Subject: HemaCare Is Licensed To Carry Out Trials Of Therapy for AIDS
Date: Published: 12/21/89 (39 lines)
Source:  Wall Street Journal.  Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

    Technology & Health:
    HemaCare Is Licensed
    To Carry Out Trials
    Of Therapy for AIDS

    SHERMAN OAKS, Calif.  -- HemaCare Corp. said it was
 licensed by Medicorp Inc. to conduct clinical trials and
 possibly market in California a treatment for acquired immune
 deficiency syndrome.
    The treatment, called passive hyperimmune therapy, has not
 been approved for use in the U. S. It consists of taking blood
 from people infected by the AIDS virus who are otherwise
 healthy and whose plasma has a high concentration of
 neutralizing antibodies to the virus; the plasma is
 sterilized against infectious agents and infused into
 patients whose immune systems have been destroyed by AIDS,
 HemaCare said.
    Closely held Medicorp, a biomedical concern based in
 Montreal, holds the patent on the treatment.
    A spokesman for the U. S. Food and Drug Administration said
 it's difficult for the agency to judge the potential
 effectiveness of such a treatment before it goes into
 clinical trials.
    HemaCare, which supplies blood products and blood therapy
 services in California, will begin passive hyperimmune
 therapy clinical trials with 150 patients in January.  Joshua
 Levy, medical director, said the company hopes for FDA
 approval for the therapy in 1991.  That, he said, would boost
 HemaCare sales and earnings "greatly" as it markets the
 therapy to some 20,000 AIDS patients in the state.

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