Telios Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced that its productdevelopment partner, Genentech Inc. of South San Francisco,Calif., had returned the worldwide rights to its anti-thromboticdrug TP-9201.

Telios (NASDAQ:TLIO) of San Diego will also receive Genentech'spreclinical data on the compound, including animal efficacy,toxicology and formulation. Thus ends a $15 million productdevelopment agreement, penned in 1991.

Robert Erickson, Telios president and chief executive officer,told BioWorld that the two companies were working togetheron an investigational new drug (IND) application, andGenentech was planning on filing it the first quarter of nextyear. Erickson said Genentech made its move for "internalreasons," but added that he had no direct knowledge thatGenentech would make this decision.

Kirk Raab, Genentech's president and chief executive officer,said the decision to return TP-9201 to Telios was "strategicallyappropriate at this juncture."

Telios will now file the IND itself, said Erickson. The companywill then "explore its options," which could be to develop thecompound for other indications, to court a major partner todevelop the product for adjunct therapy for thrombolysis andother clotting disorders, or to form an R&D limited partnership.

TP9201 is a small, organically synthesized peptide that veryspecifically inhibits the aggregation of blood platelets. It isdesigned to treat cardiovascular conditions arising fromabnormal blood clotting, including heart attacks. -- JenniferVan Brunt

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