Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. is one of three pharmaceutical makers tosign agreements with Genzyme Transgenics Corp. for herds ofgenetically engineered goats bred to produce specific humanmonoclonal antibodies in their milk.

James Geraghty, Genzyme Transgenics' president and CEO, toldBioWorld Today the Bristol-Myers deal represents "the first contractin which a company has agreed to go into production of a specieswithout going into a feasibility study first."

Under the agreement, Bristol-Myers, of New York, will payGenzyme Transgenics, of Framingham, Mass., up to $2.7 million todevelop goats that express the monoclonal antibody, BR96, which thepharmaceutical maker created to treat cancer.

Bristol-Myers currently produces BR96 the traditional way, inmammalian cell cultures, and combines it with the anti-cancer drugdoxorubicin. The BR96-doxorubicin conjugate is in Phase II trials.

Genzyme Transgenics' other contracts are with NeoRx Corp., ofSeattle, and another pharmaceutical company, whose identity was notdisclosed. In both deals, financial terms were not revealed, butGenzyme Transgenics said its goats would produce monoclonalantibodies for anti-cancer treatments.

The transgenic goats are altered by inserting into their cells humanDNA sequences that express the targeted protein, or monoclonalantibody, in the animals' milk.

Genzyme Transgenics _ which is 43 percent owned by Cambridge,Mass.-based Genzyme Corp. _ first expressed human proteins inmice in December 1993. The research was done in collaboration witha Japanese pharmaceutical company that wanted a monoclonalantibody to treat colon cancer. Genzyme Transgenics now willdevelop goats to produce the antibody for the drug maker, which alsowas not identified.

Geraghty said his company first achieved the human proteinexpression in transgenic goats about a month ago in researchconducted with Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, inNorth Grafton, Mass.

The monoclonal antibody, the "magic bullet" of biotechnology'searly drug discovery efforts against cancer, has had a resurgence inimportance in the last couple of years, Geraghty said, adding thattransgenic goats can produce the disease fighters cheaper and athigher levels than cell cultures.

In terms of bulk product, he said, it will cost "dollars to tens ofdollars per gram" to produce antibodies with transgenic goatscompared to a cost of "hundreds of dollars to a few thousand dollarsper gram" with cell cultures.

In addition, he said, it would be expensive to build a manufacturingplant large enough to meet commercial demands for making themonoclonal antibodies in cell cultures.

But with goats, Geraghty added, worldwide demand for a specificantibody could be met with a herd of about 100. A different herd ofgoats is needed to produce each specific antibody targeted.

Genzyme Transgenics stock (NASDAQ:GZTC) closed Wednesday at$2.75, up 50 cents. n

-- Charles Craig

(c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.