PR Newswire, Wednesday, March 25, 1998 at 11:20
SEATTLE, March 25 /PRNewswire/ -- PathoGenesis Corp. (NASDAQ:PGNS) today
announced that it has received a $100,000 Small Business Innovation Research
Grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a
component of the National Institutes of Health. The grant will support
research into anti-tuberculosis agents.
"Every 15 seconds on average, someone somewhere dies of tuberculosis,"
said A. Bruce Montgomery, MD, executive vice president of research and
development for PathoGenesis. "Research has been impeded by TB's slow growth
rate and the need to test it under very strict laboratory containment. In
fact, a new TB drug has not been approved in more than 25 years. However, we
have developed new techniques for automated combinatorial chemistry and
microbiological drug susceptibility testing that can significantly expedite TB
drug discovery and development. The grant will help us move this project
forward, and we hope, will result in promising new drug candidates to fight
tuberculosis."
Tuberculosis infects more than a billion people worldwide in its latent
(inactive) form, and active tuberculosis kills more than two million every
year. It has resurfaced as a significant threat in the developed world
largely because of immigration from areas where latent tuberculosis is common.
The infection can become active over time, especially in people whose immune
systems are weakened by malnutrition, age, cancer or AIDS. Patients who
develop active tuberculosis can spread the infection by coughing, resulting in
"mini-epidemics."
The problem is further exacerbated by the emergence of tuberculosis
strains that are resistant to multiple front-line drugs. This drug resistance
is caused largely by noncompliance, or patients not taking their medicine
according to directions. Currently, active tuberculosis is treated with a
regimen of at least three different drugs taken daily for a minimum of six
months. Noncompliance occurs in part because of the drugs' side effects, such
as severe gastrointestinal upset and hepatitis. An ideal new drug candidate
for tuberculosis would improve compliance and prevent the rise of drug-
resistant strains by shortening the length of therapy and reducing unpleasant
side effects.
PathoGenesis currently has two drug candidates in Phase II clinical trials
of tuberculosis patients. An oral drug candidate, PA-1648 (rifalazil), is
being tested in Brazil in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases Tuberculosis Research Unit at Case Western Reserve
University, Cleveland. An inhaled antibiotic, TOBI(TM) (tobramycin solution
for inhalation), is being studied in collaboration with San Francisco General
Hospital. Results of the two trials are expected to be reported this year.
PathoGenesis Corp. develops drugs for treating serious infectious diseases
where there is a significant need for improved therapy. The company is
currently developing drug candidates to treat chronic lung infections in
cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis patients, as well as tuberculosis
infections. PathoGenesis is headquartered in Seattle and has additional
facilities in Skokie, Ill.; Annandale, N.J.; and Brentford, Middlesex, U.K.
Its stock is traded on the Nasdaq National Market System under the symbol
PGNS. The company's Web site is located at www.pathogenesis.com.
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking
statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties or other factors
which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of the company to
be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that might
cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, uncertainties related
to the company's dependence on TOBI, government regulation, the development of
drug candidates, competition and pharmaceutical pricing. Further information
regarding these and other factors is available in PathoGenesis' Annual Report
on Form 10-K for 1996 and other documents filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
SOURCE PathoGenesis Corp.
-0- 03/25/98
/CONTACT: Alan Meyer, 206-467-8100, or Maryellen Thielen, 847-583-5424,
both of PathoGenesis Corp.; or Barbara Lindheim of Noonan-Russo, 212-696-4455,
ext. 237/
/Web site: pathogenesis.com |
