Amarillo teams with German venture capital group to commercialize low-dose interferon for avian flu in Asia

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, Nov. 30 - Amarillo Biosciences, Inc. announced Wednesday that it has entered into an agreement with German venture capital group Gesellschaft Fur Medizinisch and Technische Investionen mbH & CoKG, known as GMTI mbH & CoKG, to commercialize low-dose oral interferon in Thailand, Brunei, Myanmar, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

Claus Martin, the venture firm's president and chief executive officer, has close personal and business contacts in the region and plans to work on the commercialization of low-dose oral interferon manufactured by Hayashibara Biochemical Laboratories by selecting licensees and distributors in each of the countries of the territory, according to a company news release.

Financial terms about the deal were not disclosed.

Officials said clinical observations made on thousands of influenza patients in the former Soviet Union, Bulgaria, China and Japan have indicated the potential efficacy of employing low doses of interferon to treat influenza.

These studies indicate that significant clinical benefits occurred in patients given low doses of interferon intranasally or orally during natural outbreaks of influenza, officials said.

Interest in the company's low-dose inteferon has risen with international concern about the potential of the current avian flu outbreak to develop into a pandemic.

Effective vaccination for influenza is the goal of health officials. However, no vaccine is yet available for the H5N1 virus and the therapies that do exist, such as Tamiflu, are in limited supply worldwide, company officials said.

"The agreement with Dr. Martin's group represents the second agreement to move forward on the commercialization of our low dose oral interferon in Asia, the area where the avian flu has been most prevalent. The commercialization of low dose oral interferon is now being actively pursued in eight Asian countries," said Amarillo president Joseph Cummins in the release.

Amarillo, based in Amarillo, Texas, is a biotechnology firm operating in partnership with the Hayashibara Group, which also holds 19% of Amarillo shares and has provided more than $17.8 million in loans, grants and equity investments. The company's primary focus is research and development into the use of low-dose, orally administered interferon as a treatment for a variety of conditions, including Sjogren's syndrome, Behcet's disease and opportunistic infections in patients who are HIV positive.

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