EDITEK, Inc. of Burlington, N.C. (AMEX:EDI.EC) has received patent No. 5,202,268 for a one-step assay device using a multi- layer test card. The company works in clinical, drug and food safety testing. (c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.
DNA Plant Technology is marketing its VineSweet tomato, developed through tissue regneration, in Philadelphia and Columbus stores, the company announced Wednesday. A similar version that has been genetically engineered for longer shelf life is planned for commercial launch in late 1994 or early 1995 after regulatory review. The company hopes the version developed through cell culture will provide information about consumer reaction in the $4 billion retail fresh tomato market. In other news
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. -- You can still count on the fingers of one hand (not including thumb) the number of companies dedicated to producing high-value, high-volume proteins in transgenic animals. All four of these major players commercializing pharmaceuticals, respectively, in the milk of cows, sheep and goats, and the blood of pigs, updated the status of their programs here Monday at a workshop on "Transgenic Animal Technology and Food Production" at the Seventh International
A Scottish company that focuses on producing recombinant human proteins in the milk of transgenic livestock has achieved a toehold in the U.S. through its merger with TransPharm Inc. of Blacksburg, Va., announced Tuesday. TransPharm, which has expertise in creating transgenic pigs to produce the blood coagulation factor Protein C, will continue to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of the newly formed Pharmaceutical Proteins Holdings plc. Meanwhile, Pharmaceutical Proteins Ltd. (PPL) of
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced Tuesday that it has signed a $20 million agreement with Kissei Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. to collaborate on developing orally active drugs for treating HIV infection and AIDS. Kissei of Matsumoto City, Japan, will contribute technical assistance and provide funding over three years to support Vertex's research on drugs designed via rational, structure- based methods to inhibit HIV protease, the enzyme required for the virus' replication. Vertex's senior
Biosys has granted exclusive rights to market and distribute its nematode-based products to the commercial turf market in Japan to a joint venture company, SDS Biotech K.K. SDS was formed by Sandoz Ltd. of Switzerland and Showa Denko K.K. of Japan. Biosys (NASDAQ:BIOS) of Palo Alto, Calif., has worked with SDS for three years to confirm the efficacy of Biosys' products to control pests on commercially grown turf, especially golf courses. "In Japan, governmental restrictions on the continued
Sphinx Pharmaceuticals Corp. has formed a joint venture with ICAgen Inc. to treat diseases influenced by the way ions cross cell membranes. Calcium channel blockers are already used to treat hypertension and angina. Other disabling or life-threatening conditions that might be conducive to ion-channel therapies include multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, cancer, osteoporosis and viral infections. ICAgen (Ion Channel Advances), based in North Carolina and formed in 1992, is based on proprietary ion
Telor Ophthalmic Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced Tuesday that it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering of 2.5 million shares of common stock, which it expects to price at $12-14 per share. Alex. Brown & Sons Inc. is the managing underwriter for the offering. Telor of Woburn, Mass., is developing prescription pharmaceuticals for use in ophthalmic surgery and for treating age-related eye diseases. The company has
BLOOD CELLS THAT REMOVE HIV Researchers for Sheffield Medical Technologies Inc. of Houston have completed laboratory studies of a system to use modified red blood cells to remove HIV from circulation. In the studies, red blood cells have the HIV-binding receptor CD4 electrically inserted onto their surface, where free AIDS virus particles can attach, then be broken down when the red blood cell ends its normal life span of about 120 days and is engulfed and dismantled by macrophages. The
Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced a collaboration and expansion Monday. The San Diego pancreatic hormone company (NASDAQ:AMLN) will scale up its recombinant process for bulk intermediate production of an amylin agonist AC137 in an agreement with the Alberta Research Council (ARC) in Edmonton, Canada. AC 137 is the company's first product candidate for the treatment of Type I diabetes. Amylin, a newly discovered pancreatic hormone, may play a role in the regulation of carbohydrate, fat and
Genta Inc. will collaborate with CV Therapeutics Inc. and Stanford University researcher Victor Dzau to develop and commercialize antisense drugs for preventing and treating restenosis, the San Diego company (NASDAQ:GNTA) announced Monday. Dzau, chief of the division of cardiovascular medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, will collaborate with Genta to investigate the mechanisms of restenosis and to identify antisense compounds that may be useful in preventing or treating
Although the papers have yet to be signed, the two biotechnology trade associations are already behaving like a married couple. Staffers are working together and the Association of Biotechnology Companies (ABC) and the Industrial Biotechnology Association (IBA) are speaking with a unified voice as the Clinton administration debates health care reform, said Carl Feldbaum, the new president of the de facto organization. The timing of the merger is propitious; as two voices, the industry's
A private start-up company formed to capitalize on DNA sequencing by hybridization expects a basic patent in this quick sequencing method to issue today. U.S. Patent No. 5,202,231 is being assigned to Hyseq Inc., which incorporated last year in Illinois and has temporary offices in the Chicago law firm of Shefsky & Froelich Ltd., said acting President Robert Weist, who retired from Amgen Inc. as a senior vice president last year after 10 years with that top-tier biotech company. Inventors of
Lidak Pharmaceuticals announced Monday that it has started its third Phase II clinical trial of the anti-viral compound Lidakol for treating oral herpes infections. The double-blind, placebo-controlled U.S.-based trial will test the safety, tolerance and efficacy of Lidakol as a topical treatment for recurrent oral herpes in a minimum of 40 patients, according to Michael Lorber, vice president and chief financial officer of the La Jolla, Calif., company. Lidak initiated two other Phase II
The American Stock Exchange on Monday began trading the first long-term options or LEAPS (long-term equity anticipation securities) on its pharmaceutical index (ASE:DGR). The DRG LEAPS Index is valued at 1/10 the stock exchange's pharmaceutical index. DRG LEAPS have initial expirations of January 1994 and January 1995 and trade as WRG and VRG, respectively. The new LEAPS offer investors an additional way to act on an opinion of the long-term movements of the pharmaceutical industry as a whole
A small human virus that elicits no symptoms is the basis of a new gene therapy company that has just raised its first $2 million in seed capital. Formed by John Monahan, the former vice president of research and development at Somatix Therapy Corp. of Alameda, Calif., Avigen Inc. was incorporated last December in Alameda to focus on treatments for red blood cell disorders such as sickle cell anemia and thalassemias, as well as a treatment for AIDS and chemotherapy drug tolerance. Instead of
Alkermes Inc. announced that it has initiated two U.S. clinical trials evaluating the use of RMP-7, its compound designed to enable drugs to cross the blood-brain barrier. One of the trials, a Phase I/II, will test the ability of RMP-7 to deliver the anti-infective drug amphotericin B to the central nervous systems of patients suffering from cryptococcal meningitis, an AIDS-related opportunistic infection. The second, a Phase I study, will test the safety of RMP-7 in patients with brain tumors
Cellco Inc. and Haemonetics Corp. announced last week that they have entered into an investment and development agreement to determine the feasibility of combining Cellco's cellular therapy systems with Haemonetics' automated blood processing systems to produce an integrated system for cell separation, enhancement and expansion. Haemonetics (NYSE:HAE) of Braintree, Mass., also made an undisclosed equity investment in privately held Cellco of Germantown, Md. The agreement also allows for
Cangene Corp. announced last week that it has been issued U.S. Patent No. 5,200,568 covering its proprietary production system for making recombinant proteins. The patent covers both method and product claims. Cangene's protein manufacturing system, termed Cangenus, uses Streptomyces as host cells to crank out recombinant proteins. The Toronto company claims that this host organism is "especially efficient in producing clean human proteins in biologically active form." The patent covers
Canguard Health Technologies Inc. changed its corporate name to Canguard Pharma Inc. last week. The company retains the same trading symbol on the Vancouver Stock Exchange. Canguard (VSE:CGD) of Vancouver, British Columbia, also announced that it has reorganized its senior management team to reflect new marketing and management responsibilities. John Armstrong, who had been president and chief executive officer, becomes Canguard's chairman of the board and chief scientific officer. Armstrong
EDITEK, Inc. of Burlington, N.C. (AMEX:EDI.EC) has received patent No. 5,202,268 for a one-step assay device using a multi- layer test card. The company works in clinical, drug and food safety testing. (c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.