NEW HAVEN, Conn., Oct. 8
/PRNewswire/ -- Alexion
Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
(NASDAQ:ALXN) today announced that
it has been awarded a
three year $2 million grant from the
Advanced Technology
Program (ATP), an innovative
Department of Commerce
technology initiative administered
by the National Institute of
Standards and Technology. Granted in
response to a proposal
entitled "A Xenogeneic Solution to
Spinal Cord Injury," the award
will support the Company's R&D
Program to develop genetically
engineered pig tissues to treat
patients with severe, debilitating
spinal cord injuries. This
represents the third ATP/NIST grant
won by Alexion. The three grants
totaling $6 million in funding are
all in support of the firm's
xenotransplantation program.
"This award will assist us in
further developing our preclinical
program aimed at the development of
genetically engineered
tissues to replace cells injured in
patients who have suffered
traumatic spinal cord injuries,"
said Leonard Bell, M.D., President
and Chief Executive Officer of
Alexion. "We are very encouraged
by these further endorsements of our
proprietary technological
approach and progress-to-date by the
respected group of
scientific and business leaders who
served as reviewers for the
competing ATP grant proposals."
According to the National Spinal
Cord Injury Association, there
are approximately 8,000 new spinal
cord injury patients in the
U.S. each year and at least 200,000
patients have suffered a
traumatic spinal cord injury. Most
spinal cord injury patients are
young adults and slightly over
one-half of patients suffer the most
severe form of non-fatal spinal
injury, quadriplegia, or loss of use
of all four limbs.
The Advanced Technology Program
provides cost-shared funding
to industry for selected R&D
projects with the potential to spark
important, broad-based economic
benefits for the United States.
ATP awards are made on the basis of
a rigorous competitive
review considering the scientific,
technical and business merit of
each proposal and its potential
broad benefits to the United States
economy.
Since August of 1995, Alexion and
United States Surgical
Corporation have been engaged in a
collaborative program to
develop a portfolio of
xenotransplant products worldwide.
Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was
founded in 1992 and is
engaged in the development of
selective immunotherapeutic drugs
that generally are designed to
inhibit the disease-causing segments
of the immune system while
preserving the disease-preventing
aspects of the immune system. The
Company is developing three
technology platforms: C5 Complement
Inhibitors and Apogen
T-Cell Therapeutics which together
target severe cardiovascular
and autoimmune disorders; and
xenografts for organ transplants.
This news release contains
forward-looking statements. Such
statements are subject to certain
factors which may cause
Alexion's plans to differ or results
to vary from those expected
including unexpected preclinical or
clinical results, the need for
additional research and testing,
delays in manufacturing, access to
capital and funding, delays in
development of commercial
relationships and a variety of risks
set forth from time to time in
Alexion's filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission,
including but not limited to the
risks discussed in Alexion's Annual
Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended July 31, 1997. Alexion
undertakes no obligation to publicly
release results of any of these
forward-looking statements which may
be made to reflect events
or circumstances after the date
hereof or to reflect the occurrence
of unanticipated events.