Subject: EPO May Ease Effect of AZT, Researchers Say 
Date: Published: 10/14/88 79 lines
Source:  Wall Street Journal.  Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

    Technology and Medicine:  
    EPO May Ease
    Effect of AZT,
    Researchers Say
    ----  
    By Michael Waldholz
    Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

    The highly promising drug EPO may help counter the severe
 anemia that often accompanies the use of AZT, the only drug
 approved for treating AIDS, according to a preliminary study.
    EPO is an experimental, genetically engineered version of
 a natural human hormone called erythropoeitin.  Several
 companies are intensively studying EPO as a treatment for
 serious forms of anemia that result from a variety of health
 problems.  AZT can cause an anemia so severe that many AIDS
 patients must receive monthly blood transfusions or quit
 using the drug.
    The study of the drug in combination with AZT is being
 sponsored by Johnson & Johnson's Ortho Pharmaceutical Corp. 
 unit.  Ortho is studying EPO under a license from Amgen Inc.,
 the Thousand Oaks, Calif., biotechnology company that
 produced the gene-spliced version.
    The preliminary review looked at 63 patients with acquired
 immune deficiency syndrome who are receiving AZT at nine
 medical centers around the country.  In a "large subset" of
 the patients, there was about a 60% to 70% reduction in blood
 tranfusions after three months of treatment with EPO. Details
 of the study were released Wednesday by Seth Rudnick, an
 Ortho official, at the annual meeting of the American
 Association of Blood Banks in Kansas City, Mo.
    A spokesman for Ortho said the company released the data
 after consultation with officials at the U. S. Food and Drug
 Administration.  Ortho and the FDA were concerned that news of
 the drug's effectiveness might be misinterpreted to mean that
 EPO was, on its own, a treatment for AIDS. A spokesman for
 the FDA acknowledged that "since the study looked good," it
 was appropriate to release the preliminary findings.
    The Ortho spokesman said that the company will continue
 enrolling more patients in the EPO-AZT study and that it
 hopes to seek FDA approval "soon" to market the drug.  Johnson
 & Johnson, based in New Brunswick, N. J., has the rights to
 market EPO in the U. S. under the brand name Eprex for
 treating most forms of anemia that result from
 surgery-related infections and other ailments.  Johnson &
 Johnson already has approval to sell Eprex in several
 European countries.  Amgen is awaiting FDA approval to market
 EPO for one use, as a way to counter the anemia that
 accompanies kidney dialysis.
    AZT, which is marketed by BurroughsWellcome Co., a unit of
 London-based Wellcome PLC, often causes bone marrow
 suppression and a drop in certain white and red blood cells.
 EPO naturally stimulates the bone marrow to produce red blood
 cells.  Another genetically engineered agent, called GM-CSF,
 is being tested as a way to boost white cell production.
    EPO is widely considered by securities analysts to be a
 potentially big-selling drug, perhaps the next big product to
 come out of the biotechnology industry.  Many analysts
 estimate that the U. S. market for EPO will exceed $200
 million annually by the early 1990s.
    The drug is also being developed by Genetics Institute
 Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., which has licensed its version to a
 joint venture between Upjohn Co. of Kalamazoo, Mich., and
 Chugai Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Japan.  In September, the joint
 venture applied for FDA approval of the drug for sale under
 the name Marogen.
    In New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday,
 Johnson & Johnson shares rose $1 to close at $86.  In national
 over-the-counter trading, Amgen shares closed at $31.50, up
 25 cents.

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