GlycoMimetics Presents Preclinical Data at ASH Annual Meeting Showing GMI-1359 Enhances Efficacy of Chemotherapy in FLT-3 AML Model

GlycoMimetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: GLYC) announced today that preclinical data presented in a poster at the 57th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting on its drug candidate GMI-1359 showed the compound enhanced the ability of chemotherapy to target and improve survival from FLT3-ITD mutated acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

“The data presented on GMI-1359 show a dramatic effect on the development and proliferation of FLT3-ITD AML cells, indicating that GMI-1359 could serve as an effective method for enhancing chemotherapy against AML,” said John L. Magnani, Ph.D., Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of GlycoMimetics. “We are especially encouraged by our preclinical data showing increased survival as we prepare to advance GMI-1359 into clinical trials in 2016.”

The data obtained from researchers at GlycoMimetics and the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston showed that GMI-1359 significantly reduced the adhesion of FLT3-mutated leukemia cells (a common mutation in AML) to stem cell feeder layers in cell culture that mimicked the bone marrow environment. The data therefore indicate that GMI-1359 could reduce the resistance to chemotherapy that occurs when leukemia cells bind to bone marrow. In addition, apoptosis, a process of normal cell death often bypassed by cancer cells, was boosted in leukemic cells cultured with both GMI-1359 and sorafenib, a common chemotherapy agent. Studies in animal models showed distinctly higher survival rates (67 percent versus 30 percent) when treated with GMI-1359 and chemotherapy, compared with chemotherapy alone.

GMI-1359 targets both E-selectin, a cell adhesion molecule, and CXCR4, a molecular cytokine. Both of these molecules aid in blood cell resistance to chemotherapy, offering protection to FLT3-mutated cells in the bone marrow. Current therapies can reduce leukemia cell growth in circulating blood of FLT3-mutated AML patients, but do not have any effect on leukemia cells in bone marrow.

The abstract (Abstract #3790), entitled “The Dual E-Selectin/CXCR4 Inhibitor, GMI-1359, Enhances Efficacy of Anti-Leukemia Chemotherapy in FLT3-ITD Mutated Acute Myeloid Leukemia,” is available at ASH’s website.

About GlycoMimetics, Inc.

GlycoMimetics is a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of novel glycomimetic drugs to address unmet medical needs resulting from diseases in which carbohydrate biology plays a key role. GlycoMimetics entered into an exclusive license agreement with Pfizer for rivipansel in October 2011. Under the license agreement, Pfizer is responsible for the clinical development, regulatory approval and potential commercialization of rivipansel, which is currently being evaluated in a Phase 3 study for treatment of vaso-occlusive crisis of sickle cell disease.

GlycoMimetics’s wholly-owned drug candidate (GMI-1271) for AML and other blood disorders is also in clinical trials. Glycomimetics are molecules that mimic the structure of carbohydrates involved in important biological processes. Using its expertise in carbohydrate chemistry and knowledge of carbohydrate biology, GlycoMimetics is developing a pipeline of glycomimetic drug candidates that inhibit disease-related functions of carbohydrates, such as the roles they play in inflammation, cancer and infection. Learn more at www.glycomimetics.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding the clinical development of the GMI-1359 and the presentation of data. Actual results may differ materially from those in these forward-looking statements. For a further description of the risks associated with these statements, as well as other risks facing GlycoMimetics, please see the risk factors described in the company’s annual report on Form 10-K that was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on March 16, 2015, and other filings the company makes with the SEC from time to time. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release, and GlycoMimetics undertakes no obligation to update or revise these statements, except as may be required by law.

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