Potential Treatment for Smallpox Infections
FREMONT, Calif., Oct. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Abgenix, Inc. (Nasdaq: ABGX)
announced today an expansion of its collaboration with the U.S. Army Medical
Research Institute of Infectious Diseases ("USAMRIID") to develop antibody
therapies that could potentially protect the U.S. military and civilian
populations from biological terrorism. Under the expanded agreement, USAMRIID
will use the company's XenoMouse(TM) technology to make fully human monoclonal
antibodies that will be tested for their ability to provide protection against
viral infections attributed to poxviruses. Poxviruses, including smallpox,
pose a potential biological warfare or bioterrorism threat to U.S. interests.
"Bioterrorism is a serious threat and we are pleased to be collaborating
with the scientists at USAMRIID in developing appropriate countermeasures,"
stated R. Scott Greer, president and chief executive officer of Abgenix.
"Infectious diseases represent another disease area potentially addressable
with human antibodies from our XenoMouse technology."
Smallpox is an extremely lethal and contagious virus. Natural smallpox was
eradicated in 1977, but it is maintained in laboratories. People are no longer
vaccinated against smallpox, and the protection from a vaccination wears off
after ten to twenty years. There are currently only seven million usable doses
of smallpox vaccine stored in the United States for a population of two
hundred and seventy million.
Stockpiles of Vaccinia Immune Globulin (VIG) were formerly maintained to
treat people who developed infections following vaccination. However VIG is
no longer generally available. At the same time, smallpox virus has been
identified as one of the agents that potentially pose the greatest threat to
both military personnel and the civilian population during biological warfare
or bioterrorism. While new improved vaccines are currently under development,
an antibody therapeutic could be useful in treating immune suppressed
individuals and patients who have an adverse reaction to the vaccine.
Antibodies are immune system proteins that can combat many diseases,
including infection by viruses. Upon being bound by an antibody, a virus can
be blocked from causing damage to normal cells and eliminated from the body.
As therapeutic products, monoclonal antibodies have several potential
advantages over other therapies. The highly specific interaction between an
antibody and its target may, for example, reduce unwanted side effects that
plague other therapies. In addition, human or human-like antibodies may
persist in patients for several weeks as compared to hours or days for
traditional pharmaceuticals.
USAMRIID, located at Fort Detrick, Maryland, is the lead medical
laboratory for the U.S. Army Biological Defense Research Program, and plays a
key role in national defense and in infectious disease research. The
Institute's mission is to develop medical countermeasures, specifically
vaccines, drugs and diagnostics, to protect U.S. service members from
biological warfare agents and endemic infectious diseases.
Abgenix is a biopharmaceutical company that develops and intends to
commercialize antibody therapeutic products for the treatment of a variety of
disease conditions, including transplant-related diseases, inflammatory and
autoimmune disorders, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Abgenix has
developed XenoMouse technology, which it believes enables quick generation of
high affinity, fully human antibody product candidates to essentially any
disease target appropriate for antibody therapy. Abgenix has collaborative
arrangements with multiple pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies
involving its XenoMouse technology. In addition, Abgenix has four proprietary
antibody product candidates that are under development internally, two of
which are in human clinical trials.
Statements made in this press release about the collaboration with
USAMRIID and the potential of antibodies as a treatment for infection,
Abgenix's XenoMouse technology, product development activities and
collaborative arrangements other than statements of historical fact, are
forward-looking statements and are subject to a number of uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made,
including risks associated with the success of clinical trials, the progress
of research and product development programs, the regulatory approval process,
competitive products, future capital requirements and the extent and breadth
of Abgenix's patent portfolio. Please see Abgenix's public filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission for information about risks which may
affect Abgenix.
SOURCE Abgenix, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.abgenix.com
CONTACT:
investors, Amy B. Giller, 415-677-4455, ext.
206, or media, Amy Flood, 415-677-4455, ext. 211, both of
Noonan/Russo Communications, for Abgenix, Inc.; or Kurt
Leutzinger, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of
Abgenix, Inc., 510-608-6575
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