Human Genome Sciences (HGS) announced Thursday that it hasformed a strategic alliance with pharmaceutical giantSmithKline Beecham (NYSE:SBH) to collaborate in large-scalegene sequencing and to convert those data garnered from thehuman genome into therapeutic drugs and vaccines, as well asdisease diagnostics.

SmithKline of Philadelphia will receive exclusive worldwiderights to therapeutic, vaccine and diagnostic products andservices developed from gene sequence data identified throughthe collaboration.

But HGS's contribution to the collaboration is more than justsequencing DNA. "This is a joint research collaboration,"emphasized William Haseltine, the newly appointed chiefexecutive officer of privately held HGS of Rockville, Md. "Ourgoal is to create products -- to identify genes and thendetermine their utility either for therapeutic treatment or fordiagnostic purposes," Haseltine told BioWorld.

For SmithKline, the collaboration "places SB at the forefront ofmolecular genetics, which is fundamental for future success" indeveloping products to detect, prevent and treat humandisease, said George Poste, the chairman of R&D for SBPharmaceuticals.

The agreement between SmithKline and HGS also includesapplications for developing body imaging products, devices andbiosensor technology, plus applications for computing andanimal health.

HGS will receive royalties on sales of products in the humanand animal health fields, will be able to co-promote certainproducts, and retains the rights to the use of genetic data forapplications in gene therapy and the design of antisense agents.As well, HGS has the option to develop certain human andanimal health product opportunities that SmithKline elects notto pursue.

Data outside the areas of interest of either collaborator will bemade available to third parties on a fair and equitable basis.This philosophy is part and parcel of the not-for-profitresearch institute, the Institute for Genomic Research, that HGSsupports.

The whole structure was set up by Wallace Steinberg and hisassociates at Healthcare Investment Corp. (HIC) of Edison, N.J.,who in the summer of 1992 lured genome sequencer andresearcher J. Craig Venter from the National Institute ofNeurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes ofHealth to head the Institute for Genomic Research, located inGermantown, Md., with the ambitious goal of discovering morethan half the human genome within five years.

Betting that at least some of the sequences generated byVenter and his associates would lead to the development oftherapeutic or diagnostic products, HIC set up the companyHuman Genome Sciences, through which it is funding theInstitute -- initially at $70 million -- and to which will go allrights to the institute's potential products.

Although the goal was for HGS to pursue commercialization ofpharmaceutical products based on proprietary informationdeveloped by the institute, all basic scientific discoveries wereto be made available to the scientific community.

-- Jennifer Van Brunt Senior Editor

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