ImmunoPharmaceutics Inc. said it has developed a new class oforally active compounds to treat hypertension.

The company said it believes the compounds, calledpeptidomimetics, are the first small molecules to be developedas antagonists of endothelin-1, a naturally occurring proteinthat raises blood pressure. IPI, which is 44 percent owned bySynbiotics Corp. (NASDAQ:SBIO), has filed for patents.

San Diego-based IPI plans to file an investigational new drugapplication in 1993 for one of the compounds.

The compounds were designed using the company's drugdesign process, which extracts three-dimensional templatesfrom pharmacologically active proteins or peptides. These arethen used to design orally active blockers of endothelin-1. IPIis also developing interleukin-1 receptor antagonists to treatinflammation.

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