ZymoGenetics Drug For Surgical Bleeding Demonstrates Safety in Trial

Seattle-based ZymoGenetics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ZGEN]]) said today that its sole marketed product was able to be safely given to patients with excess surgical bleeding, without provoking an immune system reaction. The study was of 205 patients who were at increased risk for having reactions against the standard product derived from cow blood, marketed by King Pharmaceuticals as Thrombin-JMI. The study found that none of the patients developed immune reactions against the ZymoGenetics drug, marketed as Recothrom, which is made differently, through genetically engineered copies of a human clotting protein. The product has gotten off to a lackluster start in its first year on the market, and is expected to generate $7 million in sales this year, the company has said.

Author: Luke Timmerman

Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.