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Biotech / Medical : MEDX ... anybody following? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Icebrg who wrote (652)	3/19/2003 6:52:16 PM
From: Icebrg	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2240

The antigen Medarex and Prima are planning to work on is called cripto From their website: primabiomed.com.au As announced on the front page of this Milestone Newsletter, Prima Biomed undertook its 4th major investment in its first 12 months of operation by licensing a new therapeutic antibody for cancer treatment from the Austin Research Institute. Oncomab Ltd was incorporated in July to secure the licensed technology and develop the technology for use in humans. Prima holds 65% of the shares in Oncomab Ltd and the Austin Research Institute the remaining 35%. The license from the Austin Research Institute is exclusive to Oncomab Ltd and remains for the duration of any issued patents. Patent applications have been lodged for the major countries and the applications form part of the licensed technology. The significant interest in this technology centres on the comparative features of the antibody to that seen with an antibody on the market which is achieving significant annual sales-$US 700million-despite having a very narrow therapeutic use and showing activity against non-cancerous tissue thereby leading to side effects. Oncomab’s antibody inhibits a receptor (cripto-1) that has been shown to be very important for cancer cell survival and importantly to be present on the surface of many types of cancer cells while showing no expression on normal tissue. This provides Oncomab with a tremendous therapeutic potential. Oncomab Ltd has set key Milestones for the first 12 months so that it can begin a clinical trial in the second year of the program. The key focus is to enter into a collaboration with one of the major groups that “humanise” antibodies or produce a human antibody to cripto-1. This is a key part of the program as the humanisation ensures that no allergic responses will occur when the antibodies are injected into humans and that the immune system will not remove the antibody before it exerts its desired effect on cancer cells.