Marrow-Tech Inc. on Monday announced initial results from clinical tests of its living skin replacement, which is performing well in helping to heal burns without prompting rejection. The results, presented Saturday at the International Symposium on Wound Healing and Wound Management in Chicago, showed that the living dermal replacement can allow consistent growth of a patent's own skin over the graft, without infection or evidence of rejection by the immune system. To date, more than 30
Biocine Co.'s gp120 AIDS vaccine will be tested for the first time in people in a Phase I trial to begin at San Francisco General Hospital (SFG) this week. Biocine, a joint venture between Chiron Corp. of Emeryville, Calif., and Ciba-Geigy Ltd. of Basel, Switzerland, manufactures the vaccine, a recombinant version of a viral coat protein. The recombinant gp120 was designed from a strain of HIV called SF2 isolated at the University of California, San Francisco. In animal studies, the protein
A blood concentrate purified with a monoclonal antibody to Factor VIII, the protein required to treat the most common form of hemophilia, may help hemophiliacs infected with HIV remain free of AIDS symptoms, according to a clinical study in Italy. Using 20 infected but asymptomatic hemophiliacs randomly assigned to either antibody-purified or a less pure concentrate, the research team at a Naples hospital found that the group given the purified concentrate did not deteriorate over the 96-week
Fruit ripening can be blocked by antisense RNA directed at the gene for ethylene production in tomatoes, according to scientists at the University of California, Berkeley. Ethylene is the agent that turns fruit soft and ripe. Key to ethylene formation within fruit is the synthesis of an enzyme to form the gas. Researchers at the university's Plant Gene Expression Center placed antisense RNA, derived from the sequence of the gene that codes for the rate limiting enzyme, into tomato plants to
Idexx Laboratories Inc., a developer of veterinary immunoassays, has acquired Fermenta Animal Health Co.'s diagnostics business for an undisclosed amount of cash. Fermenta, which is owned by Fermenta Netherlands B.V. and is based in Kansas City, Mo., markets tests for equine infectious anemia, pseudorabies, feline leukemia, canine parvovirus and canine heartworm. Idexx of Portland, Maine, sold 1.6 million shares for $15 in an initial public offering in June. Idexx stock (NASDAQ:IDXX) closed at
Closing arguments in the patent trial between Xoma Corp. and Centocor Inc., scheduled to begin on Monday, have been rescheduled to begin today. The trial in U.S. District Court in San Francisco was delayed when a major fire in the Oakland- Berkeley Hills prevented some jurors from reaching the courthouse. Xoma and Centocor have competing antibody products to treat gram-negative sepsis. Xoma stock (NASDAQ:XOMA) rose $1.25 on Monday to close at $16.50. Centocor (NASDAQ:CNTO) dropped $2, closing at
Scientists at Cortech Inc. in Denver have developed antagonists to kinins that have shown an ability in animal models to prevent death from septic shock. Kinins are made in many tissues and have potent properties in common, most notably that they produce pain and inflammation. Bradykinin is the best-known, and is implicated in many diseases, including arthritis, pancreatitis, circulatory shock, migraine, psoriasis and asthma. Cortech presented data on its kinin blockers at a September
Oncotech Inc. will perform in vitro drug activity tests on individual patient's kidney cancer tissue at reduced rates under an agreement announced Monday with the National Kidney Cancer Association, an organization of patients and physicians. The tests will help doctors plan patient-specific cancer therapy. There are 25,000 new cases of kidney cancer diagnosed annually in the United States and 10,300 Americans die from the disease each year. Kidney cancer is highly resistant to chemotherapy
Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Friday that it has signed an agreement with Eisai Co. Ltd., granting Eisai an exclusive license in Japan to develop and market an Isis antisense drug to treat ocular and genital herpes infections. Under the terms of the agreement, Isis will receive a "substantial" up-front licensing fee and milestone payments, said Chief Executive Officer Dr. Stanley Crooke. "Milestone payments for the two indications will generate significant revenues for Isis in the next several
A monoclonal antibody developed in collaboration by Repligen Corp. and Merck & Co. Inc. has shown promise as an anti- infective against HIV in a chimpanzee study. Repligen said Friday the result "indicates it may be feasible to develop an anti-infective to prevent HIV in humans." A chimpanzee injected with infectious doses of HIV-1 and then infused with monoclonal antibody to the V3 loop of the virus has remained free of HIV infection since the test was begun in March. A control animal exposed
Chiron Corp. told BioWorld on Friday that it hopes to send to shareholders within about 10 days its proxy statement on the proposed merger with Cetus Corp. If the proxy is mailed about Oct. 28, the shareholder's meeting to approve the merger would be held late in the first week of December, said Chiron spokesman Larry Kurtz. The Emeryville, Calif., company has sent a copy to the Securities and Exchange Commission for final approval. Since Oct. 10, Chiron stock has been trading above the $49 to
Cephalon Inc. has received a notice of allowance from the Patent and Trademark Office on a patent application for the use of IGF-1 to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. West Chester, Pa.-based Cephalon is developing insulin-like growth factor under the name Myotrophin to treat ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The disease, a progressive nervous system disorder, affects about 30,000 people in the United States and has no known cause or cure. Preclinical studies indicate that Myotrophin
Icos Corp. has entered into a five-year joint research agreement with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory to initiate collaborations related to cell activation and cell metabolism, the company said Friday. The deal is "an umbrella agreement to cover project-related financing," said Janice LeCocq, executive vice president for finance and administration at Icos. The program will be funded by Icos and managed jointly with CSHL. Icos will have the option to license inventions arising from the
Donald E. O'Neill has been elected chairman of Nova Pharmaceutical Corp., succeeding John Lloyd Huck, who will remain as a director. O'Neill was executive vice president and chairman of international operations for Warner-Lambert Co. until his retirement this year. Baltimore-based Nova Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ:NOVX) is focused on treatments for central nervous system disorders and inflammation. Dr. Alex McPherson has been appointed president and chief executive officer of Biomira Inc. of Edmonton
Centocor Inc. said Friday that its Myoscint cardiac imaging agent will be reviewed on Nov. 26 by the Food and Drug Administration's biological response modifiers advisory committee. The committee will discuss the use of Myoscint as an adjunct to the diagnosis of myocardial infarct. Myoscint, which is sold in eight European countries, is a radiolabeled imaging agent that uses a fragment of a monoclonal antibody to seek out and bind to dead heart tissue. Malvern, Pa.-based Centocor expects to
Somatix Therapy Corp. on Thursday announced that it intends to merge with GeneSys Therapeutic Corp., a start-up gene therapy company headed by former Amgen President Harry Hixson Jr., in a deal worth about $22 million. Impetus for the deal came from the venture group Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, said Hixson, who will become chairman of the merged company. "We were out pursuing classic venture capital financing, and they were concerned the field had become too fragmented," Hixson told
Amgen Inc. on Thursday released results for the third quarter ended Sept. 30 that showed continued strong sales of its Epogen and Neupogen products. Epogen erythropoietin sales totaled $112.2 million, compared with $73 million for the 1990 quarter. More than 100,000 kidney dialysis patients in the United States are now using the drug. Sales of Neupogen granulocyte colony stimulating factor, which began this year, were $59.7 million, compared with second-quarter sales of $33.4 million. Based on
Cambridge Biotech Corp. has raised $25.6 million through a secondary public offering of 3.3 million shares of common stock at $7.75 per share. The company's stock (NASDAQ:CBCX) closed unchanged on Thursday at $8.25. The Worcester, Mass., company said Thursday that the offering was increased from an anticipated 3 million shares. After the offering, the developer of products to detect, prevent and treat infectious diseases will have 21.4 million shares outstanding. Underwriter Sutro & Co. has a
Immunex Corp. said Thursday that it is starting Phase I clinical trials in sarcoma patients of PIXY321, a genetically engineered protein that stimulates the growth of white blood cells and platelets. Immunex said it hopes the "second-generation" colony stimulating factor will help patients suffering from chemotherapy or radiation therapy-induced blood disorders. These treatments may induce neutropenia, a decrease in the white blood cell count that can lead to infections, and thrombocytopenia
Celtrix Laboratories Inc. has begun a Phase II trial of its wound-healing growth factor as an aid in repairing a form of detached retinas, the Palo Alto, Calif., company announced Thursday. The multicenter clinical study is an extension of an investigator-sponsored investigational new drug study that used different doses of transforming growth factor (TGF) beta. The agent was placed on the detached, macular portion of the retina during an eye operation that is used to treat the condition known
Marrow-Tech Inc. on Monday announced initial results from clinical tests of its living skin replacement, which is performing well in helping to heal burns without prompting rejection. The results, presented Saturday at the International Symposium on Wound Healing and Wound Management in Chicago, showed that the living dermal replacement can allow consistent growth of a patent's own skin over the graft, without infection or evidence of rejection by the immune system. To date, more than 30