ZymoGenetics Picks Up Some of Human Genome Sciences Mojo With Lupus Drug
Summary
ZymoGenetics scientist Jane Gross, whom I profiled for the The Seattle Times in 2004, staked a claim in the 1990s to excess production of this particular protein and a number of diseases in which the immune system goes haywire and starts attacking healthy tissue.Many investors have forgotten ZymoGenetics’ connection to atacicept and its BLyS target because the Seattle biotech handed over majority ownership of the drug candidate to Merck Serono last September when it started running low on cash.Even though it quit paying for the development costs, Zymo was able to retain a royalty rate in the “mid-to-high teens” (as a percentage of sales) if Merck Serono can turn atacicept into a marketed product.ZymoGenetics says the evidence from animal trials and early human studies suggests that blocking both BLyS and APRIL ought to produce a more potent shutdown of inflammation that lupus patients need, Williams says.Zymo is bullish because it is enrolling similar types of patients as the trial from Human Genome Sciences (people with evidence of inflammation in the blood, and who are actively suffering flare-ups) and it is designed to measure the same clinical goal, or endpoint, as its rival.
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