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Strategies & Market Trends : Cents and Sensibility - Kimberly and Friends' Consortium -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SirRealist who wrote (107481)	5/30/2000 9:15:00 AM
From: vagabond	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108040

PGNX news -- maybe it'll bounce the stock after Friday's 70% drop?... (or, maybe not) ======================= Tuesday May 30, 7:30 am Eastern Time Company Press Release SOURCE: Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Progenics Identifies the HIV Docking Site on CCR5 Receptor TARRYTOWN, N.Y., May 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: PGNX - news) reported today the discovery of the binding site for HIV on CCR5, a receptor protein found on cells that plays a critical role in HIV entry and infection. The new structural data provide researchers with a better understanding of how HIV infects cells and will contribute to the development of novel therapies for HIV. Conducted by a collaborative team of researchers from Progenics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Bronx, NY) and Rockefeller University (New York, NY), the study was reported in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (Vol. 97, No. 11). To pinpoint the HIV binding site, Progenics' scientists and their collaborators tested the binding of synthetic CCR5 molecules to the HIV envelope glycoprotein gp120, which resides on the surface of the virus and mediates HIV entry. They observed that HIV bound a particular region or sequence of CCR5 and that it only occurred when the site contained sulfate groups at specific locations. Sulfate groups are naturally added to certain receptors like CCR5 in vivo. These findings were confirmed in laboratory tests, which showed that sulfated CCR5 peptides blocked HIV infection of target cells. Progenics has used this discovery as the basis of a new scientific discovery program focusing on the development of antiviral therapies targeting the CCR5 binding site on HIV. ``These discoveries provide the first detailed description of the interactions between HIV and CCR5,'' said Ronald J. Prentki, President of Progenics. ``We believe that these findings represent an important contribution to our understanding of how the virus infects cells and will ultimately advance the development of CCR5-based therapies for HIV infection.'' Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focusing on the development and commercialization of products for the treatment and prevention of cancer, viral, and other life-threatening diseases. The Company's most advanced product, GMK, is a cancer vaccine in pivotal Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of malignant melanoma. A second cancer vaccine, MGV, with broad application to a variety of cancers, is entering Phase II trials. GMK and MGV are being developed in collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. The Company, with Cytogen Corporation, has formed a joint venture focusing on the development of cancer immunotherapies based on PSMA (Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen) technology. The Company's lead HIV product, PRO 542, has completed two Phase I/II clinical trials, and two follow-on HIV products, PRO 367 and PRO 140, are preparing to commence Phase I/II trials. Progenics also has collaborations with F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd in the area of HIV fusion co-receptors, and with American Home Products and Pharmacopeia, Inc. focusing on small-molecules targeting the CD4 receptor. The Company is developing a novel small-molecule antioxidant, DHA, to treat stroke and other neurological disorders.