ROCKVILLE, Md.--Human Genome Sciences here has announced what it claims is the first genomics-derived drug to enter clinical testing. The company filed an Investigational New Drug (IND) application last month and will soon begin enrolling patients in a Phase I study of a human protein that may improve chemotherapy treatments.
"We believe MPIF-1 is a dual first for HGSI, the first genomics-derived therapeutic product candidate to enter clinical trials and our first IND. We expect that there will be many more IND's to follow, from Human Genome Sciences and others," commented William Haseltine, the company's chairman and CEO. The company called MPIF-1 "the tip of a very large iceberg" of Human Genome Sciences' potential therapeutic products based on genome technology.