Tuesday March 2, 8:04 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Genelabs Technologies, Inc.
Gene Switch
Application Revealed
at Presentation by Genelabs
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Genelabs Technologies,
Inc. (Nasdaq: GNLB - news) Chief Scientific Officer Cynthia Edwards, Ph.D.,
is a featured speaker at the Genome TriConference 99 sponsored by
Cambridge Healthtech Institute being held this week at the Fairmont Hotel
in San Francisco. On Wednesday, March 3 at 9:00 AM, Dr. Edwards will
describe Genelabs' approach to small molecule drugs that function by
binding to DNA to regulate gene expression and the newest application of
this technology -- gene switches for both gene therapy and broad
agricultural uses.
Genelabs has developed technologies for the discovery of small molecule
DNA-binding drugs that function by inhibiting the binding of critical
regulatory proteins to specific sites in gene promoters, thus changing the
expression of disease-causing genes. This unique approach to disease
intervention has application in a wide variety of therapeutic areas and
additionally, these compounds have applications as gene switches for
transgenes (i.e. genes administered to humans, plants and other
orgranisms to produce a beneficial effect).
A gene switch has already been produced and tested by Genelabs. James
A.D. Smith, Genelabs Chief Operating Officer commented, ''This
gene-switch product provides near-term commercial opportunities for
Genelabs, as it is an entirely new application of the technologies already
developed in the course of our drug discovery program. We are presently
in discussions with several companies for licensing our gene-switch
product for both biopharmaceutical and agricultural applications.'' |
