Allelix Biopharmaceuticals Inc., a Canadian biotech companythat has concentrated on developing therapeutics, announcedFriday that it is branching into the diagnostics market withnew imaging agents for inflammation -- and a company todevelop them.

The new entity, Resolution Pharmaceuticals Inc., was formedjointly by Allelix and Nordion International Inc., a radioisotopemanufacturer and distributor that commands 70 percent to 80percent of the world market of Technetium 99m, according toDavid Matthews, Allelix's director of finance. The companiesdid not disclose the financial terms of the venture.

Matthews told BioWorld that peptides make better moleculesfor delivering imaging isotopes to the targeted tissue thanmonoclonal antibodies because they are cleared from the bodyfaster and are cheaper to produce.

Monoclonal antibodies are large, complex molecules, and assuch, they tend to break down and be cleared from the bodyslowly, said Matthews, meaning that it will be one to two daysbefore it is possible to image the bound radioactive antibodiesclearly. In contrast, he explained, the smaller peptides arecleared quickly enough that its possible to do the diagnosticimaging in a matter of minutes to hours. Otherwise, "thepeptide serves the same function as the monoclonal bytargeting the site one wants."

Allelix targets the peptides by designing them to bind tosurface receptors on cells that are present at the site ofinflammation.

"There are always unique cell receptors at these sites," saidMatthews. "We have to design a new peptide for every type ofinflammation."

Company scientists use computer-aided drug design to assistthem in this task, and they have developed a proprietarytechnology for linking the peptides to the imaging isotope Tc99m.

Matthews said that most of the peptides that the Mississauga,Ontario, company is working with are from 15 to 20 aminoacids long, although "you can get a high degree of uniquenessonce you get above seven to eight amino acids."

Matthews said that small peptides are also inexpensive toproduce, and it's possible to get "more lead compounds in lesstime (than for monoclonals)."

Allelix raised $21.8 million (C$25 million) in an IPO in Canadalast December. Today, it has $25.4 million (C$32 million) in cashand should come close to breaking even this year, Matthewssaid. He projected that the company has enough cash now tolast three and a half years, based partly on 1992 expendituresof $9.2 million (C$11 million).

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