AVI BIOPHARMA STARTS DEVELOPMENT OF TWO CANCER ANTIBODIES.AVI BioPharma, Inc. (Nasdaq:AVII)(Nasdaq:AVIIW)(Nasdaq:AVIIZ), Portland, Ore., a biotechnology company committed to the development of products to treat cancer and other life- threatening diseases has initiated the preclinical development of two human monoclonal antibodies for cancer. These two monoclonal antibodies were produced using AVI's Avicine cancer vaccine, now in late stage clinical development and Abgenix Inc.'s (Nasdaq:ABGX) XenoMouse(TM) Technology. "Using the Abgenix technology, which AVI (Audio Video Interleaved) A Windows multimedia video format from Microsoft. It interleaves standard waveform audio and digital video frames (bitmaps) to provide reduced animation at 15 fps at 160x120x8 resolution. Audio is 11,025Hz, 8-bit samples. licensed in January 1999, we have successfully produced human monoclonal antibodies to the two targets of our cancer vaccine, Avicine," commented Denis Denis, king of Portugal: see Diniz. R. Burger, Ph.D, AVI's president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. . "These two antibodies thus have broad potential as stand alone drugs, as supplement to our vaccine, and as delivery agents for other cancer therapeutics." Patrick Iversen, Ph.D., AVI's senior vice president of Research and Development, added, "These antibodies significantly broaden our cancer treatment capabilities as they possibly could be used therapeutically during the initial weeks of treatment before patients respond on their own to our vaccine. Further, they may be an effective treatment for patients whose immune systems are compromised and whose only current therapeutic choice is aggressive, toxic chemotherapy." Avicine is an essentially nontoxic therapeutic cancer vaccine which elicits a highly specific immune response immune response n. An integrated bodily response to an antigen, especially one mediated by lymphocytes and involving recognition of antigens by specific antibodies or previously sensitized lymphocytes. to the human hormone and growth factor chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a cancer-associated oncofetal protein. The vaccine blocks hCG's facilitation of tumor growth, angiogenesis angiogenesis /an·gio·gen·e·sis/ (-jen´e-sis) vasculogenesis; development of blood vessels either in the embryo or in the form of neovascularization or revascularization. an·gi·o·gen·e·sis n. , invasion, and immunosuppression immunosuppression Suppression of immunity with drugs, usually to prevent rejection of an organ transplant. Its aim is to allow the recipient to accept the organ permanently with no unpleasant side effects. . In the clinical trials to date, patients that responded to the two epitopes in the vaccine exhibited significant survival benefits compared to patients treated with chemotherapy alone. AVI BioPharma develops therapeutic products for the treatment of life threatening diseases using two technology platforms: cancer immunotherapy and gene-targeted drugs. Its lead clinical agent, Avicine, a therapeutic cancer vaccine, is in Phase II trial in pancreatic cancer, and will soon enter a Phase III pivotal trial in colorectal cancer and a Phase II trial in Prostate cancer. AVI has begun clinical trials on Resten-NG in cardiovascular restenosis, the first application of its novel third generation NeuGene antisense antisense, DNA or RNA manipulated in a laboratory so that its components (nucleotides) form a complementary copy of normal, or "sense," messenger RNA (mRNA; see nucleic acid). technology. Resten-NG is designed to treat cancer, cardiovascular restenosis and other cell proliferation disorders by inhibiting the production of a cellular transcription factor, the oncogene oncogene Gene that can cause cancer. It is a sequence of DNA that has been altered or mutated from its original form, the proto-oncogene (see mutation). Proto-oncogenes promote the specialization and division of normal cells. c-myc. For more information, call 503/227-0554. |
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