continue to
cooperate in selected market development activities and lead sharing."
Matritech President and Chief Operating Officer David L. Corbet commented,
"While we will continue to benefit from leads developed by Cytogen's
relationships in the urology community, the higher revenue we will receive by
distributing directly to urologists will enable us to expand our coverage of
these physicians."
-more-
ABOUT CYTOGEN
Cytogen Corporation of Princeton, NJ is a product-driven, oncology-focused
biopharmaceutical company. Cytogen markets proprietary and licensed oncology
products through its in-house specialty sales force: Quadramet(R) (a skeletal
targeting therapeutic radiopharmaceutical for the relief of pain due to bone
metastases); ProstaScint(R) (a monoclonal antibody-based imaging agent used to
image the extent and spread of prostate cancer); and NMP22(R) BladderChek(TM) (a
point-of-care, in vitro diagnostic test for bladder cancer). Cytogen has
exclusive U.S. marketing rights to Combidex(R), an ultrasmall superparamagnetic
iron oxide contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging of lymph nodes that is
pending clearance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Cytogen's pipeline
comprises product candidates at various stages of clinical development,
including fully human monoclonal antibodies and cancer vaccines based on PSMA
(prostate specific membrane antigen) technology, which was exclusively licensed
from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Cytogen also conducts research in
cellular signaling through its AxCell Biosciences research division in Newtown,
PA. For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.cytogen.com,
which is not part of this press release.
ProstaScint(R) is a registered United States trademark of Cytogen Corporation.
All other trade names, trademarks or service marks appearing in this press
release are the property of their respective owners, and not the property of
Cytogen or any of our subsidiaries. Quadramet(R) is a trademark of The Dow
Chemical Company used under license by Cytogen.
ABOUT MATRITECH
As one of the first companies to successfully employ proteomics to create
diagnostic products, Matritech has identified proteins correlated with bladder,
cervical, breast, prostate and colon cancers. The Company holds one of two FDA
tumor marker approvals for the initial detection of cancer, and its FDA-approved
NMP22(R) BladderChek(TM) point-of-care device is currently used by hundreds of
urologists. Matritech has also entered into a long-term relationship with Sysmex
Corporation to develop an advanced system to reduce the cost and improve the
reliability of Pap smears, one of the world's most widely used cancer diagnostic
tests. In addition, the Company has programs to develop blood-based tests for
breast cancer (NMP66(TM)) and prostate cancer (NMP48(TM)). NMP technology is
licensed exclusively to Matritech from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.
STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Any statements contained
herein that are not statements of historical fact may be forward-looking
statements. When the Companies use the words `anticipates,' `plans,' `expects'
and similar expressions they are identifying forward-looking statements. Such
forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties which may cause the
Companies' actual results, performance or
-more-
achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by
forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements related to the
Companies' expectations regarding their current and future products, approvals
and expected customer sales are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties,
many of which are beyond their control. These include but are not limited to,
risks related to unforeseen delays in, or denials of regulatory approvals,
future product demand and pricing, performance of distributors, competitive
products and technical developments, health care reform and general business and
economic conditions, and other factors set forth more fully in the Companies'
Annual Reports on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2002, as may
be amended, and other periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission to which investors are referred for further information. There can be
no assurance that the Companies' revenue expectations for their products
including BladderChek will be achieved.
The Companies do not have a policy of updating or revising forward-looking
statements and assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements
contained in this document as a result of the new information or future events
or developments. Thus it should not be assumed that the Companies' silence over
time means that actual events are bearing out as expressed or implied in such
forward-looking statements.
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