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Yale Scientists Successfully Use Technology Licensed By Innovir to Convert Bacteria From Drug-Resistant to Drug-Sensitive
August 4, 1997 6:47 PM EDT
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 4, 1997--
Study results published in Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences
For the first time, scientists have demonstrated the ability to make drug-resistant bacteria drug-sensitive. Using a technology called EGS oligozymes developed at Yale University and licensed exclusively for worldwide use by Innovir Laboratories, Inc. (Nasdaq: INVR), researchers successfully eliminated the material in bacteria that prevents antibiotic drugs from exerting their toxic action on bacterial cells.
Results of the study are published in the August 5th edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in an article authored by Sidney Altman, Ph.D, Sterling Professor of Biology at Yale University. Dr. Altman was awarded the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery that RNA is not just a passive carrier of genetic code, but also can be an enzyme that actively engages in chemical reactions. The EGS technology is based on that discovery and is being further developed by Innovir.
Antibiotic resistance has emerged as a major public health issue in the United States and throughout the world. The incidence of diseases once thought to be under control - such as meningitis and tuberculosis - is increasing. The reason: Over time, bacteria acquire traits that make them resistant to antibiotics. The resistant genes are passed along to other bacteria and antibiotics used to treat them become less effective.
"Drug companies are investing millions of dollars to research and develop new, more powerful antibiotics to overcome drug- resistant bacteria," said Allan R. Goldberg, Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Innovir. "EGS technology represents a potential alternative approach to the problem of antibiotic resistance, one that may prove to be less expensive and time-consuming than the standard strategy of developing new drugs. Another application for this exciting technology might be the use of EGSs to treat cancer patients to overcome their resistance to certain chemotherapeutic drugs.
"The technology also has the potential for broad research application by helping pharmaceutical companies to identify more effectively new genetic targets for drug development." Innovir's EGS oligozymes are chemically-modified RNA-like compounds that are specifically designed to target and destroy molecules that carry genetically-encoded instruction for the production of proteins in cells.
In the study described in the PNAS article, scientists introduced EGSs into strains of Escherichia coli harboring antibiotic resistance genes. The EGSs combine with the messenger RNA of the bacteria's drug-resistant genes. The combinations are recognized as targets by internal enzymes, which cut the messenger RNA, inactivating it and restoring drug sensitivity to cells. According to the article, boosting the ratio of EGSs to target messenger RNA and increasing the number of different target sites on the messenger RNA enhances the efficiency of the conversion method.
"Although the path from our experiments to a practical therapeutic tool may be a very long and costly one, this method could restore the full usefulness of today's front-line antibiotics, thus bypassing the tremendous expense of developing new antibiotics," said Nobel laureate Sidney Altman.
Innovir Laboratories, Inc. (Nasdaq: INVR), a subsidiary of VIMRX Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: VMRX), is a biotechnology company that has been developing technologies based on catalytically interactive oligomers (oligozymes) both for the treatment and prevention of diseases and also for pharmaceutical and genomic research. As a research aid, oligozymes hold potential both to identify how different genes function and to identify and validate molecular targets for new drug therapies. The Company's technologies utilize either External Guide Sequences (EGS) oligozymes or RILON(TM) oligozymes, which inactivate targeted mRNA directly. To complement its therapeutic and drug target validation programs, Innovir has developed a unique drug delivery tool called InnoPhor(TM) that makes it possible to target oligozymes to specific tissues.
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for certain forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from current expectations. Among the factors which could affect the Company's actual results and could cause results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements contained herein are the success of the Company's clinical trials and the development of competing therapies and/or technologies by other companies.
NOTE TO INVESTORS AND EDITORS: Innovir's press releases are available on the Internet through VIMRX Pharmaceutical Inc.'s web site at www.vimrx.com and through BusinessWire's web site, under the VIMRX heading, at businesswire.com. The releases also are available at no charge through BusinessWire's fax-on-demand service at 800-411-8792.
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