Immunex Corp. announced Tuesday that it has received a U.S. patent on its yeast-derived granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), the protein the Seattle company is marketing as Leukine (or Sargramostim). Patent No. 5,229,496 covers "the human GM-CSF protein with a substitution converting the 23rd amino acid from arginine to leucine," explained Mary McConnon, communications specialist at Immunex (NASDAQ:IMNX). It's that substitution that allows the protein to be produced
Gensia Inc. will market and promote its tissue-protecting compound Arasine itself, the company announced Tuesday after discussions with its partner, Marion Merrell Dow Inc. Gensia of San Diego has a 3-year-old technology option and license agreement with MMD to develop oral adenosine regulatory agents (ARAs) for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease. MMD also has the right to negotiate a co-promotion agreement for intravenously adminstered ARAs, including Arasine. MMD "has indicated that
The owner of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology, one of molecular biology's most powerful tools, and its marketing partner have decided to expand their licensing program to accelerate the technology's applications. On Tuesday, Roche Molecular Systems Inc. (RMS) of Branchburg, N.J., and the Perkin-Elmer Corp. of Norwalk, Conn., announced that they have licensed to Boehringer Mannheim the worldwide rights to manufacture and sell Taq DNA polymerase and other thermostable enzymes and
Researchers at Sphinx Pharmaceuticals Corp. have isolated a naturally occurring metabolite that could represent a new class of protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitors, the Durham, N.C. company announced Monday. The scientists isolated the compound, balanol, from the fungus Verticillium balanoides , which grows on pine needle litter in North Carolina forests. They have determined its chemical structure and activity (as reported in the current issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society
Lidak Pharmaceuticals on Tuesday announced preliminary results of a Phase II pilot study of its herpes drug Lidakol. The study, conducted in Europe by the company's partner, Brocades Pharma b.v., investigated 68 patients with herpes labialis, also known as fever blisters or cold sores. Preliminary results in the double-blind, placebo-controlled trial showed that early application of Lidakol cut the duration of the episodes nearly in half. The treated group's average outbreak period was 3.4
The corporate partnership formed between biotechnology leader Amgen Inc. and neurotech hopeful Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. in the fall of 1990 has begun to bear fruit. Amgen on Monday announced that it has filed an investigational new drug application (IND) on the partnership's first drug ready for the clinic: brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) for treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Amgen-Regeneron Partners has conducted preclinical
Gary Frashier, president and chief executive officer of Oncogene Science Inc. (NASDAQ:ONCS), has been elected to chair the board of directors of biotechnology start-up Apollo Genetics Inc. The company anticipates that Frashier's "broad experience in financing and partnering in the biopharmaceutical field" will provide it guidance in these early days, according to Katherine Gordon, Apollo's president and chief executive officer. Gordon, who had been an associate scientific director at Genzyme
Cygnus Therapeutic Systems announced Monday that the Canadian Health Protection Branch has approved for sale its Nicotrol nicotine transdermal system. The Parke-Davis division of Warner-Lambert Canada Inc. and Jouveinal Canada Inc. will sell the prescription product in Canada. Cygnus (NASDAQ:CYGN) designed, developed and manufactures Nicotrol, which employs a solid state technology to construct the drug matrix. The Redwood City, Calif., company said that this slows the rate of drug delivery
Apoptosis -- or the lack of it -- has been implicated in a number of disease states. Many researchers, for example, now feel that cancer occurs not when the affected cells proliferate unchecked, but rather when they refuse to give in to the natural, programmed cell death of apoptosis. Apoptosis also has been cited as a factor in AIDS, in that HIV kills not only the T cells that it has infected, but also prompts uninfected ones to commit suicide. Other studies have suggested that during a
Shareholders of Genetics Institute Inc.'s (GI) convertible exchangeable preferred stock have overwhelmingly elected to take the option of converting those shares into a combination of cash and depositary shares, the Cambridge, Mass., company announced last week. The shareholders had also been offered a straight cash conversion. Approximately 99 percent of GI's exchangeable shares will be converted to a combination of cash and depositary shares, each of which represents one share of the company
Lidak Pharmaceuticals has licensed Lidakol to CTS Chemical Industries Ltd. in Kiryat Malachi, Israel, for regulatory approval, manufacture, promotion and distribution in Israel. Lidak (NASDAQ:LDAKA) of La Jolla, Calif., has started its third Phase II trial of Lidakol in herpes infections. (c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.
Telios Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced Monday that its Japanese development partner, Ono Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., has decided not to pursue additional clinical development of OcuNex ophthalmic solution for treating corneal wounds associated with severe dry eye. Apparently, the Phase II trial results suggested product efficacy, but were not compelling enough to convince Ono of Osaka that continued product development made good economic sense. "Ono's option on OcuNex in Japan, South Korea and
Oncor Inc. of Gaithersburg, Md., has exclusively licensed from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia DNA probes that can identify people with congenital heart malformations that are due to an inherited abnormality of chromosome 22. The hospital serves as a human genome center for chromosome 22. Through the license, Oncor will begin to build a position in cardiovascular genetic tests to assess risk of disease onset and of passing a trait on to offspring. Oncor (NASDAQ:ONCR) makes tests to detect
International Murex Technologies Corp. announced Friday that it has closed the sale of 710,800 units, grossing $3.7 million. The Canadian company, which recently moved its headquarters to Norcross, Ga., began selling the units on July 7 outside the U.S. to "non-U.S. persons and institutions," primarily in Europe. This placement was faster than going through U.S. registration, said spokeswoman Marcia Young, especially for a relatively small financing. The money will be used for general
WASHINGTON -- Gene sequences with unknown utility and function should not be patented, scientists from 16 countries agreed. The National Institutes of Health created a controversy last winter when it attempted to patent such sequences. The scientists, including C. Thomas Caskey of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, were attending a workshop on "International Research Implications of DNA Patents" at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) last week. While they had no
A 63-year-old man involved in a Phase II clinical trial of the experimental hepatitis B drug fialuridine (FIAU) received a liver transplant on Monday. His post-operative condition was reported as critical. Meanwhile, a 37-year-old woman who received a liver transplant on July 9 was upgraded from critical to serious condition. So far, three people have died from a syndrome that investigators believe is linked to mitochondrial dysfunction caused by FIAU. Of the remaining five patients who took
A disastrous Phase II clinical trial of the experimental hepatitis B drug fialuridine (FIAU) claimed another victim on Friday when a 52-year-old man died before he was able to receive a liver transplant. He was the third person to succumb from a syndrome that investigators believe is linked to mitochondrial dysfunction caused by FIAU (see chart below). William Stevenson, director of liver transplantation at the University of Virginia, where four of the FIAU patients have been transferred, said
Mycogen Corp. and Ciba Seeds have entered into a cross-license agreement and research collaboration to develop corn hybrids that resist insects. Ciba is the first company to be granted an experimental use permit for large-scale field trials for transgenic corn, and has introduced an insecticidal Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) gene into corn plants to confer resistance to the European corn borer, a moth whose larvae burrow and feed inside the plant stalks. Mycogen (NASDAQ:MYCO) of San Diego will
WASHINGTON -- The Biotechnology Patent Protection Act, sponsored by Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz., was passed unanimously in the Senate last week after earlier receiving unanimous support from the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill would extend patent protection to processes that might otherwise be defined as "obvious" and therefore unpatentable. European and Japanese laws already provide such protection. "Thursday's actions by the Senate will help the United States maintain its leadership
WASHINGTON -- According to a Louis Harris poll released today, a random sampling of American adults believe (57-34 percent) that the risks of genetic engineering outweigh the benefits. Besides attitudes toward genetic engineering, respondents were asked questions concerning the portrayal of genetic engineering in the movie Jurassic Park and whether the movie should be seen by young children. "A 60-36 percent majority of all adults believe that it is very likely or somewhat likely that animals
Immunex Corp. announced Tuesday that it has received a U.S. patent on its yeast-derived granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), the protein the Seattle company is marketing as Leukine (or Sargramostim). Patent No. 5,229,496 covers "the human GM-CSF protein with a substitution converting the 23rd amino acid from arginine to leucine," explained Mary McConnon, communications specialist at Immunex (NASDAQ:IMNX). It's that substitution that allows the protein to be produced