Subject: Imreg Expects to Post Loss of Up to $300,000
Date: Published: 10/1/85 54 lines
Source:  Wall Street Journal.  Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

   Imreg Expects to Post
   Loss of Up to $300,000
   For the Third Quarter

   NEW ORLEANS -- Imreg Inc., a biotechnology concern,
expects to post a third-quarter loss of $250,000 to $300,000,
compared with a year-earlier loss of $176,833, Dr. A. Arthur
Gottlieb, president and chief executive officer, said.
   For all of 1985, Imreg expects to post a loss of about $1
million, which is wider than the 1984 loss of $731,989.
Imreg, which went public in January 1984, is developing a
drug to bolster human immune systems, particularly in victims
of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, known as AIDS. 
   Dr. Gottlieb attributed the projected loss to the high
cost of clinical testing for Imreg-1, a drug made from the
white blood cells of healthy individuals.  To develop such a
drug, Dr. Gottlieb said in an interview, testing costs are
$10,000 a patient for a four-month to six-month study, he
added.
   Imreg-1 is being tested on patients with AIDS and a
pre-AIDS condition known as AIDS-related complex.  AIDS is a
collapse of the immune system spread by sexual and blood
contact.  In both AIDS and the AIDS-related complex, immune
system cells malfunction, leaving the body susceptible to
infections and a cancer called Kaposi's Sarcoma.
   Dr. Gottlieb said he expects to make an announcement soon
on a capital infusion from another company for more research,
development and testing, and a licensing agreement for
marketing.
   Dr. Gottlieb said Imreg-1 could have commercial licensing
in a year and a half from the Food and Drug Administration.
   There are an estimated 300,000 people in the U. S. with
AIDS-related complex and one million people infected by the
virus that causes AIDS. AIDS-related complex patients are
becoming a "very sizable potential market," Dr. Gottlieb
said.
   The commercial cost of Imreg-1 would be "dollars per dose
rather than hundreds of dollars per dose," he said.
   Thus far, Imreg-1 has shown no "overt toxicity" in
patients.  But, he said, "I don't want to make any broad
claims."
   Imreg hopes to test the drug on patients with other
diseases that have impaired immune systems, such as other
cancers, juvenile diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.

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