Hybridon Inc. said Monday it signed a lease for a 36,000-square-footmanufacturing facility in Milford, Mass., to produce materials neededfor clinical trials of its antisense oligonucleotide compounds.The Worcester, Mass., company signed a 10-year lease on the facility,and will put another $5 million to $7 million into refitting andequipment, Doug Jensen, Hybridon's vice president of administrationand communications, told BioWorld. He said the move will be made instages, probably starting in June."Clearly, we feel very strongly about the future of antisensetechnology," Jensen said.GEM 91, Hybridon's lead antisense compound for the treatment ofAIDS and HIV infection, is in Phase I trials in France and will begin aPhase Ia trial in the U.S. within a few weeks, the company said.In 1993, Hybridon produced about a kilogram of material needed forits trials. "In the new facility we'll be able to do 3 kilograms permonth," and with technological advances, "our goal would be to rampthis plant up to commercial status," Jensen said. _ Jim Shrine

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