Eukarion Alliance With Glaxo Wellcome

Glaxo Wellcome has continued its string of new agreements withsmall-scale biotechnology firms with an investment in Eukarion of Bedford, Massachusetts, USA. GW will collaborate with Eukarion on the development of potential therapeutics from its oxidative stress program.

Eukarion's oxidative stress program is headed up by synthetic catalytic scavengers (SCSs) - low molecular weight compounds that target reactive oxygen intermediates. ROIs have been implicated in a great many diseases, including asthma, atherosclerosis, MS, neurodegenerative disorders, ischemia-induced organ damage etc, offering the hope that products based on this technology may have utility in a broad range of applications.

Bernard Malfroy, chief executive of Eukarion, said that GW's involvement would allow the firm to operate at break-even financial levels for the foreseeable future. GW has committed funding for the project for the next three years. The agreement allows for collaborative development of the technology for a variety of applications, but Eukarion has retained rights to areas where it has a strong interest, namely acute neurological conditions such as stroke, traumatic spinal and brain injury and carotid artery bypass surgery.