A little news this a.m.:
XOMA Presents Clinical Data at Sepsis Forum Showing That LBP Detects Bacterial Endotoxin Exposure and Predicts Patient Outcome
BERKELEY, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--Oct. 30, 1998--Research by XOMA Corporation (Nasdaq:XOMA - news) continues to demonstrate that LBP (lipopolysaccharide binding protein) may be a useful new marker for diagnosis and prognosis of patients with sepsis and other infectious complications caused by exposure to bacteria and endotoxins.
Serious and sometimes-fatal complications such as pneumonia, respiratory distress, and blood infections frequently follow surgery or trauma, and affect hundreds of thousands of patients in the United States every year.
Patrick J. Scannon, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Scientific and Medical Officer of XOMA will present XOMA's LBP findings October 31, in Toronto, at the Sepsis and Mediator-Directed Therapy forum, sponsored by the Toronto Critical Care Medicine Symposium and the International Sepsis Forum.
''We continue to accumulate evidence from clinical studies that LBP is a unique marker of patient exposure to bacteria and endotoxins,'' said Dr. Scannon.
''High LBP levels have so far predicted poor outcome in sepsis, meningococcemia and partial hepatectomy patients. In trauma patients, LBP levels increase over the first 48 hours and remain high for several days, corresponding to the period of highest risk for these patients to develop infectious complications like pneumonia.
''Our work with LBP as a diagnostic complements our development of BPI-derived therapies, such as Neuprex(R), that address these infectious complications.''
Endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide or LPS) is a structural component of gram-negative bacteria that can induce an overwhelming systemic inflammatory response. In patients exposed to bacterial endotoxins this reaction can cause complications that in severe cases can result in shock, organ failure and death. LBP, a key initiator of the inflammatory response, is secreted by the liver in direct response to exposure to bacterial endotoxin.
XOMA researchers have measured LBP levels in plasma samples from healthy adults and from more than 700 patients suffering from 20 different diseases. High LBP levels have been seen in patients with conditions involving exposure to bacterial endotoxin, such as meningococcemia, presumed gram-negative sepsis, complicated abdominal infections, and inflammatory bowel disease.
XOMA is using an LBP assay to monitor patients enrolled in its ongoing Neuprex(R) clinical trials to collect additional data that may further prove the usefulness of this approach.
XOMA has licensed its LBP assay technology to Biosite Diagnostics, San Diego, California (Nasdaq:BSTE - news); Diagnostic Products Corporation, Los Angeles, California (NYSE:DP - news); and SRL, Inc., of Tokyo, Japan, who are using the technology to develop commercial tests which could aid in accurate diagnosis and prognosis of patients at risk for developing infectious complications.
To date, XOMA has two patents, U.S. Patent No. 5,484,705, issued January 16, 1996, and U.S. Patent No. 5,804,367, issued September 8, 1998, which protect diagnostic and prognostic methods for measuring levels of LBP in humans. XOMA has also acquired from Johnson & Johnson an exclusive sublicense to fundamental LBP-related technology developed by Drs. Richard Ulevitch and Peter Tobias at The Scripps Research Institute in San Diego.
XOMA Corporation develops and manufactures genetically-engineered protein, peptide and monoclonal antibody pharmaceuticals that target systemic bacterial and fungal infections, infectious complications following traumatic injury and surgery, and immunologic disorders.
The company's primary drug development platform is BPI (bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein), a molecule in the human host-defense system closely related to LBP. However, unlike LBP, BPI binds to and neutralizes endotoxin and kills bacteria.
BPI was discovered in 1978 by Peter Elsbach, M.D., and Jerrold Weiss, Ph.D., at New York University School of Medicine, with whom XOMA has collaborated since 1991 to extend and apply BPI-related research to pharmaceutical development. |
