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Good News Department - The Story of the SONIC HEDGEHOG. Health News Daily via Individual Inc. : BIOGEN/ONTOGENY TO DEVELOP "HEDGEHOG" CELL DIFFERENTIATION PROTEINS FOR CNS disorders, including Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the companies jointly announced July 19, 1996. Privately held Ontogeny has identified a family of "hedgehog" proteins responsible for the formation and regeneration of tissues -- the Sonic, Indian and Desert "hedgehogs," the companies stated. Ontogeny, a developmental biology firm, is focused on creating "organ- specific therapeutics that regenerate tissues damaged by disease, aging or trauma," the company said. Founded in 1994 and located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Ontogeny is developing therapies for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, trauma, insulin-dependent diabetes and bone and cartilage problems, including osteoporosis and fracture repair, implant fixation and osteoarthritis. The regeneration of specific neurons associated with disease is an early company target. Biogen will provide research support to Ontogeny in the amount of $6 mil. over two years. Biogen also will make license fee and milestone payments of up to $27 mil. per product. If all three are commercialized, Biogen, noted, Ontogeny could receive up to $80 mil. Ontogeny retains exclusive rights to gene therapy and "other approaches," as well as certain disease areas and diagnostics, the companies said. Biogen will get exclusive worldwide rights to therapeutics based on the Sonic, Indian and Desert "hedgehog" cell differentiation proteins for most disease areas, they noted. Biogen will handle development and commercialization. A series of Ontogeny discoveries has been published in scientific journals in the last two years. The May 25, 1995 issue of Nature contains a paper on the regeneration of different types of brain tissue using a hedgehog molecule. By applying hedgehog to animal embryonic tissue, one of Ontogeny's founding scientists generated both motor neurons and floor plate. An earlier paper in Cell (May 5, 1995) by another company founder, describes how hedgehog can induce "different neural tissues based upon the molecule's concentration near the precursor cells, and shows motor neuron induction specifically," the company reported. A June 2, 1995 Cell article reported that Ontology scientists generated brain cells in the ventral forebrain of vertebrates, thus suggesting that hedgehog not only generates spinal cord neurons but may have broad effects across the CNS. Ventral forebrain neurons are associated with Alzheimer's, the company explained. A Sept. 8, 1995 Cell article and a Sept. 13 Nature report contain data on chick embryogenesis that define how organisms create differences between left and right and why internal organs always appear on the left or right side. The Sonic hedgehog is involved in all these functions. More recently, in the March 1 issue of Current Biology, and in the June 14 issue of Science, there were reports on male fertility regulation and a potential skin cancer gene. The Desert hedgehog was found to play an essential role in spermatogenesis and maturation, the company reported. The group identified a gene called "patched" that is causative of basal cell carcinoma and also may be responsible for the inherited disease basal cell nevus syndrome, the company said. Cells that respond to the Desert and Sonic hedgehogs have the "patched" gene in them; therefore, "patched" may be involved with all hedgehogs, although Sonic is most likely, Ontogeny explained. The Indian hedgehog is implicated in bone development. A paper on the protein has been accepted for publication in the first August issue of Science. ....(snip) [07-21-96 at 16:02 EDT, Copyright 1996, F-D-C Reports, Inc.] ============================================================ Margaret Tuchman (54, dx 1980) [log in to unmask] "Service is love made visible. Generosity is caring made active. Friendship is trust made manifest." - William Arthur Ward