Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Biotech / Medical : PFE (Pfizer) How high will it go? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nick who wrote (589)	3/12/1998 11:00:00 AM
From: Nick	Respond to of 9523

Thursday March 12, 8:01 am Eastern Time Company Press Release SOURCE: Immusol, Inc. Immusol, Inc. to Partner Gene Target Validation Technology With Pfizer, Inc.; Company's First Genomics-based Contract SAN DIEGO, March 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Immusol, Inc. announced today a genomic-based research collaboration with Pfizer, Inc. (NYSE: PFE - news) to validate new therapeutic targets in the Pfizer drug discovery pipeline. The research collaboration is the second agreement between the two companies and Immusol's first contract in the genomics arena. ''We look forward to working with Pfizer in this exciting new application of Immusol's technology,'' said Tsvi Goldenberg, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO of Immusol. ''Our technology in functional genomics offers an efficient mechanism for our partners to confirm the role of multiple potential targets in disease prior to drug screening efforts. Target validation is predicted to focus resource spending on valid genes, and expedite the gene to drug process.'' Under this initial collaborative study, Pfizer will provide candidate gene target sequence information to Immusol for the design of specific ribozymes to each target. Immusol will deliver the ribozymes to mammalian cells, thereby generating an in vivo model, to measure the loss of each selected target gene product and evaluate its function in disease. Financial terms for the collaboration were not disclosed. Immusol's target validation program arose from the company's proprietary expertise with gene transfer and intracellular targeting of ribozymes to multiple viral and cellular targets. The technology has been applied to create a high-speed capability to validate and discover new candidate target genes using a mammalian cell system without the need of less relevant model systems (eg., nematode, fruit fly, or transgenic animals). Separately, Immusol, Inc. announced today that their 1995 collaboration with Pfizer, Inc. to develop a gene therapy for the treatment of HIV would not be renewed. Following the completion of Pfizer funding of the program, through May 1998, Immusol will continue to develop the HIV therapy in collaboration with Dr. Flossie Wong-Staal's laboratory at the University of California San Diego. Immusol, Inc. is a privately-held biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to generate and develop therapeutic entities, and to establish collaborations for discovering and validating gene-based drug targets. The company's portfolio of therapeutic agents includes the drug candidate RestenASE% which is scheduled to enter a clinical trial for the prevention of post-angioplasty restenosis. Additionally, the company is developing gene therapies for infectious diseases including HIV, HCV and HBV, with the lead HIV gene therapy currently under study in a Phase I trial. Immusol is also focusing on the application of ribozymes to enhance the early stages of drug discovery by providing a rapid analysis of differential gene function in vivo to confirm the role of each potential gene target in disease. These tools for target characterization offer advantages to Immusol's corporate partners of high-speed and functional confirmation to enhance drug discovery. SOURCE: Immusol, Inc.