The National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act of 1993, signed last week by President Clinton, will end the ban on fetal tissue research by NIH grantee institutions, and will maintain the bar on aliens infected with HIV. The bill "reinforces my action of January 22 to lift the moratorium on transplantation research involving human subjects using fetal tissue from induced abortions," President Clinton said upon signing the bill. "This research has promising applications for the treatment
Anthropologists and molecular biologists who propose sampling the world's genetic diversity have shaken some branches of the global family tree by holding planning sessions without consulting indigenous peoples who would provide the raw genetic material for this research. Rodrigo Contreras, executive assistant of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples in Ottawa, Ontario, plans to present the proposed Human Genome Diversity Project to indigenous organizations today at the United Nations
The isolation, cloning and mapping of the human gene for a phosphate-cleaving enzyme involved in intracellular signal transmission by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine may have led investigators one tiny step closer to identifying the gene for manic depression. The link, tenuous as it is, has to do with lithium, the drug of choice for treating manic depression. It turns out that inositol polyphosphate 1-phosphatase -- the particular enzyme reported on by Philip Majerus and
Transgenic rape behaves just as well as wild-type rape. That's the bottom line of a three-year, multiplot field test in Britain of a recombinant oilseed-bearing rape plant genetically engineered to tolerate a major herbicide. Results of the carefully controlled trial showed that the transformed plants are no more invasive than conventional rape crops, and that gene-altered seeds, if anything, survive less well in nature. But these findings, while encouraging for agricultural biotechnology
The nascent Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) elected Genentech Inc.'s G. Kirk Raab as the first chairman of its board of directors last Thursday. Joining Raab in his efforts to turn BIO into a "single unified voice" to represent biotechnology to policy makers and public alike will be Genzyme Corp.'s Henri Termeer as vice chairman for health care; Calgene Inc.'s Roger Salquist as vice chairman for food, agriculture and environment; Gensia Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s David Hale as secretary
BETHESDA, Md. -- Bernadine Healy will leave the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on June 30 with a vague unease about the agency's future -- an agency that she speaks of in almost loving terms. "One always has to be concerned about one's children," she said in response to a question about NIH's future under the Clinton administration. Biotechnology permeates most of what NIH does, and "is one of our bright stars in terms of competitive industries," Healy told BioWorld in an interview, in
Wrapping up its week at the 40th Annual Meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine in Toronto, Immunomedics Inc. announced initial clinical results in a new therapeutic area, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) in AIDS patients. The Morris Plains, N.J., company's imaging agent uses a monoclonal antibody (MAb) fragment against PCP labeled with technetium-99m. Preliminary studies show that the agent was 87 percent accurate in diagnosing whether PCP was present in 15 AIDS patients. For comparison
"An important milestone has been passed by SBH, a new- generation technique of large-scale DNA sequencing." That's how the co-inventor of SBH, molecular biologist Radomir Crkvenjakov, welcomes the results of a double-blind test of the technique, which pitted his team at Argonne National Laboratory against that of Leroy Hood of the California Institute of Technology. SBH stands for "sequencing by hybridization," an approach, Crkvenjakov told BioWorld, that "has a theoretical potential of
Promega Corp. has obtained a preliminary injunction in Federal District Court in Salt Lake City blocking Lifecodes Corp. from continuing to sell DNA identity probes covered under an exclusive sublicense granted to Promega of Madison, Wis., in July 1990. Lifecodes of Valhalla, N.Y., inherited the sublicense as part of a settlement of a 1991 lawsuit with the original patent owners. The technology is based on U.S. Patent No. 4,963,663, issued in 1990 to Raymond L. White and owned by the University
The first commercial test kit using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology was cleared for marketing by the FDA on Tuesday. Roche Molecular Systems Inc., a subsidiary of Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., is marketing the Amplicor Chlamydia Assay, which is sensitive enough to detect the sexually transmitted bacterium even in difficult samples such as male urine. "A number of patients who have chlamydia infections have been missed due to the relative lack of sensitivity with conventional testing
WASHINGTON -- The question of allergies arises frequently during the debate over labeling. For some small but significant fraction of the population, foreign genes inserted into food might cause an allergic reaction. If so, for the allergy-prone, labels would serve as a warning that could save lives. Labels would also simplify the job of the Centers for Disease Control. This argument is usually raised without recourse to the facts. Unfortunately, "the allergy community does not have good
Five diabetic dogs with bellies full of transplanted canine islets of Langerhans are free of symptoms and no longer need the daily insulin shots they used to live on. What's more, they are managing without the lifelong immunosuppressive drugs that most organ transplant recipients require to prevent rejection of their grafts. The canine animal models are being used to test a new type of alginate microcarrier in which their donor islets are encapsulated. The poly(amino acid) membrane envelope
Ivax Corp. announced Monday that it intends to acquire Johnson Products Co. Inc. in a merger worth up to $73 million. Through the acquisition, Ivax of Miami is strengthening its presence in the cosmetics, dermatology and skin-care markets. Under the terms of the merger, each outstanding share of Johnson Products' common stock (ASE:JPC) will be converted into the right to receive one share of Ivax common stock (ASE:IVX). If the average price of Ivax's common stock for the 10 trading days
If antisense compounds can be designed to block the synthesis of testosterone receptors, they may become the new drugs for preventing or treating hair loss in men. This could be the ultimate outcome of a collaborative research agreement announced Monday between Genta Inc. (NASDAQ:GNTA) and researcher Michael McPhaul of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas (UT Southwestern). The research will focus on testing the ability of Genta's Anticode oligonucleotide constructs
NeXagen Inc. announced its second research-and-equity agreement with a large corporate partner Monday. NeXagen of Boulder, Colo., will collaborate with Becton Dickinson and Co. of Franklin Lanes, N.J., to develop and market in vitro diagnostics based upon NeXagen's proprietary method of generating and screening single-stranded nucleic acids to fit a particular molecular target. Becton Dickinson, a medical device and diagnostic manufacturer and supplier, has made a $5 million equity investment
Viragen Inc. has received $1 million from Cytoferon Corp., a private company formed to invest in Viragen of Hialeah, Fla. Cytoferon now owns about 34 percent of the company, which plans to use the money to improve its manufacturing and laboratory and reinitiate production of its human leukocyte (alpha) interferon product, Alpha Leukoferon. The company is finalizing a management and marketing agreement with Cytoferon and hopes to market its interferon in the near future. Viragen also wants to
WASHINGTON -- Last week's meeting of the National Institutes of Health's Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) reflected great progress, LeRoy Walters, committee chair and head of Georgetown University's Kennedy Institute of Bioethics told BioWorld. "The field is taking off," he said. "Just to give a baseline figure, 20 human gene therapy protocols have been approved by the RAC through March," said Walters. Walters told BioWorld. "At this meeting, there are 11 new ones." (A 12th protocol had
Published May 26 & June 2 (EPO); May 27 (WO) American Cyanamid Co. Cardiac adenylyl EPO 543 137 Stamford, Conn. cyclase Nucleic acid and amino acid sequences of novel effector enzyme, cardiac adenylyl cyclase. Astra AG Shigella detection GB 2 261 878 Sdert lje, Sweden Detection and diagnosis of virulent Shigella sp. and enteroinvasive E. coli, by hybridization of ATP diphosphohydrolase (apyrase). Becton, Dickinson & Co. Nucleic acid EPO 543 612 Franklin Lakes, N.J. targets Generating nucleic
WASHINGTON -- Greg Simon, Vice President Al Gore's chief domestic policy adviser, last week gave the Institute for Science in Society's 1993 Food Biotechnology Conference another indication of the administration's support for science and technology in general and biotechnology in particular. Simon suggested that "distribution of ever more complex data bases and models that form the backbone of biotechnology research" would proceed at warp speed on the vice president's information highway. And
WASHINGTON -- Friday's debate at the Institute for Science in Society's 1993 Food Biotechnology Conference focused on the industry's responsibility to communicate with the public -- and the risks it runs if it doesn't. "It is important for the industry to be as open as possible," said keynote speaker Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. "If you lose public confidence, the backlash will be severe." The most important issue is labeling, Leahy said. "Consumers want to know what goes into the food they eat
The National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act of 1993, signed last week by President Clinton, will end the ban on fetal tissue research by NIH grantee institutions, and will maintain the bar on aliens infected with HIV. The bill "reinforces my action of January 22 to lift the moratorium on transplantation research involving human subjects using fetal tissue from induced abortions," President Clinton said upon signing the bill. "This research has promising applications for the treatment