SMITHKLINE SALT-SPARING DIURETIC, SK&F 101926, IS IN CLINICALS

Executive Summary

SMITHKLINE SALT-SPARING DIURETIC, SK&F 101926, IS IN CLINICALS, the company noted in its recently issued annual report for 1985. An IND for U.S. trials was filed in December 1985. SmithKline said that the drug's initial indication will be for severe water retention conditions. The compound acts on vasopressin, a water-regulating hormone that can control the kidney's water output without depleting salt. The vasopressin antagonist "should also have utility in congestive heart failure," the SmithKline report maintains. SmithKline anticipates the first commercial distribution of the recombinant DNA vaccine for hepatitis B, Energix B, during 1986. The company said that "several trials involving more than 3,000 healthy adults and children show virtually total protection against hepatitis B with a three-dose regimen of Energix B." A second recombinant vaccine under study is a circumsporozite antigen vaccine directed at the most severe form of malaria infection, Plasmodium falciparum. The vaccine is being developed jointly with the U.S. Army's Walter Reed Institute for Research. "We have produced the first vaccine for malaria in quantities large enough for clinical trials," the annual report declares. The trials are expected to begin in 1986.