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Biotech / Medical : Elan Corporation, plc (ELN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: William Partmann who wrote (757)	12/9/1999 10:22:00 PM
From: Gary Korn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10345

Thursday December 9, 7:41 pm Eastern Time Synthetic gene therapy cuts tumors in mice - study LOS ANGELES, Dec 9 (Reuters) - A type of synthetic gene delivery technology, when combined with chemotherapy, dramatically reduced the size of ovarian cancer tumors in mice, the company developing the treatment said on Thursday. Targeted Genetics Corp. (NasdaqNM:TGEN - news) said its lead cancer product, tgDCC-E1A, sensitizes tumor cells to standard chemotherapy agents. E1A is a gene that inhibits tumors. The idea behind gene therapy is to replace a faulty gene with a healthy one. Often a virus is used to carry the gene into cells, but a spokesman for Targeted Genetics said that the Seattle-based company does not use viruses to carry genes. Those types of gene delivery systems have come under fire after the September death of a teenager during an experimental gene therapy trial. Targeted Genetics spokesman said his company uses other types of vectors that do not create a full-blown immune response. In a mouse model of human ovarian cancer with high levels of the cancer-causing gene HER2/neu, the combination of tgDCC-E1A and chemotherapy agents paclitaxel and cisplatin reduced tumor weight by 80 percent over chemotherapy alone and 75 percent more than tgDCC-E1A alone, the company said. A similar model of cancer cells with normal levels of the cancer-causing gene showed that the combination therapy cut tumor weight by 99 percent more than chemotherapy alone and by 95 percent more than the gene therapy alone. In a Phase I trial of tgDCC-E1A as a stand-alone therapy, 11 of 16 evaluated patients with head and neck or breast cancer exhibited tumor shrinkage or stability, Targeted Genetics said. As a result of the new animal data, the company said it plans to begin a Phase I trial of the combination regimen for the treatment of ovarian cancer by the end of this year. The company also said a study of its newest synthetic gene delivery system, called lipid polycation DNA (LPD), to deliver E1A systemically to mice transplanted with human breast cancer tumors showed that the LPD-E1A formulation inhibited tumor growth more efficiently than chemotherapy alone. ``We have shown that LPD enables systemic delivery of therapeutic genes, an important step in the evolution of gene delivery technologies. LPD complexes have several advantages, namely they are compact, stable, efficient and resistant to blood components and thus best suited for intravenous delivery,' Barrie Carter, director of research and development at Targeted Genetics, said in a statement. ``Systemic delivery of E1A may provide a new approach to treating patients with metastatic disease as well as other cancers that are not amenable to treatment by direct injection,' he added. In July, Targeted Genetics formed a joint venture with Irish pharmaceutical company Elan Plc (NYSE:ELN - news) to develop advanced gene delivery technologies.http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/991209/bhc.html