Collagen Corp. announced Wednesday that it acquiredworldwide exclusive rights to a patent covering an injectablecollagen derived from human placenta for soft tissueaugmentation.

Collagen of Palo Alto, Calif., whose existing products are mostlyderived from bovine collagen, sees the agreement as one wayto address the needs of the 1 percent to 3 percent of thehumans who have allergic reactions to bovine collagen, saidDavid Foster, Collagen's vice president and chief financialofficer.

An allergic reaction is not always immediate in patients, hesaid. "If a person wants to make absolutely sure they are notallergic (to bovine collagen), then human collagen could be theanswer," Foster said.

The agreement with the Research Development Foundation(RDF) of Carson City, Nev., also grants Collagen an exclusiveoption to acquire licensing rights to other unspecified medicaltechnologies. No financial terms were disclosed. RDF is affiliatedwith Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Human collagen could become the product of choice forinjectable collagen treatments, although the cost of human-sourced collagen would need to decline before such a productgained a large market share, Foster said.

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