EDMONTON, May 2 /CNW/ - Biomira Inc. (Nasdaq: BIOM) (TSX: BRA) announced today that Alex McPherson, MD, PhD, President and CEO of Biomira, will present highlights of the Company's product and corporate plans at the Bear Stearns London Healthcare Conference at the Four Seasons Hotel (London). The presentation will be held on May 10, 2005 from 11:45 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. BST. This presentation will be Web cast. "It has been some time since we've been able to discuss our strategy with the European investment community, and we are looking forward to the opportunity to do so in London," said Alex McPherson, MD, PhD, President and CEO. "Our mission is to build a sustainable and profitable company by bringing patients innovative targeted therapeutics that extend quality and duration of life. We want to show potential investors that we are working to put a plan in place to do just that." Our collaborator for BLP25 Liposome Vaccine (L-BLP25), Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany and we are currently conducting a Phase II, single-arm, multi-centre, open label study of L-BLP25 in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The trial will assess the safety of the formulation of L-BLP25 that we expect to use in the upcoming Phase III study of L-BLP25. This formulation incorporates manufacturing changes intended to secure the future commercial supply of the vaccine. Enrolment of the 20-patient trial involving men and women with NSCLC from eight clinical trial sites in Canada is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2005, with initial results anticipated before the end of 2005. Data obtained in 2004 from the NSCLC Phase IIb trial of L-BLP25 showed the greatest survival advantage in vaccinated patients with Stage IIIB locoregional (LR) disease. The new Phase II trial will include patients with unresectable Stage III disease. Thus, Stage IIIB LR patients will be included as well as, for the first time, patients with Stage IIIA disease. All patients in the Phase II trial must have demonstrated either stable disease or a clinical response after primary therapy of combined modality treatment (chemotherapy and radiation therapy). These same criteria are currently proposed for the upcoming Phase III trial. Data from the 2004 L-BLP25 Phase IIb trial in NSCLC will form the basis for a poster discussion and poster presentation at the upcoming American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting being held in Orlando, FL May 13-17. At the Bear Stearns meeting, Biomira will also be providing updates on out-licensing opportunities with respect to certain Biomira technology. Our Company is seeking a new collaborator for Theratope(R) vaccine. A Phase III study was completed in 2003, with statistically significant data shown in the subset of patients who received concurrent hormonal therapy as part of their treatment with Theratope. Biomira is also actively seeking a collaborator to advance our BGLP40 product candidate, now in late-stage pre-clinical development. BGLP40 is a completely synthetic MUC1-based liposome glycolipopeptide cancer vaccine, and could potentially be used in several cancer indications, including ovarian and breast cancer. BGLP40 liposome vaccine represents an advanced cancer vaccine. The BGLP40 glycolipopeptide combines carbohydrate and peptide determinates in a multi-epitopic vaccine that evokes both cellular and humoral immune responses against major cancer-associated epitopes expressed on adenocarcinomas. We anticipate there will be great interest from potential collaborators to advance this product candidate through clinical development and commercialization. Investors may listen to the Biomira presentation at the Bear Stearns Conference live via a link at http://customer.talkpoint.com/BEAR002/051005a_cy/default.asp?entity(equal sign)biomira. Bear Stearns London Healthcare Conference The Bear Stearns Conference is the premier London based healthcare conference. It attracts significant numbers of institutional investors from every major European financial centre as well as several key US based investors. Over the years, the one-day conference has expanded to host 30 speaking companies, with a simultaneous three track presentation schedule. Last year more than 100 one-on-one meetings took place during the course of the day. The Company Biomira is a biotechnology company specializing in the development of innovative therapeutic approaches to cancer management. Biomira's commitment to the treatment of cancer currently focuses on the development of synthetic vaccines and novel strategies for cancer immunotherapy. We are The Cancer Vaccine People(TM). This release may contain forward-looking statements. Various factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements, including those predicting the timing and results of clinical trials and additional analyses, success in out-licensing, availability or adequacy of financing, the sales and marketing of commercial products or the efficacy of products. Although the Company believes that the forward-looking statements contained herein are reasonable, it can give no assurance that the Company's expectations are correct. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.