Theravax to develop a HIV vaccine to
be tested in Canada
Dr Jean-Marie Dupuy,
President and Chief Executive Officer of Viropro Inc., (Montreal)
announced the creation of Theravax Inc., a division of Viropro,
aimed at developing and manufacturing therapeutic vaccines for the
treatment of patients suffering from cancer or from chronic
infections with viruses such as HIV or hepatitis. The HIV vaccine
will be the first product to be developed and marketed. Its
development will be carried out with the assistance and involvement
of world leaders in the field of HIV/AIDS. Clinical studies are
scheduled to start in Canada in 2007. This HIV therapeutic vaccine
is expected to be marketed in 2010. According to a previous phase 2
clinical study, the HIV therapeutic vaccine should allow a
significant number of vaccinated AIDS patients to avoid or delay
normally required treatment with an anti-HIV tri-therapy, thus
avoiding the severe side-effects associated with such treatments.
Using a similar vaccination process, therapeutic vaccines against
hepatitis will also be developed. They will then be followed by
therapeutic vaccines against various types of cancer. http://www.viropro.com
Chemokine closes transaction to
re-acquire licensing rights to CTCE-0214
Chemokine Therapeutics
Corp. (Vancouver), a biotechnology company developing
chemokine-based therapies to treat cancer, blood disorders, and
vascular diseases, announced that it has closed a previously
announced transaction with Pharmaceutical Product Development,
Inc.and re-acquired its licensing rights on its compound CTCE-0214.
PPD will retain an interest in the CTCE-0214 program through
potential future milestone payments. In re-acquiring the licensing
rights, Chemokine paid to PPD US$100,000 cash and will potentially
pay up to US$2.5 million in milestone payments as follows:
US$250,000 cash upon the dosing of the first subject in a phase III
clinical trial of CTCE-0214; US$250,000 cash upon filing a New Drug
Application with the United States Food and Drug Administration with
respect to CTCE-0214; US$1,000,000 cash upon approval by the FDA of
CTCE-0214 for any therapeutic use; and 50 percent of the first net
sales of CTCE-0214 up to US$1,000,000. As part of the transaction,
PPD converted its 2,000,000 convertible preferred shares into
2,000,000 common shares and sold the common shares to third-party
investors. In connection with the sale of the common shares, the
Company paid a US$237,600 fee to PPD to facilitate the sale of the
common shares. After the close of this transaction, there are
currently no preferred shares and 42,183,748 common shares of the
Company outstanding. http://www.chemokine.net
Angiotech Pharmaceuticals to acquire
Quill Medical Inc.
Angiotech Pharmaceuticals,
Inc. (Vancouver) announced that it has entered into a definitive
agreement to acquire privately held Quill Medical, Inc., a provider
of specialized, minimally invasive aesthetic surgery and wound
closure technology, for US $40 million in cash, plus certain future
contingent payments based on product revenues. Through this
transaction, Angiotech will acquire all of Quill's technology and
intellectual property, including the Contour Threads(TM) product
line, which under its current license agreement is marketed and sold
by Angiotech's Surgical Specialties division for use in aesthetic
and cosmetic surgery. http://www.angiotech.com
Isotechnika signs agreement with Lux
Biosciences
Isotechnika Inc.
(Edmonton) announced that the Company has signed an agreement with
Lux Biosciences, Inc. of Jersey City, New Jersey granting Lux
Biosciences worldwide rights to develop and commercialize
Isotechnika's lead drug, ISA247 for the treatment and prophylaxis of
all ophthalmic diseases. ISA247 is a novel calcineurin inhibitor
currently being investigated in a Phase III trial for the treatment
of moderate to severe psoriasis and a Phase IIb trial for the
prevention of organ rejection following transplantation.Under the
terms of the agreement: Lux Biosciences, Inc. will make upfront and
milestone payments to Isotechnika. Assuming all development
milestones are achieved, the amount of this deal will be $32,700,000
USD with Isotechnika receiving an upfront payment of $3 million USD;
Lux Biosciences, Inc. will pay Isotechnika royalties based on a
percentage of net sales; Lux Biosciences, Inc. has exclusive
worldwide marketing rights of ISA247 for all ophthalmic indications;
Lux Biosciences, Inc. would be responsible, at its sole expense, for
pre-clinical and clinical development, registration, and marketing
of ISA247 for all ophthalmic indications; Isotechnika will be
providing input on clinical trial design and will be reviewing and
consulting on all regulatory filings; A Joint Steering Committee ("JSC")
with equal membership from Isotechnika and Lux Biosciences, Inc.
will be formed to oversee the development and commercialization of
all ophthalmic indications. http://www.isotechnika.com
Chemokine announces identifying a
mechanism for blood vessel growth
Chemokine Therapeutics
Corp. (Vancouver), a biotechnology company developing
chemokine-based therapies to treat cancer, blood disorders, and
cardiovascular diseases, announced the publication of an article in
the journal Nature Medicine, authored by clinical advisory board
member and collaborator, Dr. Shahin Rafii of the Weill Medical
College of Cornell University, and co-authored by Dr. Hassan Salari,
President and CEO of Chemokine Therapeutics. "More than 200,000
individuals undergo various costly treatments for diseases
associated with abnormal vascularization, such as Age-related
Macular Degeneration (AMD). Vascularization is a process believed to
involve local production of a group of growth factors, cytokines and
chemokines. An excess amount of these growth factors leads to
abnormal growth of endothelial cells which form new blood vessels.
In the article, the team concludes that in the limb ischemia
revascularization model, the chemokine SDF-1 is a hub for most
growth factors and, without it, there is reduced revascularization,
even if other growth factors are present. The discoveries point to
the need for the development of SDF-1 inhibitors as a mean to stop
unwanted vascularization of tissues and organs. SDF-1 inhibitors may
have even greater potential than currently used anti-cytokine/growth
factor therapies," stated Dr. Hassan Salari, President and CEO. The
discoveries were made possible in part through the use of a novel
SDF-1 antagonist, CTCE-0012 produced by Chemokine Therapeutics. In
the Nature Medicine publication, it was shown that CTCE-0012 is as
powerful as antibodies to CXCR4, however with the benefits of being
a most closely homolog of natural SDF-1 protein which might be used
chronically. CTCE-0012 is a powerful inhibitor of SDF-1 and prevents
revascularizarion of tissues, leading to a lower number of new blood
vessels. This discovery leads the way to the development of
CTCE-0012 for diseases that are initiated through excess
vascularization, such as Macular Degeneration, etc.
http://www.chemokine.net
Stem Cell Therapeutics Announces
Issuance of Third US Patent
Stem Cell Therapeutics
Corp. (Calgary) announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
has granted U.S. Patent 7,048,934 to the company's wholly-owned
subsidiary, Stem Cell Therapeutics Inc. The patent, entitled
"Combined Regulation of Neural Cell Production", protects novel
methods of treating patients suffering from a variety of central
nervous system (CNS) disorders including stroke, brain injury,
Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, Huntington's disease, and
others. The combined regulation method of neural cell production
taught in the patent has the potential to be a key technology,
required for the successful development of stem cell based
approaches for the treatment of many CNS diseases. http://www.stemcellthera.com
Canadian scientist invents
alternative for high-demand blood product
Patients suffering from a life-threatening bleeding
disorder are closer to having access to a more effective treatment.
Alan Lazarus, Canadian Blood Services scientist and adjunct
scientist at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, is deciphering how a
blood-derived product called IVIg (intravenous immunoglobulin)
currently works, and as a result has developed a synthetic
replacement product that shows promise in laboratory testing. This
synthetic could be the stepping stone to replacing IVIg which is
used to treat a variety of conditions, including ITP (idiopathic
thrombocytopenic purpura), a disease that can cause uncontrolled
bleeding, and sometimes even death. As will be published in the June
edition of the scientific journal Nature Medicine, Lazarus' research
team has made great strides in determining how IVIg works, a major
milestone in the study of this product. They have also found
evidence that a synthetic replacement for IVIg could be developed
that would not only be cheaper and easier to produce in mass
quantities, but could also lead to more effective treatments for
patients. Lazarus says, "this work unravels some of the mystery
surrounding how IVIg functions in patients with ITP, and will allow
us to develop new and more powerful therapeutics in the future. In
addition, this discovery should allow for a more consistent product
with less side-effects than the IVIg currently in use." Dr. Lazarus'
article in Nature Medicine can be viewed online at http://dx.doi.org
using the DOI (10.1038/Nm1416) http://www.blood.ca |
