Applied Genetics News articles from November 1998

Applied Genetics News archives from November 1998

INDUSTRY NEWS: 3rd Quarter 1998 Tough in Capital Markets.
November 19, 1998... Burrill & Co. (San Francisco, CA) said that the biotechnology sector experienced a very favorable third quarter in 1998 at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), yet had a very tough quarter with the current capital market environment. Burrill...

GENOMICS: New Goals for Genome Project.
November 19, 1998... Francis Collins and colleagues at the National Human Genome Research Institute of the NIH (Bethesda, MD 20892; Email: frca@nih.gov) says the Human Genome Project has successfully completed all the major goals in its current five-year plan,...

Accelerated Gene Discovery Method.
November 19, 1998... Myriad Genetics (320 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City, UT 84108; Tel: 801/582-3400, Fax: 801/584-3600, Website: www.myriad.com) has received a patent for accelerated gene discovery. The patent, U.S. No. 5,807,679 is called the "island...

Megabace DNA Sequencer Automated.
November 19, 1998... Molecular Dynamics, Inc. (928 E. Arques Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94086; Tel: 408/773-1222, Fax: 408/773-8343, Email: bbromley@mdyn.com, Website: www.mdyn.com) will carry out work to automate the MegaBace 1000 DNA sequencing system in the...

Orchid Seeks Improved Chips.
November 19, 1998... Orchid Biocomputer (c/o Sarnoff Research Ctr., 201 Washington Ave., Princeton, NJ 08540; Tel: 609/734-2548) is initiating a $3.0 million effort to develop low-cost, flexible pharmacogenomic devices that will allow researchers to measure drug...

Pharmacia & Upjohn Signs Genset.
November 19, 1998... Pharmacia & Upjohn (Bridgewater, NJ) has tapped Genset (1, rue Robert et Sonia Delaunay, 75011 Paris, France; Tel: 33-1-4356-5900, Fax: 33/1/4356-2625. Also, 505 Coast Blvd. S., La Jolla, CA 92037; Tel: 619/551-6551, Fax: 619/551-6544)...

Molecular Dynamics, Clontech Pool Efforts.
November 19, 1998... Molecular Dynamics (880 E. Arques Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94086; Tel: 408/737-3000) and Clontech Laboratories (4030 Fabian Way, Palo Alto, CA 94303-4607; Tel: 415/424-8222, Fax: 415/424-1064) have signed an agreement to jointly develop and...

Software for Complex Genetic Data Analysis.
November 19, 1998... Affymetrix (3380 Central Expwy., Santa Clara, CA 95051; Tel: 650/846- 3572, Fax: 408/481-0422, Website: www.affymetrix.com) and Molecular Applications Group, Inc. (PO Box 51110, Palo Alto, CA 95403-1110; Fax: 415/846-3497, Email:...

Automated Process Line Runs in Germany.
November 19, 1998... The DNA MassArray Automated Process Line (APL) of Sequenom (11555 Sorrento Valley Rd., San Diego, CA 9212-1331; Tel: 619/350-0345, Fax: 619/350-0344, Website: www.sequenom.com) is now operational at its Hamburg, Germany facility. It is the...

CELL THERAPY: GM-CSF Secreting Cells Treat Prostate Cancer.
November 19, 1998... Cell Genesys (344 Lakeside Dr., Foster City, CA 94404; Tel: 415/358- 9600, Fax: 415/358-0803) reports that preliminary results of an ongoing Phase I/II trial of its "GVAX" vaccine in prostate cancer demonstrated that the treatment is safe, well...

ANTI-INFECTIVES: AIDS Vaccine Effective in Animal Tests.
November 19, 1998... Researchers at Cel-Sci (601 Wythe St., Alexandria, VA 22314; Tel: 703/549-5293, Fax: 703/549-6269) report that an AIDS vaccine they developed demonstrated protection against HIV infection in animals. The vaccine was previously shown in...

ANTIBODIES: Centocor's Remicade Enters Market.
November 19, 1998... Centocor (200 Great Valley Pkwy., Malvern, PA 19355-1307; Tel: 610/651-6000) has commenced marketing its "Remicade" (infliximab) monoclonal antibody for Crohn's disease. The antibody specifically targets tumor necrosis factor alpha...

Xoma's Hu1124 Heads for Phase II.
November 19, 1998... Xoma (2910 7th St., Berkeley, CA 94710; Tel: 510/644-1170) has completed enrollment in a 149-patient randomized, placebo-controlled Phase II clinical study of the hu1124 monoclonal antibody in moderate-to- severe psoriasis patients. The company...

PDL, Genentech Ink Deal.
November 19, 1998... Genentech (1 DNA Way, S. San Francisco, CA 94080-4990; Tel: 415/225- 1000, Fax: 415/225-6000) will pay a $6.0 million up front, non- creditable, non-refundable fee to PDL (2375 Garcia Ave., Mountain View, CA 94043; Tel: 415/903-3700, Fax:...

Targeting T Cell Immune Responses.
November 19, 1998... BioTransplant (Bldg. 75, 3rd Ave., Navy Yard, Charlestown, MA 02129; Tel: 617/241-5200) and MedImmune (35 W. Watkins Mill Rd., Gaithersburg, MD 20878; Tel: 301/417-0770, Fax: 301/417-6289) have received U.S. Patent 5,817,311 relating to...

Procyon Patents Autoantibodies.
November 19, 1998... Procyon BioPharma (1200 Wonderland Rd. S., London, Ontario N6L 1A8, Canada; Tel: 519/652-3758, Fax: 519/652-3818) has received U.S. Patent No. 5,780,033, broadly covering the production and use of its non-pathogenic antinuclear...

Centocor Picks Up Medarex's HuMAb-Mouse.
November 19, 1998... Centocor (200 Great Valley Pkwy., Malvern, PA 19355-1307; Tel: 610/651-6000) has obtained from Medarex (1545 Route 22 E., Annandale, NJ 08801-0953; Tel: 908/713-6005, Fax: 908/713-6002) four exclusive commercial licenses to fully human...

HORMONES, GROWTH FACTORS Gene-Activated EPO Moves to Phase III.
November 19, 1998... The gene-activated erythropoietin (GA-EPO) of Transkaryotic Therapies (195 Albany St., Cambridge, MA 02139; Tel: 617/349-0200, Fax: 617/491-7903) has been advanced by partner Hoechst Marion Roussel (10236 Marion Park Dr., Kansas City, MO...

Amylin Tests Exendin-4.
November 19, 1998... Amylin Pharmaceuticals (9373 Town Centre Dr., San Diego, CA 92121; Tel: 619/552-2200, Fax: 619/552-2212) has initiated a Phase I clinical study of its exendin-4 (Product AC2993), an investigational drug intended for type 2 diabetes....

Compounds Enhance Neurotrophic Factors.
November 19, 1998... NeoTherapeutics (1 Technology Dr., Irvine, CA 92618; Tel: 714/788- 6700) has received a patent on gene regulation technology involved in treating neurodegenerative diseases, U.S. No. 5,801,184, that describes how purine derivatives, a class of...

OP-1 Explored for Parkinson's.
November 19, 1998... Creative Biomolecules (35 South St., Hopkinton, MA 01748; Tel: 508/435-9001, Fax: 508/435-0992) and the University of Colorado School of Medicine have received a grant from the NIH to examine OP-1 as a potential treatment for Parkinson's...

ENZYMES: BioMarin Acquires Glyko Biomedical.
November 19, 1998... BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Inc. (11 Pimental Ct., Novato, CA 94949; Tel: 415/382-6653), a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on carbohydrate enzyme therapeutics, has acquired Glyko, Inc., (formerly a U.S.-based subsidiary of...

Ribozyme Submits Anti-Angiogenesis IND.
November 19, 1998... Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals (RPI, 2950 Wilderness Pl., Boulder, CO 80301; Tel: 303/449-6500) has filed for approval to proceed with clinical trials of its anti-angiogenesis ribozyme, "Angiozyme," for the treatment of cancer. The product is the...

AGBIOTECH: NSF Grants Millions for Genome Research.
November 19, 1998... Plant genome research has hit it big. $85 million was awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22230; Tel: 800/877-8339, Website: www.nsf.gov) for plant genome research. The money will fund a total of 23...

R-P and Dow Ally for Crop Protection.
November 19, 1998... The Rhone-Poulenc Agro unit of Rhne-Poulenc (25 quai Paul Domier, F-92408 Courbevoie Cedex, France; Fax: 33/147/922-655) and Dow AgroSciences (Indianapolis, IN, a subsidiary of Dow Chemical Co., 2030 Willard Dow Ctr., Midland, MI 48674; Tel:...

CALENDAR.
November 19, 1998... November 29-December 1, U.S. Biotechnology Symposium: Production, Purification and Regulatory Challenges in the "New Age" of Drug Development, Washington, DC. Contact: BioConferences Int'l, Inc., 2 Madison Ave., Larchmont, NY 10538; Tel:...