A toxin-clearing technology for treating a leading cause ofkidney failure in children, developed at the Alberta ResearchCouncil, has been licensed to a British Columbia biomedicalcompany, Legacy Ability Products and Services Inc.

Based in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Legacy has receivedworldwide marketing rights to Synsorb-P, a treatment basedon oligosaccharide-coated porous particles, which bind toxinscreated in hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUB) and flush thepoisons into the urine.

HUB, also known as "hamburger disease," is caused by an E. colistrain present in up to 60 percent of uncooked beef. It can alsobe found in unpasteurized milk or cheese and contaminatedwater.

The syndrome poses a substantial threat to children, who canexperience acute or chronic kidney failure as a result ofexposure to this E. coli strain.

The Canadian Pediatric Kidney Disease Reference Centre has anongoing three-year study of HUB in children in 19 Canadianmedical centers, and will collaborate on clinical trials ofSynsorb-P in HUB.

Legacy is seeking funding or a joint venture partner to fundPhase I trials, which are expected to cost some $650,000 andbe completed by the end of 1993.

Legacy is required to fund both Phase I and II trials andcomplete product registration to acquire worldwide rights tothe product, which may also have promise as an inexpensivemedication for cholera and travelers' diarrhea.

The Alberta Research Council has an option to acquire a total of300,000 shares of Legacy, of which 100,000 are exercisable at$1.75 per share. The company trades on the Vancouver stockexchange and has 4 million shares outstanding. It has projectedsales of $2 million this year for such durable medical goods aswheelchairs and rehabilitation products.

When Legacy spends approximately $650,000 in U.S. dollars, itwill get 25 percent of net royalties received by the agencyfrom Synsorb-P licenses. -- Nancy Garcia

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