Alpha Therapeutic Corp. was given approval to conduct a PhaseII/III trial of a radiolabeled antibody, which it calls Oncolym, inpatients with non-Hodgkin's B-cell lymphoma who are refractory tochemotherapy.Techniclone International Corp., of Tustin, Calif., licensed themarketing rights for Oncolym to Alpha Therapeutic, of LosAngeles, for North, South and Central America, parts of Europe andmost of Asia. Techniclone will supply the product for trials andcommercial use."This is the first radioimmunotherapy product to make it to thislevel" of clinical development in a therapeutic application, LonStone, Techniclone's chairman and CEO, told BioWorld. Theantibody, which had been called LYM-1, was licensed fromNorthwestern University in Illinois.The antibody, labeled with I-131, a radioactive iodine, will beinfused intravenously at monthly intervals for four months. Thetrials, expected to have 100 patients, will not include a controlgroup. Stone said they will start in about four weeks and involve 20to 25 centers."We're looking for complete remission and partial remission,"which Stone described as greater than 50 percent tumor reduction.He said a European trial with a similar protocol is expected to getunder way in six months.Stone said in a Phase II trial with 15 patients, seven had completeremission of tumors, and that, on average, the patients remainedtumor-free for nearly a year.Techniclone also has a monoclonal antibody technology, calledtumor necrosis therapy, for delivering antibodies to interiors oftumors. It already has done imaging trials for that agent, Stone said._ Jim Shrine

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