off yhoo
11 Jan 15:58
Ariad's technology has applications in both genomics, the study of the genes,
and gene therapy, the use of gene-based treatments for diseases, said Chief
Executive Berger.
Genomics has taken center stage recently as the Celera Genomics Group (CRA)
and the government's Human Genome Project rush to map the entire human genome.
Celera said Monday it has sequenced 90% of all human genetic material in just
four months and expects to finish the job by summer.
Sequencing, however, is not the main goal.
"It's one thing to know the alphabet - that's what genomics tells us - and
it's another thing to be able to translate what the words, the genes, mean."
says Berger.
Ariad's technology, Argent, is a research tool to "study the function or
activity of genes being discovered in the Genome Project," he explained. With
the knowledge of individual genes' functions, Ariad's scientists can then
develop gene therapies to treat disease.
The new patents cover Ariad's efforts to develop those treatments: the
company's orally-administered Dimerizer drugs, currently under preclinical
development for use in the treatment of a number of ailments.
The patents also cover Ariad's graft-versus-host disease product, which may
improve the safety and effectiveness of certain types of bone marrow transplants
by selectively killing the cells responsible for disease.
Berger said Ariad will work with other companies and research laboratories to
pursue the broad genomic and gene therapy applications of its technology.
- Riva Richmond, Dow Jones Newswires, 201-938-4046
(END) DOW JONES NEWS 01-11-00
03:58 PM
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