Fledgling Drug Maker Gets License : Biotechnology: Regeneron gets permission to work on protein that may combat nerve disorders. The firm is partly owned by Amgen.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., a fledgling biotechnology company that’s partially owned by Amgen Inc. in Thousand Oaks, has taken a few more baby steps on its long journey toward producing marketable drugs.
Regeneron, based in Tarrytown, N.Y., is trying to develop drugs that would treat Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological ailments. Among other things, it’s attempting to use biotechnology to duplicate “growth factors,” or proteins in the nervous system that might combat nerve disorders.
Last week, Regeneron said it had obtained the exclusive license to develop one growth factor--glia maturation factor, or GMF--from Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, a drug and chemicals company, and the University of Iowa.
Terms of the license were not disclosed, but Regeneron said it is preparing GMF for testing on humans.
Jim McCamant, editor of the Medical Technology Stock Letter, an industry newsletter in Berkeley, said Rhone-Poulenc Rorer probably sold the license because Regeneron is believed to have the broadest research of nerve growth factors. “They’ve got real expertise here that makes them an attractive licensee,” he said.
But Regeneron has a long way to go. The company has yet to test any of its drugs on humans and, therefore, still faces the laborious process of getting approval for its products from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before it can sell any of them.
The company’s leading drug prospect is another growth factor called ciliary neurotrophic factor, or CNTF, and Regeneron also said it has completed a pilot manufacturing plant for producing enough quantities of the drug for upcoming human trials. Regeneron said it plans in this year’s second quarter to file for FDA approval to start human tests of CNTF.
Amgen, which has become biotechnology’s leader by bringing two drugs to market in recent years, has invested $18.5 million so far in Regeneron, and the amount might rise to $53 million over the next four years.
Amgen also has a 6% stake in Regeneron, and the companies have a joint-venture deal to market certain drugs in the United States based on Regeneron’s technology. But CNTF is not among the drugs involved in the venture.
Amgen’s investment and Regeneron’s initial public stock offering last year have helped finance Regeneron’s research, and Regeneron said it now has about $104 million in cash and equivalents at its disposal.
The company also reported a $4.5-million loss for 1991 on revenue of $12.5 million that mainly came from interest income and research payments. Such losses are commonplace for research firms that have yet to begin selling products.
