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Biotech / Medical : VGNX -- Variagenics, Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: scaram(o)uche who wrote (177)	7/23/2002 12:17:07 AM
From: mopgcw	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 269

Geron Announces Telomerase Licensing Agreement With Variagenics for Pharmacogenomic Applications Geron's Telomerase Technology to Support Development of Diagnostic Products for Predicting Drug Efficacy and Toxicity in Individual Patients MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--July 16, 2002-- Geron Corporation (Nasdaq:GERN - News) today announced that it has granted a non-exclusive license to Variagenics, Inc. (Nasdaq:VGNX - News), relating to Geron's human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) technology for pharmacogenomic applications. Under the terms of the agreement, Variagenics will use hTERT to create immortalized cell lines from a unique cell type that is particularly well suited for identifying DNA polymorphisms and haplotypes. The immortalized cell lines will enable Variagenics to produce an unlimited quantity of nucleic acids for DNA sequencing and thereby efficiently identify and characterize markers of drug response. Ultimately, this will lead to the development of molecular diagnostic products to be used by physicians for selection of optimal therapy for patients. Financial and other terms of the agreement were not disclosed. "As the costs of drug development continue to grow, greater importance is being placed on using pharmacogenomics technologies to enable a more targeted approach to patient treatment, resulting in a reduced likelihood of adverse events and an increased response rate to a given therapy," said Melissa A. Kelly, general manager of Geron's Research and Development Technologies business unit. "Variagenics has demonstrated strong leadership in this arena, particularly in oncology, and we view this agreement as an important step in demonstrating the utility of Geron's telomerase technology as an enabling technology for the development of personalized medicines." "By enabling us to immortalize the rare cell populations that we utilize, Geron's telomerase technology will enhance Variagenics' ability to identify and characterize single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), haplotypes and other markers for assessing the impact of genetic variation on drug response," said Jay Mohr, Variagenics' president and chief business officer. Geron's R&D Technologies: Tools for Drug Discovery Geron's Research and Development Technologies (RDT) business unit is focused on leveraging Geron's proprietary telomerase and human embryonic stem cell technologies to provide new tools for pharmaceutical and biotech companies engaged in drug discovery and development. In particular, RDT is developing human cell lines for use in drug screening and metabolism profiling and toxicity testing of drug candidates, as well as for research and gene discovery applications. Intellectual Property and Telomerase Geron's telomerase platform is supported by a broad intellectual property portfolio of more than 110 issued patents and over 195 pending applications worldwide. Issued U.S. patents include claims covering the cloned genes that encode the RNA component (hTR) and the catalytic protein component (hTERT) of human telomerase, as well as cells that are immortalized by expression of recombinant hTERT. About Geron Corporation Geron is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapeutic and diagnostic products for applications in oncology and regenerative medicine, and research tools for drug discovery. Geron's product development programs are based upon three patented core technologies: telomerase, human embryonic stem cells and nuclear transfer. About Variagenics, Inc. Variagenics, Inc. applies its pharmacogenomic technologies to the discovery, development and commercialization of personalized drugs and companion molecular diagnostic products. Using a targeted drug pathway approach, Variagenics identifies therapeutically important genetic markers, including SNPs, haplotypes and, for cancer studies, loss-of-heterozygosity (LOH) and other related indicators. This information is then applied to clinical programs to enhance the success rates of drugs in development, and ultimately to the creation of diagnostics for predicting patient response to drugs.