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Biotech / Medical : Gene therapy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: nigel bates who wrote (217)	6/5/2000 6:17:00 AM
From: nigel bates	Respond to of 319

CAMBRIDGE, England, June 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Scientists at Phogen Ltd and Canji Inc, the gene therapy discovery centre for Schering-Plough Research Institute, have demonstrated in a preclinical tumour model that gene therapy with a VP22-p53 fusion protein induces a significantly higher level of tumour cell-death than with p53 alone. The results of the collaborative study, which was conducted at Canji and included experiments both in in vitro cell cultures and in tumour xenografts in mice, were presented today at a meeting of the American Society of Gene Therapy in Denver, Colorado, USA. The p53 cell cycle control protein is important to the normal regulation of cell division and the cell growth process, and is found to be defective in a wide range of tumours. Schering-Plough is developing a p53-based gene therapy product, which is currently in Phase II clinical trials for cancer treatment. VP22, a protein that quickly spreads from cell to cell, is capable of transporting large proteins, such as p53, in a functional form from the cell in which they are made to neighbouring cells, leading to an enhanced therapeutic effect. Phogen's research collaboration with Canji provided access to Canji's in vivo tumour models of p53-mediated gene therapy. In the studies, which involved cells that are sensitive to killing by p53 gene therapy, a five-fold increase in tumour cell killing at comparable doses was observed when VP22 was attached to p53. The VP22-p53 fusion protein persisted for a longer duration within cells as compared to the p53 protein alone. Dr. Stephen Inglis, Phogen's Chairman and co-founder, said: ``These findings show that a significantly enhanced anti-cancer effect is caused by VP22-p53 in vivo. This offers the possibility of using significantly lower doses for a given effect, which could be highly advantageous for commercial product development.'' Dr. Peter O'Hare, Phogen's chief scientific officer and co-founder, said: ``The ability of VP22-p53 to cause an equivalent level of tumour cell death for a five-fold lower dose is an important milestone and scientific achievement for the use of VP22 technology. Phogen looks forward to taking VP22 into the next stages of development as an agent to enhance the anti-cancer potential of proteins, and exploring the possibility of using VP22 for the enhanced delivery of other proteins to treat other diseases.'' Canji Inc. is based in San Diego, California, USA. Schering-Plough Research Institute is the pharmaceutical research and development arm of Schering-Plough Corporation of Madison, New Jersey, USA, a research-based company engaged in the discovery, development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical products worldwide. Phogen is a biopharmaceutical company established to develop and commercialise technology based on the protein, VP22, for enhancing drug delivery. The company was formed in early 1997 by the Marie Curie Cancer Care (MCCC) charity, the UK's most comprehensive cancer care organisation, and Cantab Pharmaceuticals Research Limited (Nasdaq: CNTBY; LSE: CTB), a leading UK-based biopharmaceutical company with innovative product programmes and technology in the areas of immunotherapy and vaccine technology.