Sensus Drug Development Corp. licensed worldwide rights to humangrowth hormone receptor antagonists (GHA) from Genentech Inc. fordevelopment of drugs for disorders such as vascular eye diseases,diabetic nephropathy, restenosis, cancer and acromegaly.

Robert Butz, president and chief operating officer of Sensus, saidfinancial details of the collaboration are not being disclosed. Sensus,of Austin, Texas, will pay Genentech for production of GHAs forpreclinical and clinical research. Genentech, of South San Francisco,will participate in development of drug candidates and will receiveroyalties and equity in privately held Sensus.

Genentech's GHAs are designed to block production of excessivehuman growth hormones, which can lead to a variety of disorders.

Butz said Sensus, which recently opened an operations center in SanBruno, Calif., intends to market a GHA drug for acromegaly, a formof gigantism.

For diseases such as cancer, which represent larger markets, Butzsaid Sensus will seek corporate partners to commercializetherapeutics.

Sensus, an affiliate of Texas-based Innovations in DrugDevelopment, was founded in 1993 with technology from OhioUniversity's Edison Biotechnology Institute in Athens. Thetechnology involves the discovery of an amino acid in human growthhormone that, when altered, converts the hormone from receptoractivator to blocker. _ Charles Craig

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