SOUTH PLAINFIELD, N.J. -- Unable to reach agreement oncontinued joint development, Enzon Inc. and Amgen Inc. arescrapping a year-old effort to combine Enzon's proprietarypolyethylene glycol (PEG) delivery technology with Amgen'sgranulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF).

The companies failed to agree on financial terms andconditions, Glenn Kazo, Enzon's vice president of corporatedevelopment, said Friday. "Our inability to reach terms hadnothing to do with the success of the product." Enzon, basedhere, and Amgen of Thousand Oaks, Calif., had agreed inJanuary 1990 to develop PEG-G-CSF.

Amgen officials declined comment on plans to continueindependent development of G-CSF linked to PEG. G-CSF is ahormone that stimulates production of neutrophils, a class ofwhite blood cells that are the body's primary defense againstbacterial infection.

Enzon will pursue collaborative arrangements with othercompanies developing colony stimulating factors, Kazo said. Itsdrug delivery system is designed to prolong and increase theefficacy of protein drugs in the body.

Also working on CSFs are Immunex Corp. of Seattle, Cetus Corp.of Emeryville, Calif., Genetics Institute of Cambridge, Mass., andChugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. of Tokyo. -- Karen Bernstein

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