ImmunoGen Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., has named Robert Connaughton Jr. general counsel and John Knox director of human resources. Connaughton had been president and chief operating officer of BancIreland/First Financial Inc. Knox came to ImmunoGen from Procept Inc., where he was also director of human resources. Anthony Chan has been appointed chief financial officer at Cygnus Therapeutic Systems Inc. He had been corporate controller of the Redwood City, Calif., company. VitaMed Inc., a Seattle
Schering-Plough Corp. has reiterated its commitment to the research collaboration it established with Cephalon Inc. on therapeutics for Alzheimer's disease by making a scheduled yearly payment of $4 million, Cephalon announced today. The companies agreed in May 1990 to collaborate for five years on programs to develop new drugs to treat Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative disorders. Schering-Plough (NYSE:SGP) was to provide $20 million to Cephalon of West Chester, Pa., over that period. The
The technology that underlies DNA Plant Technology Corp.'s (DNAP) next generation of tomatoes is now subject to a patent allowance notification that applies to all plants, not just the petunias in which "transwitch" gene suppression was first developed. The technology underlies the Cinnaminson, N.J., company's next generation of Vinesweet tomatoes. Versions launched this spring have been produced through somaclonal variation. Coming up next are tomatoes of the same strain in which "transwitch
On the heels of a Nature Genetics article describing a way to obtain fully human antibodies from mice, GenPharm International Inc. is announcing today a collaboration with Eisai Co. Ltd. that could be worth up to $25 million. The collaboration will focus on developing a specific human antibody target for an unnamed target. Research and milestone payments would total $25 million if all benchmarks are met and the product receives approval in Japan for therapeutic use. In return, Eisai will
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A non-invasive test for bladder cancer developed by Matritech Inc. will begin clinical trials within two weeks. Stephen Chubb, the Cambridge company's founder, president and CEO, made this announcement here Tuesday at a conference on "Technology Products in the '90s" that was sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Chubb spoke on a panel called "Strategies for Accessing and Commercializing Government-Sponsored Research in a New Era." He took Matritech
Former Massachusetts Sen. Paul Tsongas, who is currently a partner in the Boston law firm of Foley, Hoag & Eliot, was elected chairman of the board of directors of the non-profit Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, located in Cambridge, Mass. The new vice chair of the Whitehead board is Susan Whitehead, daughter of the Institute's founder and wife of Mitchel Sayare, chairman and chief executive officer of ImmunoGen Inc. Albert Angel has joined the board of directors of Immunomedics Inc
WASHINGTON -- The rumor mill has been working overtime over the process of naming Bernadine Healy's successor as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Harold Varmus has been billed -- on and occasionally off -- as the front runner. The Nobel Prize winner in medicine in 1989 for his co- discovery with colleague Michael Bishop of oncogenes has some highly refined qualifications for the job. His scientific skills fit the health agency's mission of basic biomedical research, as well
CAMBRIDGE, Mass G- Without apologies to Shakespeare, John Abele, co-chairman of Boston Scientific Corp., flashed on the screen at the MIT conference here "The Seven Stages in the Evolution of an Idea:" 1. Idea stage: "Won't work. Been tried before." 2. Successful experiments in animals: "Won't work in man." 3. After one successful clinical patient: "Very lucky!" 4. After four or five clinical successes: "Highly experimental, too risky, immoral, unethical. I understand they've had a number of
Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. recently received U.S. Patent No. 5,218,105 on novel synthesis methods for oligonucleotide analogs. The Carlsbad, Calif., company (NASDAQ:ISIP) said the patent extends and expands Isis' proprietary position in oligonucleotide therapeutic development. The patent follows U.S. Patent No. 5,138,045, issued in August 1992, which covers 5-prime polyamine-conjugated oligonucleotide analogs. TRIPLEX GETS EUROPEAN PATENT Triplex Pharmaceutical Corp. has received a patent from
Repligen Corp. announced Tuesday that it has initiated two separate Phase I/II clinical trials on Replistatin, its recombinant platelet factor-4 (rPF4), for inhibiting tumor growth in colon carcinoma, metastatic malignant melanoma and renal cell carcinoma. The colon carcinoma trial is an open-label study involving nine to 12 patients, who will be infused with varying doses of rPF4. The other open-label trial will enroll from nine to 15 patients with either metastatic malignant melanoma or renal
Cellex Biosciences Inc. has received a $500,000 Phase II small business innovation research grant (SBIR) from the National Cancer Institute to adapt the company's Oxycell bioreactor into its commercial-scale protein production system, Acusyst. The Minneapolis company (NASDAQ: CLXX) provides cell processing products and services. (c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.
CytoTherapeutics Inc. has begun the first human clinical trial for its CereCRIB implant for severe chronic pain. The initial safety trial is taking place with seriously ill patients at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois in Lausanne, Switzerland. Patrick Aebischer, who is conducting the trial, invented the encapsulation technology licensed to the company and is a professor of surgery and director of surgical research at the study center, as well as professor of biomaterials at Brown
In a Monday meeting with more than a dozen top biotech industry leaders held in San Francisco, Vice President Al Gore underscored the administration's commitment to protecting U.S. leadership in biotechnology. The meeting was organized by Robertson Stephens & Co. and several biotechnology industry executives, including G. Kirk Raab, chairman of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and chief executive officer of Genentech Inc. The organizers hoped to be able to share with the vice
As part of its ongoing effort to streamline the drug approval process, the FDA has contracted Quintiles Inc. to come up with standardized terminology for use in the voluminous documents on medical products -- for both humans and animals -- submitted for regulatory review. The contract, worth as much as $6.9 million, is for a total of five years, with a base period of three years and two renewals of one year each. Quintiles, a contract research organization located in Research Triangle Park, N
IGI Inc. received U.S. Patent No. 5,219,538, allowing perfluorocarbon compounds to be encapsulated in Novasomer lipid vescles. The Buena, N.J., company (ASE:IG) said encapsulation makes perfluorocarbons potentially more useful for applications ranging from radioimaging and hemoglobin substitution to cosmetics. The inert compounds are not soluble in water or lipid so they are hard to apply to the skin, swallow or inject without encapsulation. (c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights
Protein Design Labs Inc. announced that its human antibody against cytomegalovirus (CMV) received orphan drug status from the FDA for treatment of CMV retinitis in AIDS patients and for prevention of CMV infections in patients undergoing organ transplantation. The Mountain View, Calif., company (NASDAQ:PDLI) also received orphan drug status for its human antibody against hepatitis B for prophylaxis of hepatitis B reinfections in patients undergoing liver transplantation secondary to end- stage
Ophidian Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Madison, Wis., has received a $500,000 Phase II small business innovation research (SBIR) grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to continue development of antitoxins against lethal food toxins including botulilinum, which causes botulism. The private company also received a $50,000 Phase I SBIR grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop an antidote for Africanized "killer" bee stings. The company's "anti-venom" technology was initially
Sepracor Inc. announced Monday that it has formed a marketing alliance with Beckman Instruments Inc. (NYSE:BEC), under which Beckman will sell Sepracor's Hyper Diffusion liquid chromatography (HDLC) media to the research community. Moreover, Beckman will produce for Sepracor (NASDAQ:SEPR) a high-speed process development system, the ProSys Workstation, which Sepracor of Marlborough, Mass., will combine with its HyperD chromatography media and family of scale-up bioprocessing systems to provide
Warren Pinckert II was appointed president and chief executive officer of Cholestech Corp. Pinckert has been with the Hayward, Calif., company since 1989, most recently as executive vice president of operations and chief financial officer. Meanwhile, outgoing Cholestech president and CEO Edward Erickson has taken on a new post as president and CEO of DepoTech Corp. of La Jolla, Calif., a privately held developer of systems for sustained-release drug delivery. Biogen Inc. of Cambridge, Mass
Researchers wondering how bone is resorbed have a new tool in a genetically altered mouse whose cultured cells can proliferate continuously, then be coaxed to form mature bone- absorbing osteoclasts for study. The resulting osteoclasts appear to be 50 to 300 times more efficient in absorbing bone than previous cell lines. Bone resorbtion is important in osteoporosis, a weakening, progressive condition. Resorbtion occurs naturally during growth as new bone is continually sculpted by sets of
ImmunoGen Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., has named Robert Connaughton Jr. general counsel and John Knox director of human resources. Connaughton had been president and chief operating officer of BancIreland/First Financial Inc. Knox came to ImmunoGen from Procept Inc., where he was also director of human resources. Anthony Chan has been appointed chief financial officer at Cygnus Therapeutic Systems Inc. He had been corporate controller of the Redwood City, Calif., company. VitaMed Inc., a Seattle