STRESSGEN ESTABLISHES MULTI-INSTITUTION DRUG DISCOVERY
COLLABORATION
- StressGen to Collaborate with the Universities of Miami and Connecticut
and Hartford Hospital to Advance the Company's Novel Discovery Platform
for the Prevention of Cell and Tissue Damage -
VICTORIA, B.C., July 9 /CNW/ - StressGen Biotechnologies Corp. (TSE: SSB)
today announced the formation of a drug discovery collaboration with the
University of Miami, the University of Connecticut and Hartford Hospital. The
purpose of the collaboration is to advance StressGen's proprietary platform in
the area of tissue and cell damage by discovering small molecules that
modulate the cellular production of stress proteins. In addition to their
immune regulating properties, stress proteins have been shown to play a
significant role in protecting cells from damage. Compounds discovered as a
part of the collaboration have a broad range of potential applications,
including the protection of tissues from damage due to ischemia, stroke,
cardiopulmonary bypass surgery and organ transplantation.
''Our core expertise and expanding proprietary position in stress
proteins provides us with a number of valuable platforms for new drug
discovery,'' said Richard M. Glickman, President and Chief Executive Officer
of StressGen. ''We are pleased to be working with these three institutions
because of their expertise in the cellular stress response field and their
cutting-edge research in the control of cell and tissue damage. This
collaboration is part of our strategy to capitalize on the broad potential of
our proprietary stress protein technologies through collaborations with
leading research institutions, while maintaining our internal focus on
developing immunotherapeutic products for cancer and infectious disease.'' Mr.
Glickman added that the Company expects to initiate its first clinical trial
for its lead product for cervical cancer, HspE7, in the first part of 1999.
The aim of the multi-institution collaboration, which is based on
StressGen's exclusive license to the novel discovery platform from the
University of Miami announced in February, is to identify and optimize small
molecules that have potential for promoting cell survival under conditions
that put vital tissues at risk for severe damage. Specifically, the
collaborative network will develop novel assays and screen chemical libraries
to identify small molecules production that effectively modulate the cellular
production of stress proteins. Recent research has shown that the
up-regulation of stress proteins can protect cells from injury and, in
addition, that the down-regulation of stress protein production may facilitate
the therapeutic elimination of unwanted cells, such as tumor cells.
Pharmaceutical manipulation of stress protein production, therefore, has a
broad range of potential applications, particularly in diseases and surgical
procedures where tissue damage is a significant problem.
As its primary focus, StressGen is capitalizing on recent research
demonstrating that stress proteins are powerful tools for activating the
immune system and may be used in a variety of ways to combat disease. The
Company is developing two classes of therapeutics that use stress proteins to
promote immune recognition and rejection of cancer cells: recombinant fusion
protein therapeutics and stress protein gene therapy. StressGen's fusion
protein products, such as its lead product HspE7, combine a tumor-associated
antigen and a stress protein in order to both educate the immune system and
direct a potent and specific immune attack on cancer cells. StressGen's gene
therapy products, which are being developed in collaboration with Genzyme
Molecular Oncology, are designed to deliver genes encoding specific stress
proteins directly to tumor cells, which then express the stress protein,
prompting an immune attack directed at the tumor.
StressGen Biotechnologies Corp. is a biopharmaceutical company developing
innovative immunotherapy products to treat cancer and prevent infectious
disease. The Company's core technology capitalizes on the ability of stress
proteins to activate the body's immune system to recognize and fight disease.
Through its Biochemical Division, StressGen is also an internationally
recognized supplier of stress protein, protein trafficking and signal
transduction research reagents.
One of the nation's youngest medical schools, founded in 1952, the
University of Miami School of Medicine has already established a research
enterprise which the National Institutes of Health ranks in the top 30 percent
of the country's 125 medical schools with regards to research funding awarded.
With more than $130 million in research expenditures and 1.5 million square
feet of research space, the medical school's 1,000-plus full-time faculty
members and an additional 400 research personnel conduct clinical and basic
science research crossing all disciplines, from epidemiology and pediatrics to
AIDS, psychiatry and the neurosciences.
The University of Connecticut stands with leading institutions in the
size, scope and contributions of its research. One research team has unlocked
the secret of how penicillin kills bacteria. Others are working on using
computers to solve medical problems, on solutions to pollution, and on
developing advanced manufacturing technology.
Hartford Hospital, nationally recognized for excellence and innovation,
is one of the largest and most sophisticated tertiary medical centers in the
United States with over 820 active staff physicians encompassing all primary
care and specialty areas of care. |
