Poniard Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology, today announced treatment of the first patient with picoplatin in its pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial in small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Picoplatin, the Company’s lead product candidate, is a new generation platinum therapy with an improved safety profile designed to overcome and prevent platinum resistance associated with chemotherapy in solid tumors. The Phase 3 trial, known as SPEAR (Study of Picoplatin Efficacy After Relapse), received a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) agreement from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).