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October 7, 2002
| Announcement
regarding newspaper reports |
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Last weekend, some newspapers carried a report
that France's national health agency decided to partially cancel
genetic medication. The report says that similar therapy will
be suspended in the United States. The therapy is intended for
severe X-linked combined immunodeficiency. It has been confirmed
that this therapy may have caused leukemia in some patients.
The genetic medication is a technology for introducing therapeutic
genes into cells and involves the use of a genetic vector made
from the leukemia virus found in mice. This technology is characterized
by the therapeutic genes that are randomly injected in chromosomes.
It has been pointed out that these therapeutic genes could be
the cause of the onset of leukemia in this case.
Our company is proceeding with the development of HGF genetic
medications for ischemic disease. Usually, we inject annular
genes (plasmides) directly to introduce the therapeutic genes.
The advantage of this method is that it is safe, and there is
no possibility of the genes finding their way into the chromosomes.
For these reasons, the suspension of genetic medication in France
and the United States has nothing to do with our company's HGF
genetic medication. We will continue to develop our HGF genetic
medication as planned. |
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