Atrix Laboratories Inc. said it plans to start two Phase III studies of itsproduct containing doxycycline to treat periodontitis.The Boulder, Colo., company plans to enroll 800 patients over fourmonths, starting in early 1995, John Urheim, Atrix's CEO and vicechairman, told BioWorld. Each subject will be studied eight months,and data should be fully analyzed nine months after that, he said.The drug will be compared in the study to its vehicle, a polymerdelivery system; to scaling and root planing, the current standardtherapy; and conventional oral hygiene.The product uses the company's delivery system, Atrigel, involves apolymer that turns solid when it contacts liquid and can release a drugover time. It releases the anti-microbial doxycycline.A Phase II study comparing sanguinarine vs. the delivery vehicle vs.doxycycline reconfirmed that the equivocacy between the vehicle andsanguinarine, as was shown in an earlier trial, but demonstrateddoxycycline showed statistically significant improvement in three testparameters, Urheim said. _ Jim Shrine

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