SEATTLE, Jan. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (CTI) (Nasdaq and MTA: CTIC) announced today that CTI will provide a live audio and slide webcast of its analyst and investor meeting to be held on January 23 in New York.  Expert speakers will focus on advances in treatment using JAK inhibitors and existing challenges in treating myelofibrosis patients. Guest speakers include:

Ross L. Levine, M.D., Associate Member at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program and Leukemia Service, Associate Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College

Srdan Verstovsek, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Leukemia Department, Division of Cancer Medicine, Chief, Section for Myeloproliferative Neoplasms, Leukemia Department, and Director, Clinical Research Center for MPNs, at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

CTI recently initiated a Phase 3 clinical trial, known as PERSIST-1, for pacritinib, CTI's investigational JAK2 inhibitor that is being evaluated for the treatment of patients with myelofibrosis.  

Webcast Details

Date: Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Time: 9:00 a.m. Eastern /6:00 a.m. Pacific /3:00 p.m. Central European time to 10:30 a.m. Eastern/7:30 a.m. Pacific/4:30 p.m. Central European time

Live webcast access: Go to www.celltherapeutics.com. The audio presentation with slides will be available approximately two hours after the end of the meeting.

About Pacritinib

Pacritinib is an oral, once-a-day, tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) with dual activity against JAK2 and FLT3.  The JAK family of enzymes are a central component in signal transduction pathways, which are critical to normal blood cell growth and development as well as inflammatory cytokine expression and immune responses. Mutations in these kinases have been shown to be directly related to the development of a variety of blood related cancers including myeloproliferative neoplasms, leukemia and lymphoma.  Pacritinib may offer an advantage over other JAK inhibitors through effective treatment of symptoms while having less treatment-emergent thrombocytopenia and anemia than has been seen in currently approved and in-development JAK inhibitors.  Pacritinib has demonstrated encouraging results in Phase 1 and 2 studies for patients with myelofibrosis.  Pacritinib has orphan drug designation in the U.S. and Europe.

About Cell Therapeutics, Inc.

Cell Therapeutics (Nasdaq and MTA: CTIC) is a biopharmaceutical company committed to the development and commercialization of an integrated portfolio of oncology products aimed at making cancer more treatable.  CTI is headquartered in Seattle, WA.  For additional information and to sign up for email alerts and get RSS feeds, please visit www.CellTherapeutics.com.

This press release includes forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties the outcome of which could materially and/or adversely affect actual future results and the market price of CTI's securities. Specifically, the risks and uncertainties that could affect the development of pacritinib include risks associated with preclinical and clinical developments in the biopharmaceutical industry in general, and with pacritinib in particular, including, without limitation, the potential failure of pacritinib to prove safe and effective for the treatment of patients with myelofibrosis, either alone or in combination regimens, as determined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and/or the European Medicines Agency; that the PERSIST-1 clinical trial may not occur as planned; that pacritinib may not offer an advantage over other JAK inhibitors; that CTI may not be able to successfully implement its plans, strategies and objectives related to the development of pacritinib; CTI's ability to continue to raise capital as needed to fund its operations, competitive factors, technological developments, costs of developing, producing and selling CTI's product candidates; and the risk factors listed or described from time to time in CTI's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including, without limitation, CTI's most recent filings on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. Except as may be required by law, CTI does not intend to update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Contacts:

Monique Greer
+1 206.272.4343
mgreer@ctiseattle.com

Ed Bell
+1 206.282.7100
invest@ctiseattle.com

SOURCE Cell Therapeutics, Inc.