Navidea Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE American: NAVB) (“Navidea” or the “Company”), a company focused on the development of precision immunodiagnostic agents and immunotherapeutics, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) has granted the Company’s request for an End-of-Phase 2 Type B meeting to discuss its ongoing program in Rheumatoid Arthritis (“RA”) and advancement to the pivotal Phase 3 trial. The meeting will take place on September 1, 2021, via conference call.

The meeting with the FDA will be centered on discussion of the results from the Company’s completed Phase 2b NAV3-31 study, “Evaluation of the Precision and Sensitivity of Tilmanocept Uptake Value (TUV) on Tc99m Tilmanocept Planar Imaging” and the proposed protocol and analysis plans for the Phase 3 trial. Previously, the FDA reviewed the interim data and provided pertinent feedback on progressing the remaining patient data and encouraged an End-of-Phase 2 meeting when complete.

Navidea’s NAV3-31 trial had three arms: Arm 1 consisted of healthy subjects, Arm 2 was comprised of patients with active, moderate-to-severe RA who are on stable therapy, and Arm 3 was a pilot arm designed to assess the ability of Tc99m tilmanocept to provide an early indicator of efficacy of anti-tumor necrosis factor (“TNF”) α treatment in RA patients. Previously reported interim analyses demonstrated results in support of Navidea’s hypotheses that Tc99m tilmanocept imaging can provide robust, quantitative imaging in healthy controls and in patients with active RA, and that this imaging can provide an early indicator of treatment efficacy in patients with active RA.

The pivotal Phase 3 trial will establish the ability of Tc99m tilmanocept imaging to serve as an early predictor of treatment response in RA patients switching to an anti-TNFα therapy. The design and planned conduct of the Phase 3 trial is built upon insights and data from the completed Phase 2b NAV3-31 trial.

Dr. Michael Rosol, Chief Medical Officer for Navidea, said, “We are eager to discuss the results from our completed Phase 2b trial as well as the design of the planned Phase 3 trial with the FDA. Throughout our RA program development, we have worked closely with expert rheumatologists, nuclear medicine specialists, and the FDA itself, and we believe we are on the right path to bringing a valuable tool to bear to meet a large unmet medical need in patients with RA.” Dr. Rosol continued, “Success would mean that we can provide rheumatologists and those suffering with RA a noninvasive, quantifiable, early indicator of whether or not an anti-TNFα treatment is working. This could bring enormous benefit to these patients by assisting physicians in putting them on the right course of treatment earlier than is possible today.”

Jed Latkin, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer for Navidea, said, "We are very excited to meet with the FDA and finally proceed with launching the Phase 3 trial for the approval of Navidea’s RA monitoring agent. The clinical and regulatory teams have been working non-stop to complete the review of a massive amount of data obtained from NAV3-31. I am extremely proud of the work they have accomplished to date and eagerly anticipate the next steps towards approval."

RA is a chronic disease affecting over 1.3 million Americans and as much as 1% of the worldwide population¹. If the product is successfully developed, Navidea would expect to play a major role in the management of RA patients worldwide.

Reference

1. https://www.rheumatoidarthritis.org/ra/facts-and-statistics/

About Navidea

Navidea Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE American: NAVB) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of precision immunodiagnostic agents and immunotherapeutics. Navidea is developing multiple precision-targeted products based on its Manocept™ platform to enhance patient care by identifying the sites and pathways of disease and enable better diagnostic accuracy, clinical decision-making, and targeted treatment. Navidea’s Manocept platform is predicated on the ability to specifically target the CD206 mannose receptor expressed on activated macrophages. The Manocept platform serves as the molecular backbone of Tc99m tilmanocept, the first product developed and commercialized by Navidea based on the platform. Navidea’s strategy is to deliver superior growth and shareholder return by bringing to market novel products and advancing the Company’s pipeline through global partnering and commercialization efforts. For more information, please visit www.navidea.com.

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