Biosyn Brings New Jobs to the Region, Hope to the Third World
Biosyn Inc., a Huntingdon Valley biotechnology company whose main product could help stem the AIDS epidemic, is staying put. Almost a year after being purchased by California-based Cellegy Pharmaceuticals Inc., the company has decided to relocate its corporate headquarters – including senior management and research and development operations – to Biosyn’s current space.
The Huntingdon Valley office will focus on women’s health products. Biosyn’s lead product, a microbicide gel called Savvy, is now Cellegy’s most advanced and promising product. The contraceptive gel, intended to prevent the transmission of HIV, could top $1 billion in global sales and help stem the tide of the AIDS epidemic.
A Long History with BFTP
BFTP has a long history with Biosyn. In the mid-1980s, co-founder Anne-Marie Corner was a Penn researcher, working with biochemistry professor Daniel Malamud on Savvy’s microbe-destroying molecule. Several years later, they founded Biosyn, with Corner as president. BFTP was there to help, investing $280,950 in the company in 1990 – critical seed money to help the company through its infancy.
Corner and Biosyn’s 15 original employees will remain in Huntingdon Valley to continue development of Savvy. Employment has nearly doubled in Huntingdon Valley to 27 people since October.
Final human testing of Savvy is under way in two Phase 3 trials in Africa for prevention of sexual transmission of HIV. The gel is also being tested in a third Phase 3 study in the United States as a contraceptive, and it has shown promise as a protection against other sexually transmitted diseases such as herpes and chlamydia. The company expects to file a new-drug application with the FDA in mid-2007.
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