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Human Genome Sciences is a biopharmaceutical
Biopharmaceutical

Biopharmaceuticals are medical drugs produced using biotechnology. They are proteins , nucleic acids used for therapeutic or in vivo diagnostic purposes, and are produced by means other than direct extraction from a native organism source....
 corporation
Corporation

A corporation is a legal entity separate from the persons that form it. It is a legal entity owned by individual stockholders. In British tradition it is the term designating a body corporate, where it can be either a corporation sole or a corporation aggregate ....
 founded in 1992. Its stated purpose
Purpose

Purpose is the cognitive awareness in cause and Result linking for achieving a goal in a given system, whether human or machine. Its most general sense is the anticipated result which guides decision making in choosing appropriate Action within a range of strategy in the process based on varying degrees of ambiguity about the knowledge that...
 is to "discover, develop, manufacture and market innovative drugs that serve patients with unmet medical needs, with a primary focus on protein and antibody drugs." The company
Company

Generally, a company is a form of business organization. The precise definition varies.In the United States, a company is a corporation—or, less commonly, an association, partnership, or union—that carries on an industrial enterprise." Generally, a company may be a "corporation, partnership, association, joint-stock company, Inv...
 focuses on drug development
Drug development

Drug development or preclinical development is defined in many pharmaceutical companies as the process of taking a new chemical lead through the stages necessary to allow it to be tested in human clinical trials, although a broader definition would encompass the entire process of drug discovery and clinical testing of novel drug candida...
, as well as drug discovery
Drug discovery

In medicine, biotechnology and pharmacology, drug discovery is the process by which medication are discovered and/or designed.In the past most drugs have been discovered either by identifying the active ingredient from traditional remedies or by serendipity discovery....
 and currently (as of 2008) has a pipeline of novel compounds in clinical development, including drugs to treat such diseases as hepatitis C
Hepatitis C

Hepatitis C is a Blood-borne disease infectious disease that is caused by the hepatitis C virus , affecting the liver. The infection is often asymptomatic, but once established, chronic infection can cause inflammation of the liver ....
, lupus, anthrax disease, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and HIV/AIDS.






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Human Genome Sciences is a biopharmaceutical
Biopharmaceutical

Biopharmaceuticals are medical drugs produced using biotechnology. They are proteins , nucleic acids used for therapeutic or in vivo diagnostic purposes, and are produced by means other than direct extraction from a native organism source....
 corporation
Corporation

A corporation is a legal entity separate from the persons that form it. It is a legal entity owned by individual stockholders. In British tradition it is the term designating a body corporate, where it can be either a corporation sole or a corporation aggregate ....
 founded in 1992. Its stated purpose
Purpose

Purpose is the cognitive awareness in cause and Result linking for achieving a goal in a given system, whether human or machine. Its most general sense is the anticipated result which guides decision making in choosing appropriate Action within a range of strategy in the process based on varying degrees of ambiguity about the knowledge that...
 is to "discover, develop, manufacture and market innovative drugs that serve patients with unmet medical needs, with a primary focus on protein and antibody drugs." The company
Company

Generally, a company is a form of business organization. The precise definition varies.In the United States, a company is a corporation—or, less commonly, an association, partnership, or union—that carries on an industrial enterprise." Generally, a company may be a "corporation, partnership, association, joint-stock company, Inv...
 focuses on drug development
Drug development

Drug development or preclinical development is defined in many pharmaceutical companies as the process of taking a new chemical lead through the stages necessary to allow it to be tested in human clinical trials, although a broader definition would encompass the entire process of drug discovery and clinical testing of novel drug candida...
, as well as drug discovery
Drug discovery

In medicine, biotechnology and pharmacology, drug discovery is the process by which medication are discovered and/or designed.In the past most drugs have been discovered either by identifying the active ingredient from traditional remedies or by serendipity discovery....
 and currently (as of 2008) has a pipeline of novel compounds in clinical development, including drugs to treat such diseases as hepatitis C
Hepatitis C

Hepatitis C is a Blood-borne disease infectious disease that is caused by the hepatitis C virus , affecting the liver. The infection is often asymptomatic, but once established, chronic infection can cause inflammation of the liver ....
, lupus, anthrax disease, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and HIV/AIDS. It has historically pursued collaborations with other biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, for development partnerships and technology licensing .

HGSI currently has three (3) drugs in Phase III human testing: LymphoStat-B (belimumab) for lupus, Albuferon for Hepatitis C, and Abthrax (raxibacumab) for anthrax disease. Results of the various human studies are to be reported starting in late 2008. Belimumab is being developed with Glaxo SmithKline, Albuferon is being developed with Novartis , and Abthrax is the subject of a contract with the US Government under Project BioShield .

Its facilities in Rockville, Maryland
Rockville, Maryland

Rockville is the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. According to the 2007 census update, the city had a total population of 58,706, making it the third largest city in Maryland....
 earned its architect—Davis Carter Scott, Ltd.—an award from the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. The Association cited the glass
Glass

Glass generally refers to a Hardness, brittle, transparency amorphous solid, such as that used for windows, many Glass Bottles, or eyewear, including, but not limited to, soda-lime glass, borosilicate glass, acrylic glass, sugar glass, Muscovite , or aluminium oxynitride....
 wall
Wall

A wall is a usually solid structure that defines and sometimes protects an area. Most commonly, a wall delineates a building and supports its superstructure, separates space in buildings into Room s, or protects or delineates a space in the open air....
s, atrium
Atrium (architecture)

In modern architecture, an atrium is a large open space, often several stories high and having a glazed roof and/or large windows, often situated within an office and usually located immediately beyond the main entrance doors....
, and uniform design
Design

Design is used both as a noun and a verb. The term is often tied to the various applied arts and engineering . As a verb, "to design" refers to the process of originating and planning for a product, structure, system, or component with intention....
 of all the building
Building

In architecture, construction, engineering and Real estate developer the word building may refer to one of the following:# Any man-made structure used or intended for supporting or sheltering any use or continuous occupancy, or...
s as reasons for the award.

The company was founded by William A. Haseltine, a noted Harvard professor and AIDS researcher. HGS had a partnership for several years after its founding with Craig Venter
Craig Venter

J. Craig Venter is an United States biologist and businessman. Venter founded The Institute for Genomic Research and has been inaccurately credited with being instrumental in mapping the human genome....
 and his non-profit TIGR to begin sequencing and submitting patents on hundreds of thousands of protein-encoding DNA fragments. In 2000, Haseltine said that his work "speeds up biological discovery a hundredfold, easily." He talked of finding in genes "the fountain of youth" in the form of "cellular replacement" therapies. More than $2 billion in investments was raised by the company by 1999-2000. Two initial drugs failed in clinical trials, and the stock share price declined from its highs. For example, in September 2000, the company reported that it had found a way to treat large, painful sores that often plague elderly patients, using a protein spray called repifermin, made by a human gene called keratinocyte growth factor-2. In February 2004, the company said that it was ending the development of repifermin because it showed no more benefit than a placebo in clinical trials.

In late 2004, HGS announced Haseltine's retirement and named H. Thomas Watkins the new President and CEO.

Bibliography

  • , Slate Magazine, October 18, 2005
  • , Wired News, September 13, 2000
  • , September 26, 2003
  • , Washington Business Journal, February 2, 2004
  • , HGS Press Release, January 7, 2008
  • , HGS Press Release about GSK deal
  • , HGS Press Release about Novartis
  • ,HGS Press release about Government Contract


External links

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