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Biotech Isis reports 2000 losses due to restructuring



Maxim Gets Some Good News With

$200,000 Grant

San Diego-based biotech firm Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. said net loss for the year ended Dec. 31 fell by 8.9 percent to $54.7 million from a year ago, reflecting restructuring efforts and revenues from patent sales.

Company operating losses fell by 30 percent to $30.6 million in 2000 from $43.1 million in 1999, Isis reported Feb. 7.

The 2000 operating loss excludes $588,000 in non-cash compensation costs related to an option exchange program, Isis said.

Revenues for 2000 rose to $37.3 million from $33.9 million in 1999 resulting from patent sales to other companies, including Coley Pharmaceutical Group in Wellesley, Mass., the San Diego-based Pfizer unit Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Elan Corp., plc. in Ireland.

“We are pleased to have substantially reduced our net operating loss in 2000, which was an important goal for the year,” said B. Lynne Parshall, Isis’ executive vice president and CFO.

For the fourth quarter of 2000, Isis posted a net loss of $15.4 million, or 40 cents per diluted share, versus $17.7 million, or 58 cents per diluted share during the same period in 1999.

Loss from operations during the fourth quarter of last year fell to $9.5 million from $12.5 million during the same period in 1999.

Isis said it will continue testing an experimental drug for non-small cell lung cancer that has been given priority review status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The biotech firm will also conduct another Phase III clinical for patients with Crohn’s disease.

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Cancer Grants: Maxim Pharmaceuticals Inc. in San Diego said it received two small business research grants from the National Cancer Institute totaling $200,000.

The Feb. 15 announcement marks the first positive news following layoffs and lawsuits resulting from the rejection of its cancer drug Ceplene last December by the Food and Drug Administration.

Maxim said it will use one grant to further develop an anti-cancer compound with possible applications in breast and prostate cancers.

The second grant will be used to test a drug candidate in oral mucositis, a serious side-effect related to the treatment of cancer with chemotherapy or radiation, Maxim said.

A Maxim official was unavailable for comment.

Unraveling Cystic Fibrosis: San Diego-based Structural GenomiX said Feb. 8 it received $11 million from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to solve the three-dimensional structure of the protein that causes cystic fibrosis.

Under the five-year collaborative agreement, Structural GenomiX will use its genomics technology to determine the structure of the cystic fibrosis protein.

No one has managed to decipher the structure thus far, the firm said.

Once the structure has been found, scientists will be able to look for potential therapies to treat patients carrying the defective gene.

Cystic fibrosis is a metabolic disorder that can lead to chronic cough, pneumonia and emphysema.

Send biotech news to mwebb@sdbj.com

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