Applied Genetics News articles from February 1999

Applied Genetics News archives from February 1999

BIOMANUFACTURING Biomira to Make AIDS Vaccine.
February 19, 1999... ID Biomedical Corp. (IDB) (Vancouver, BC) has announced that its Seattle subsidiary, ID Vaccine, has entered into a contract manufacturing agreement with Biomira for production of its new therapeutic peptide-based AIDS vaccine. While Biomira...

High Yield Antibody Technology Licensed.
February 19, 1999... Xoma (Berkeley, CA; Tel: 510/644-1170) announced separate nonexclusive licensing agreements with Genentech and Biosite Diagnostics for the use of Xoma's patented bacterial cell expression technology for pharmaceutical antibody production. The...

Recombinant Human Insulin Licensed.
February 19, 1999... Bio-Technology General Corp. (BTG) (Iselin, NJ; Tel: 732/632-8800) announced that it has entered into to a technology transfer and licensing arrangement with Diosynth bv, a subsidiary of Akzo Nobel, for BTG's genetically engineered human...

GENE THERAPY: Any Cell Can Be Reprogrammed.
February 19, 1999... "Any cell can be reprogrammed, and the process is reversible." That is the conclusion reached by Stephen Krawetz of Wayne State University. His experiments on the spermatogenesis pathway that were recently published in the December issue of...

Gene Therapy for Mouse Model.
February 19, 1999... Cell Genesys (Foster City, CA) and the University of Washington (Seattle, WA) have published data in which mice exhibiting symptoms of Parkinson's disease were able to survive for a year without L-dopa treatments after a single injection of a...

Broad AAV Patent Issued to Avigen.
February 19, 1999... Avigen, Inc. (Alameda, CA) has received a broad patent (U.S. Patent No. 5,85,351) covering the in vivo administration of any gene into muscle tissue using adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors, regardless of how the vector is made, how the gene...

Targeted Vectors Enhance GeneTools.
February 19, 1999... Universal GeneTools, the gene regulation technology platform of Sangamo BioSciences (Point Richmond, CA) will be enhanced by the use of vectors produced by Targeted Genetics Corp. (Seattle, WA) under terms of a recently announced agreement. In...

GeneSwitch Regulates Protein Production.
February 19, 1999... GeneMedicine has announced the publication of an animal study in which protein production from genes delivered by adenoviral vectors was effectively regulated by small molecule drugs using a technology called GeneSwitch. The findings appeared...

Anti-Cancer Adenovirus Advances in Trials.
February 19, 1999... Onix Pharmaceuticals (Richmond, CA; Tel: 510/262-8734) has begun new Phase I/II trials in which its lead anti-cancer agent, Onyx-025 will be delivered to patients by the hepatic artery. The patients in the study suffer from colorectal cancer...

SARP-1 May Have Cardiovascular Uses.
February 19, 1999... LXR Biotechnology and Rhone-Poulenc-Rorer Gencell (RPR), the gene therapy division of Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, have entered into an agreement in which Gencell will evaluate the cytoprotective role of the SARP-1 gene in heart muscle cells that have...

GENOMICS: Nematode Anti-coagulant Proteins Patented.
February 19, 1999... Corvas International, Inc. (San Diego, CA) announced that it had been issued patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 5,863,894, 5,864,009, 5,866,542, and 5,866,543) covering Corvas' proprietary recombinant anticoagulant proteins (rNAPs). These patents, and...

Two H. Pylori Strains Compared.
February 19, 1999... Genome Therapeutics Corp. (Waltham, MA) and Astra Research Center Boston (Cambridge, MA) have collaborate to compare the complete genomic sequences of two strains of Helicobacter pylori, a pathogen implicated in gastritis, peptic ulcers, and...

Abnormal Gene in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.
February 19, 1999... A gene abnormality has been identified in infants with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) by researchers from the Children's Cancer Group, George Washington University School of Medicine, and Hughes Institute (St. Paul, MN). Leukemic cells...

Isis, Abbot in Antisense Deal.
February 19, 1999... Isis Pharmaceuticals (Carlsbad, CA) has initiated a research collaboration with Abbot Laboratories to prioritize drug development targets using Isis' Antisense Target Validation (ATV) technology. ATV technology will be used by Abbott to...

Affymetrix Announces Three Agreements.
February 19, 1999... During January, Affymetrix (Santa Clara, CA) announced three new collaborations in the last month. Hoechst Marion Roussel and Rhone Poulenc Rorer will each use Affymetrix's standard and custom GeneChip probe arrays in their drug development...

Sex Crimes Solved with DNA Database.
February 19, 1999... Pennsylvania has taken a step forward it its ability to solve sex crimes by linking the State Police's DNA computer database to a national system operated by the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a national database activated by the FBI in...

Breast Cancer Protein Patented.
February 19, 1999... Corixa Corp. (Seattle, WA) announced that Washington University in St. Louis has been issued a patent for the breast cancer mammaglobin, which the University has licensed to Corixa on an exclusive worldwide basis. Mammaglobin is expressed in...

How fos Gene Transforms Cells.
February 19, 1999... The ubiquitously-expressed fos gene is a proto-oncogene that transforms cells into cancer cells when expressed in an unregulated manner. Although this fact has been known for almost 20 years, it has been a mystery as to exactly how this...

DNA Probes Diagnose Retinoblastoma.
February 19, 1999... The Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (Boston, MA) has been issued U.S. Patent No. 5,853,988 pertaining to the use of DNA probes for the diagnosis and treatment of retinoblastoma and methods of detecting defective retinoblastoma (Rb) gene in...

CELL THERAPY: Cells Stimulate Nerve Regeneration.
February 19, 1999... Researchers from Proneuron Biotechnologies (Los Angeles, CA) and the Weizmann Institute of Science (Rehovot, Israel) have published studies showing that activated immune cell therapies promoted regrowth of severed nerve fibers and protected...

Cell Selection System to Be Approved.
February 19, 1999... Nexell Therapeutics (Irvine, CA), a majority owned subsidiary of VIMRX Pharmaceuticals (Wilmington, DE) announced that it has received an approvable letter for its Isolex Cell Selection System. The FDA stated that the pre-market approval...

Genzyme to Develop Cardiovascular Therapies.
February 19, 1999... Genzyme General Corp. (Cambridge, MA) will team up with a research group at the Toronto Hospital to develop and commercialize cell-based therapies to treat cardiovascular disease. The Toronto group is led by Richard Weisel, a cardiac surgeon...

ANTIBODIES: Inhibiting HIV by Blocking Fusion.
February 19, 1999... Progenics Pharmaceuticals announced that it has produced a potent, anti-CCR5 monoclonal antibody that blocks HIV replication. Separately, they announced Phase I/II results of a clinical trial of Pro 542, which inhibits binding of HIV to its...

HuMab-Mouse Pays Off for Medarex.
February 19, 1999... Medarex (Annandale, NJ) recently announced that Centocor has paid $4 million in milestone fees for its use of the HuMab-Mouse technology. Separately, the company announced a new licensing agreement for the HuMab technology with Immunex Corp....

Abgenix in XenoMouse Deal with Genentech.
February 19, 1999... Abgneix (Freemont, CA) has announced a new agreement providing Genentech with access to Abgenix's XenoMouse technology for producing fully human monoclonal antibodies. Genentech will use the technology in its antibody research efforts with an...

ENZYMES: Extremophile Enzyme Works in Oil Fields.
February 19, 1999... Diversa Corp. (San Diego, CA) announced the sale of its first commercial product to Halliburton Energy Services, a unit of Halliburton Co., for oil field application. The product is a thermostable enzyme discovered in an extremophile living in...

HORMONES, GROWTH FACTORS Secretory Protein Inhibits Prostate Cancer.
February 19, 1999... Researchers from Procyon BioPharma, Inc. have demonstrated that Prostate Secretory Protein (PSP94) suppresses prostate cancer growth in a mouse model. Their results were published in the February issue of The Prostate. They suggest that PSP94...

VACCINES: AIDS Vaccines Seen as Promising.
February 19, 1999... Two biotechnology companies, Cel-Sci Corp. (Washington D.C.) and Epimmune (San Diego; Tel: 619/404-7171), a majority-owned subsidiary of Cytel Corp., separately touted recent research suggesting efficacy of epitope-based vaccines. The...

Tobacco Produces Therapeutic Vaccine.
February 19, 1999... The tobacco plant, much reviled of late, may have finally found a socially responsible occupation, the production of proteins for therapeutic vaccines. Biosource Technology (Vacaville, CA) recently published results of a study in which a...

Varicella-Zoster Vaccine Patented.
February 19, 1999... Research Corporation Technologies (Tucson, AZ) was recently issued U.S. Patent No. 5,825,319 for a recombinant subunit vaccine against varicella-zoster virus (VZV) which causes both chickenpox and shingles. The vaccine reduces risks associated...

AG BIOTECH: AgriBioTech Buys HybriGene.
February 19, 1999... AgriBioTech (Henderson, NV) has purchased all outstanding shares of HybriGene, LLC, a biotechnology company that holds an extensive portfolio of patents developed at Purdue University. As part of the transaction, ABT acquired exclusive,...

DeKalb Introduces New Seed Lineup.
February 19, 1999... DeKalb Genetics Corp. (DeKalb, IL) announced the addition of 44 new seed products for the 1999 growing season, in addition to 24 previously announced corn products. Among the new corn varieties: 11 new conventional corn hybrids, 11 new Roundup...

Ag Firms Form New Alliances.
February 19, 1999... A spate of alliances in agricultural biotechnology have been recently announced: Agritope and Rhone-Poulenc Plant and Animal Health, a division of Rhone-Poulenc, S.A., have signed a letter of intent to established a joint venture to conduct...

INDUSTRY NEWS: Systemic Change in Pharmaceuticals.
February 19, 1999... The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) (Tel: 312/715-2216; Email: butler.linda@bcg.com) has released a report outlining an industry in the grip of a paradigm change. The report, entitled "Pharmaceutical Industry into its Second Century: From...

Rosetta Inpharmatics to Acquire Acacia.
February 19, 1999... Rosetta Inpharmatics will acquire Acacia Biosciences in a stock-for- stock transaction subject to shareholder approval from both companies. Acacia is a drug discovery company whose Genome Reporter Matrix (GRM) uses the yeast genome to...

Atugen Starts Operations.
February 19, 1999... Atugen Biotechnology GmbH (Berlin-Buch, Germany) has announced completion of its initial financing and formally opened its research and administrative facilities on the Biomedical Research Campus of the Max Delbruck Center in Berlin-Buch,...

PPGx Spun-Off from Axys.
February 19, 1999... Axys Pharmaceuticals (South San Francisco, CA) has spun-off its phamacogenomics group into a new company, a majority-owned subsidiary called PPGx. The new company will also absorb Intek Labs, Inc. and Intek Labs Ltd., both former subsidiaries...

Incyte, Pharmacia & Upjohn in Database Agreement.
February 19, 1999... Incyte (Palo Alto, CA) and Pharmacia & Upjohn have expanded their genomic database agreement to include access to Incyte's PathoSeq microbial database for use in their infectious disease programs. In return for access, Incyte will receive...

CALENDAR.
February 19, 1999... March 3-5, 1999, DIA 11th Annual Euromeeting: Looking Back to the Pharmaceutical Future, The Hague, Netherlands. Contact: Drug Information Association, Pf. 4012 Basel, Switzerland; Tel: 41/61/386- 9393, Fax: 41/61/386-9390; Email:...