Human Genome shares rise on late-stage drugs progress

Shares of biotechnology company Human Genome Sciences Inc. rose Wednesday as the company said it would begin a mid-stage trial of its experimental lupus treatment Lymphostat-B to treat multiple sclerosis and updated progress of its late-stage programs.

HGS said it believes Lymphostat-B could be effective in treating multiple sclerosis, as it works by inhibiting a protein found in high levels on multiple sclerosis lesions. U.K. drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC is its partner in the program.

HGS noted it will have data from all late-stage trials in Lymphostat-B for lupus by the fall of 2009 in preparation for a filing with the Food and Drug Administration in early 2010.

Late-stage data for another of the company's drug candidates, Albuferon, for chronic hepatitis C, will be available in the spring of 2009 in preparation for a filing with U.S. regulators in the fall of 2009.

The drug, which is being developed in partnership with Swiss drug maker Novartis AG, requires half as many injections as Roche AG's competing hepatitis C drug Pegasys.

HGS also said that it is on track to deliver 20,000 doses of its anthrax drug ABthrax to the Strategic National Stockpile in the fall, accounting for between $100 and $120 million in revenue by the end of the year. The stockpile is a U.S. government reserve of medicines in the event of a public health emergency, such as a terrorist attack or flu outbreak.

In addition, an ABthrax filing with the FDA is slated for 2009. The company is permitted to deliver the drug to the stockpile even though it does not yet have FDA approval.

Shares of HGS rose 10 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $5.91.