WALTHAM, Mass., Aug. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- ImmuLogic Pharmaceutical
Corporation (Nasdaq: IMUL) today announced it has received a Phase II Small
Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute on  Drug
Abuse (NIDA), totaling $700,000  to complete preclinical development of the
Company's  therapeutic vaccine to treat cocaine abuse.  The funds will make it
possible to expeditiously optimize the design of  the cocaine vaccine and its
administration to humans while assessing the vaccine's efficacy in further
animal models.
    Dr. Alan I. Leshner, Director of The National Institute on Drug Abuse
(NIDA) commented, "This is a unique opportunity for NIDA and for ImmuLogic -
utilizing the SBIR grant program to significantly advance drug abuse treatment
research.  One of this country's greatest needs in dealing with its drug
problem is a medication for cocaine addiction, since we now have none.  NIDA
has therefore designated developing such a medication our highest priority.
This research will move us significantly forward in a new direction."
    "ImmuLogic intends for this novel and proprietary cocaine vaccine to be
part of a comprehensive treatment program for cocaine abuse to diminish
relapse," said Barbara Fox, Ph.D., Vice President, Director Drug Abuse
Program, ImmuLogic Pharmaceutical Corporation.
    In preclinical studies, ImmuLogic has shown that vaccine-induced
antibodies inhibit passage of cocaine to the brain, and that treatment with
cocaine-specific antibodies eliminates the effect of cocaine in rats in the
self-administration model of cocaine addiction.  The SBIR grant is one element
of ImmuLogic's broader strategy to develop this therapeutic with government or
industry partners.  The cocaine vaccine is currently scheduled to enter the
clinic in 1997.  Dr. Fox continued, "We plan to use the same technological
approach to develop similar vaccines to fight the abuse of other drugs,
including, perhaps, nicotine addiction."
    Cocaine addiction is a major social and public health problem in the
United States.  Of the over 2 million heavy users of cocaine in the U.S.,
approximately 400,000 seek medical assistance and treatment for addiction each
year.  ImmuLogic's therapeutic approach to treat cocaine addiction is based on
vaccinating these compliant cocaine addicts with a cocaine-protein vaccine.
The vaccine induces anti-cocaine antibodies which bind cocaine in the
patient's blood and minimize or eliminate the passage of cocaine into the
brain, limiting the pharmacologic effects induced by this illegal drug.
    ImmuLogic Pharmaceutical Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company,
located in Waltham, Massachusetts, developing peptide therapeutics to treat
allergies and autoimmune diseases.  ALLERVAX(R) products to treat cat and
ragweed allergies are in late stage clinical development.  The Company's lead
autoimmune candidate for the treatment of multiple sclerosis is being
developed with Schering AG, Germany.  In addition to treatments for allergies
and autoimmune diseases, the Company is developing a poison ivy/poison oak
therapeutic and this vaccine to treat cocaine abuse.

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