Genentech, Scios deal

The companies revamped their 1994 agreement to develop SCIO's Auriculin anaritide to treat acute renal failure (ARF). The modifications provide SCIO more time to complete trials for U.S. registration and adjust the timeline for the $30 million in potential milestone payments to SCIO.

Preliminary results from the initial Phase III trial, announced last May, indicated that the product did not reduce the need for dialysis or mortality in the overall group of 504 patients. A second trial, to reduce the need for dialysis in patients with oliguric ARF (patients with abnormally low urine output), began last fall. SCIO plans to complete the trial in late 1997. ...