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Giant Retailer, Cancer Researcher to Develop Oral Health Products

Posted on: Saturday, 5 November 2005, 03:00 CST

By Anne Belli, Houston Chronicle

Nov. 5--Austin-based Introgen Therapeutics, which has a major research facility in the Texas Medical Center, on Friday announced an alliance with toothpaste giant Colgate-Palmolive to develop and sell mouthwash and other oral products aimed at preventing mouth cancer.

The deal includes the purchase of 3.6 million shares, or $20 million worth, of Introgen stock by Colgate. That represents a 9.7 percent stake in the company, according to documents filed with federal regulators.

In return, Colgate will get "priority rights" to products developed by the alliance, Introgen said. David Enloe, Introgen's senior vice president of operations in Houston, called the alliance a major milestone for the 12-year-old biotechnology firm, which has yet to market a product.

"This is a fairly unique opportunity for a company in Houston to be allied with such a blue-chip giant," Enloe said.

But at least one analyst who closely watches the biotech industry said he was not impressed with the deal.

"In our view it's a yawn," said Navdeep Jaikaria, senior analyst with Rodman and Renshaw in New York. "What is there in this deal? It is a company getting $20 million in their stock."

He added that other firms have tried therapeutic mouthwashes to treat or prevent cancer in the past but have not succeeded.

"This just creates noise around the stock," he said.

Shares of Introgen stock showed a spike at the close of trading Friday, selling for $5.96 apiece. That was 8 percent higher than at the close of the market Thursday, when shares traded for $5.54 each.

Introgen was founded in 1993 to develop so-called molecular therapies to treat and prevent cancer. Its products are centered on agents designed to increase the body's production of normal cancer-fighting proteins, according to company documents.

Its core discoveries were developed by scientists at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, which has a license agreement with the firm through 2009.

Enloe said the alliance with Colgate will likely develop a mouthwash based on Introgen's INGN 234, a tumor suppressor that may be formulated into a product to treat a pre-cancerous condition called Leukoplakia.

He said he could not know how long it will take to market a product. But he said some of the products may be sold over-the-counter, and therefore not require the lengthier approval process required by federal regulators for prescription drugs.

"This is an exciting deal for us in that so much of our initial focus has been on late-stage cancer patients," Enloe said.

Such preventive products are not new to Colgate, which already makes a prescription product called Colgate Perio-Gard aimed at fighting the common gum disease gingivitis.

Enloe said the market for a product to treat Leukoplakia, which strikes about 3 percent of adults, is also lucrative.

The alliance does not include development of Introgen's most advanced drug, Advexin. The company is in late-stage clinical trials with the drug for the treatment of head and neck tumors. It also is being tested to treat a wide range of other cancers, including those of the breast, small-lung, ovarian, prostate and brain.

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Copyright (c) 2005, Houston Chronicle

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CL, INGN,

Source: Houston Chronicle

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