WALTHAM, Mass.--Genome Therapeutics here and Astra Research Center, a drug discovery company recently established in Cambridge, Mass., by Swedish pharmaceutical company, Astra, have extended until at least August, 1999, their alliance to identify and develop novel antiinfectives and vaccines to treat Helicobacter pylori, the organism associated with the onset of most peptic ulcers and certain stomach cancers. Announced in September 1995, the $22 million alliance centers around the genomic sequence of H. pylori, determined by Genome Therapeutics in 1994.
Genome Therapeutics also announced it has reached a milestone in its human genomics alliance with Schering-Plough to discover new therapeutics for treating asthma. The achievement triggers a milestone payment.