Astral Inc., a subsidiary of Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp.(NASDAQ:ALLP), announced Wednesday that it has entered intoagreements with two medical research institutions regardingtechnologies to develop antigenized antibody molecules andsmall biomimetic analogs of ligands.

Alliance of San Diego has funded research on antigenizedantibodies conducted by Constantin Bona of the Mount SinaiSchool of Medicine in New York for the past seven years. Astralwill now take over the project's sponsorship.

Separately, Astral has entered into a licensing agreement withthe University of Pennsylvania on certain technologiesdeveloped by researcher Mark Greene relating to thestructure-based design of drugs for treating cancer andinflammation.

Astral will also provide $500,000 annually for the next threeyears to support Greene's research.

"Astral intends to seek co-development agreements on certainof its lead compounds, including a topical anti-inflammatory, amolecule directed against erbB2-positive breast cancer and anovel approach to vaccine development," said Duane Roth,Alliance's chief executive officer.

(c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.