Subject: CooperBiomedical Inc. Sets Pact With Chiron On Testing for AIDS
Date: Published: 3/18/85 42 lines
Source:  Wall Street Journal.  Copyright Dow Jones Inc. 

   CooperBiomedical Inc. 
   Sets Pact With Chiron
   On Testing for AIDS

   MENLO PARK, Calif. -- CooperBiomedical Inc. said it signed
an agreement with Chiron Corp., Emeryville, to develop and
market tests for hepatitis and acquired immune deficiency
syndrome.  The tests would use biotechnology.
   The companies expect to ask the Food and Drug
Administration within six weeks for permission to begin
clinical trials, said James V. Kehoe, executive vice
president of Chiron, a biotechnology company that develops
medical products.
   The FDA has approved for market AIDS tests produced by
Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, Ill., and
Electro-Nucleonics Inc., Fairfield, N. J. Those tests are
based on dead viruses that may contain impurities which, in
turn, may trigger false results, Mr. Kehoe said.
   He said the test planned by CooperBiomedical and Chiron
would use viruses from recombinant DNA techniques.  The
techniques, which recombine parts of genes, would reproduce
the part of the virus needed for the test.  This approach,
Chiron says, removes impurities, resulting in a more accurate
test.
   AIDS is a usually fatal disease that devastates the body's
defenses against disease.
   Under the agreement, CooperBiomedical, which makes and
sells drugs and diagnostic equipment, receives world-wide
rights to market the products, except in South Korea, where
Chiron has a relationship with a Korean concern, said Mr. 
Kehoe.  Chiron would receive royalties.  The two companies
share manufacturing rights.

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