Corrections or additions?

This article by Barbara Fox was prepared for the August 28, 2002 edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.

Interferons Plus

Another company on Jersey Avenue — the street where

PBL has been located — is also devoted to interferon research.

Interferon Sciences was founded in 1980, trades on the over-the-counter

bulletin board, and has 38 employees and 44,000 square feet on Jersey

Avenue in New Brunswick. It develops and manufactures natural source

alpha interferon-based products for viral diseases, cancers, and immune

system diseases

"The Mayo Clinic is testing our product for a pretreatment prior

to surgical resection of malignant melanoma. The goal is to boost

the immune system so that, after surgery, stray malignancies don’t

flourish," says Stanley Schutzbank, president and co-founder of

Interferon Sciences (Rutgers BS, 1966).

Interferon Sciences’s FDA approved product, to treat genital warts,

has produced income of from $1.5 to $1.8 million. This product has

also been successfully used (off label, meaning it is not FDA approved,

but can be prescribed) to treat vulva stimulitis, a condition suffered

by up to 1 million women.

After spending millions of dollars on large scale trials on HIV and

hepatitis therapies, the company ran short on funds, says Schutzbank.

Interferon Sciences seeks partners to help work on cancer, multiple

sclerosis, and other viral conditions.