(THLD)

Description:

Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a Delaware corporation incorporated in 2001. It's a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of drugs targeting the microenvironment of solid tumors as novel treatments for patients living with cancer. The microenvironment of these tissues is characterized by hypoxia or lack of oxygen. This hypoxic environment is known to be resistant to standard chemotherapy and radiation. It is thought to be responsible for the poor prognosis of patients with solid tumors and hematological malignancies and treating the hypoxic environment is currently believed to be a significant unmet medical need. Its hypoxia activated prodrug ("HAP") product candidates, including TH-302, are designed to specifically target the hypoxic microenvironment of tumors by selective activation of the prodrug to release a potent cytotoxin. Its focus is on product candidates for the treatment of patients with cancer. Its clinical development efforts are currently focused on TH-302, for which it entered a license and co-development agreement with Merck KGaA for worldwide development and commercialization. TH-302 is a novel drug candidate that is activated under severe hypoxic conditions and was designed to specifically target the severe hypoxic regions that are believed to be present in all solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. The production of TH-302 employs small molecule organic chemistry procedures that are standard for the pharmaceutical industry. It currently relies on contract manufacturers for the manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredient ("API"), and final drug product of TH-302. Under its license and co-development agreement with Merck KGaA, the Company is dependent on Merck for clinical and commercial supply of TH-302, except for clinical trials for United States approval of TH-302 for soft tissue sarcoma and for any other clinical trials for which it is responsible. For these latter cases, it can obtain clinical supply directly from existing or new suppliers. It currently uses contract manufacturers to manufacture TH-302 API and TH-302 drug product. Its competitors are AstraZeneca PLC, Genentech, Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Eli Lilly and Company, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Bayer Pharmaceuticals, Hoffmann-LaRoche, Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Merck KGaA, Novartis AG, Pfizer, Inc., Amgen Inc., ImClone Systems, Inc., Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Telik, Inc., Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Plexxikon Inc., Celgene Corporation, Abraxis Bioscience Inc., ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc. The manufacturing and marketing of its potential products and its ongoing research and development activities are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA and comparable regulatory agencies in state and local jurisdictions and in foreign countries.