Schering-Plough Corp. (NYSE:SPG) announced Tuesday that itsDNAX Research Institute of Palo Alto, Calif., has received U.S.Patent No. 5,231,012 for the manufacture of interleukin-10(IL-10), a cytokine involved in suppressing the immunesystem's inflammatory response.

The patent covers recombinant manufacture of IL-10, as wellas the specific nucleic acids capable of expressing IL-10 insuitable host cells. In the U.S., the company has also filedpatent applications on IL-10 itself and, in other major markets,on IL-10 and its recombinant manufacture.

IL-10 is a protein produced by helper T cells that has beenshown to inhibit the synthesis of gamma interferon and othercytokines produced by stimulated helper T cells andmacrophages.

IL-10 is in a Phase I safety trial under Schering-Plough's May1993 investigational new drug (IND) application. It could beuseful as an immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory agentin organ transplantation and autoimmune diseases. -- NancyGarcia

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