Seeking faster development of its lead cancer therapeutic inEurope, ImmunoGen Inc. has regained European rights toOncolysin B from its partner, Roussel-Uclaf.

The mutual decision was amicable and involved no money,ImmunoGen spokesman Mark Ratner said.

The companies entered a partnership in 1989, believingRoussel-Uclaf of Romainville, France, would increase itsoncology activities. The French partner began a Phase I/II trialin the fall of 1991 in relapsed patients stricken by B-celllymphoma. But enrollment was not completed and the trial willprobably be dropped, Ratner said, in favor of a new Europeantrial in patients who are in remission.

Also, ImmunoGen of Cambridge, Mass., is interested inexpanding indications for this product to AIDS-relatedlymphoma.

As Roussel-Uclaf prepares for its acquisition by Rhone-PoulencRorer, its research priorities have been newly revised,explained Mitchel Sayare, ImmunoGen's chairman and chiefexecutive officer.

"Both parties have carried out their responsibilities under theagreement with great professionalism," he said.

Oncolysin B, an immunoconjugate, is in Phase III clinical trialsin the U.S. for use as post-remission consolidation therapy inpatients with minimal residual disease. -- Nancy Garcia

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