BALTIMORE -- U.S. Bioscience Inc. announced Tuesday that ithas reached an agreement under which SmithKline Beechamplc will develop and market three U.S. Bioscience compounds inJapan, South Korea and Taiwan.

The deal includes Ethyol, which in January was turned downfor marketing approval by an FDA advisory committee.

SKB will have exclusive marketing rights for Ethyol in Japan,and will have co-marketing rights to WR-151327 and PALAdisodium salt. Ethyol and WR-151327 are agents to protecttissues from toxicities associated with chemotherapy, andPALA enhances the activity of certain chemotherapeuticagents.

SKB will have exclusive marketing rights for all three drugs inSouth Korea and Taiwan.

U.S. Bioscience will earn revenue by manufacturing the threedrugs for all markets, and will receive up-front, milestone androyalty payments from SKB. Philip Schein, chairman and chiefexecutive of U.S. Bioscience, said the agreement includesprovisions for SKB to help U.S. Bioscience establish a whollyowned marketing subsidiary in Japan.

U.S. Bioscience is pursuing ongoing clinical studies of Ethyol as atreatment for toxicities associated with intensive chemotherapyfor breast cancer and has revised the protocol of study fortreatment for toxicities associated with radiation therapy, saidRobert Capizzi, executive vice president for research anddevelopment.

He told the 17th Annual Alex. Brown & Sons Health CareSeminar that the company will submit this quarter theremaining information required for its application for Europeanmarketing approval of Ethyol protection against hematologicaltoxicity associated with cyclophosphamide and mitomycin-C.

The West Conshocken, Pa., company also plans to submit in thethird quarter a new drug application for its trimetrexate, ananalog of the anti-cancer agent methotrexate, as a treatmentfor pneumocytis carinii pneumonia and taxoplasmosis, saidCapizzi.

The company had cash and marketable securities worth $90million as of March 31. The stock gained 38 cents to $11.38 onTuesday.

-- Kris Herbst BioWorld Washington Bureau

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