Abviva on Stronger Footing With Mad Cow Disease Test

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Doug Lane moved closer last week toward setting the tiny biotech company he took over more than a year ago on a path to profitability.


Genesis Bioventures Inc., which Lane moved from Michigan to Los Angeles this year, has changed its name to Abviva Inc. The company, which is developing novel breast cancer diagnostics and therapies, now may have revenue-producing products on the way.


Abviva is buying Efoora Inc.’s stock in Prion Developmental Laboratories, which develops and produces diagnostic and food safety monitoring tests for humans and stock animals. Its products include a test for mad cow disease.


Abviva, which owned a minority share of Prion, had been frustrated for nearly a year and a half in its acquisition effort because of a bankruptcy judge’s order that had frozen Prion’s assets.


“Though we were a minority shareholder it was obvious to us that if we did not take the senior support and management responsibility for Prion, the company and our substantial investments in the company and the products would be lost,” Lane said.


Lane, a veteran biotech industry executive, became involved with Genesis as an investor and later was asked by other major shareholders to take over as chief executive. The company is working on a recapitalization deal that would restructure its debt and provide revenue for clinical studies on the breast cancer products.


The company, which was trading for around 3 cents a share last week under its GBIW ticker symbol on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board, plans to change its symbol after getting regulator approval.



Pipeline Advances


At the end of the toughest year in the company’s history, Amgen Inc. employees have been looking for good news, any good news, which could soften the impact of series of staff reductions prompted by regulatory crackdowns and declining sales in its top-selling anemia franchise.


Studies released at two year-end medical professional meetings could be just what the doctor ordered. The Thousand Oaks-based biotech giant recently released solid late stage study data on its experimental bone-building treatment denosumab.


As a potential treatment both for post-menopausal osteoporosis and bone loss related to certain cancer treatments for both women and men, some industry analysts believe denosumab could become another billion-dollar blockbuster, comparable to Amgen’s now beleagured anemia drug Aranesp.


In a two-year study, presented at the annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, denosumab met both its primary and secondary goals of increasing bone mass in women undergoing a breast cancer treatment that causes bone loss due to reduced estrogen in the body.


“Because these women also are post-menopausal this study is one in which our two therapeutic programs intersect,” said Dr. Roger Dansey, Amgen’s director of oncology global development for the drug.


Amgen hasn’t yet announced when it plans to submit an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The company has several studies ongoing, including one on denosumab’s ability to counter bone loss in men undergoing similar treatments for prostate cancer. Denosumab, which is a monoclonal antibody that researchers had been studying since the mid-1990s, works by blocking certain processes in the body that lead to bone loss.


At the American Society of Hematology’s meeting in Atlanta earlier in the week, Amgen released positive late-stage studies on an experimental niche treatment called romiplostim to treat a chronic bleeding disorder called ITP. Only one other FDA-treatment is available for the condition and it’s not widely in use.


U.S. government researchers estimate there are 15,050 to 30,100 new cases of ITP in adults and children each year. Their immune systems mistakenly targets blood platelets as foreign objects and destroys them, which can result in spontaneous bleeding or bruising.


Amgen has applications before regulators in the U.S., Australia, Canada and the European Union to approve the drug, with all but the E.U. granting priority review.



NASI Stays on Nasdaq


The Nasdaq market is allowing North American Scientific Inc. to remain listed, but the Chatsworth device maker will move from the Nasdaq Global Market to the Nasdaq Capital Market, which used to be known as its SmallCap Market.


North American Scientific markets a radiation cancer therapy called brachytherapy.


To meet one of Nasdaq’s requirements, the company made a $15.5 million private placement with three private equity funds led by Three Arch Partners, a Portola Valley firm that specializes in small health care companies.



Staff reporter Deborah Crowe can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 232, or at

[email protected]

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