Published Nov. 25 & Dec. 2 (EPO), Nov. 26 (WO), Dec. 2 (GB)

BioWorld's weekly preview of European patent disclosures listsin alphabetical order by applicant and briefly summarizes allsalient biotechnology patent applications, as they are madepublic in Europe.

European patent offices publish full texts of worldwide patentapplications within six months of their filing, which is monthsto years before the corresponding U.S. patent issues.

Two organizations, plus Great Britain (GB) comprise theEuropean system:-- The European Patent Office (EPO) covers the dozen membercountries of the European Economic Community.

-- The World Intellectual Property Organization (WO) serves alarger number of countries around the world.

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As a reader service, BioWorld will upon request supply fulltexts of European patent disclosures. (These can run anywherefrom a half-dozen to 100 pages.) A flat fee of $55 per patent,payable in advance by credit card, defrays airmail postage andhandling costs from Europe. Allow 10 to 14 days for delivery.

To order, call 1-800-879-8790. |Cite the date the disclosureappeared in BioWorld, the assignee and serial number.

Agracetus, Inc. Transforming WO 92/20809Middleton, Wisc. rice plantsRice plants, notably Indica, transformed by coating nucleic acidonto inert microcarriers, which are propelled into plantembryos.

AKZO N.V. Tumor-targeting WO 92/20785Arnhem, Netherlands monoclonalsAntibodies produced by transformed B-cell lines of cancerpatients immunized with self-tumor antigen; for diagnosis,therapy.

Arch Development Corp. Protease-based EPO 514 830Chicago herpes drugMethod for producing a viral protease; screening for itsinhibitor, useful in treatment of herpes virus infections.

Baylor College of Med. Fragile-X WO 92/20825Houston syndrome diagnosisAn FMR-1 gene sequence, related probes, cosmids, uniquerepeats used to detect X-linked diseases, especially fragile-Xsyndrome.

Calgene, Inc. Medium-chain WO 92/20236Davis, Calif. thioesterasesDNA sequence, constructs, to express Bay plant medium-chainthioesterase in a bacterial host, to produce medium-chain fattyacids.

Case Western New neuro- WO 92/20797Reserve U., Cleveland trophic factorDeduced from screening frog genomic DNA, factor "believeddistinct as it exhibits limited homology with knownneurotrophic factors."

Cell Genesys, Inc. Modifying WO 92/20808Foster City, Calif. genomic sitesHomologous DNA targeting to modify genomic target genes orregulatory sequences; e.g., to retain marker without disruptingtarget gene.

Cetus Oncology Corp. Cloning poly- WO 92/20794Emeryville, Calif. peptide p62DNA sequences encoding p62 and derivatives; its purificationfrom natural or host cells; use in determining malignancy.

Cetus Oncology Corp. Transcriptional WO 92/20795Emeryville, Calif. activatorInhibitor of NF-kB transcriptional activator, to identifyprophylactics or therapeutics to treat diseases due to alteredgene expression.

Ciba-Geigy AG Cloned glycosyl- GB 2 256 197Basel, Switzerland transferaseUse of transformed yeast cells to produce membrane-boundmammalian glycosyltransferases

Cold Spring Harbor Lab. Recombinant WO 92/20796Cold Spring HArbor, N.Y. human cyclinDNA and RNA encoding "a novel D-type cyclin" of human origin;inhibiting cell division by blocking protein kinase D-cyclincomplex.

Connecticut, Univ. of Aiming gene WO 92/20316Storrs, Conn. at specific cellMolecular complex directs gene encoding an immunogen atspecific cell in vivo. Expression product elicits desired antigen.

Dana-Farber Cancer Inst. Leukocyte WO 92/20712Boston adhesion moleculeGenomic DNA sequences encoding a leukocyte-associated cellsurface protein (LAM-1) for therapeutic use.

Dictagene SA Slime mold as WO 92/20806Prilly, Switzerland vector, hostDictostellium promoters, leaders, terminators, host cells, forexpressing foreign genes, e.g, Plasmodium CS region for malariavaccine.

Eli Lilly & Co. Apolipoprotein EPO 516 443Indianapolis drug screenSubstances are screened. for apolipoprotein AI regulation byhost cell transformed with apolipoprotein and reporter gene.

Farmitalia Carlo Erba Liver growth- WO 92/20792Milan, Italy factor antagonistHepatocyte growth factor receptor consists of tyrosine kinasedisulphide-linked a-(protooncogene-encoded) and truncated b-chains.

Genelabs, Inc. Astrovirus WO 92/20803Redwood City, Calif. gastroenteritisPolynucleotides encoding polypeptide antigens useful indiagnostic methods for detecting Astrovirus infection inhumans.

Genentech, Inc. Recombinant WO 92/20798S. San Francisco, Calif. heregulinsNucleic acid sequences encoding heregulins purified fromhuman cells. These and their antibodies useful in diagnosis,therapy.

Glaxo Canada, Inc. Ultrapure para- EPO 515 228Mississauga, Ont. thyroid hormoneHuman parathyroid hormone, free of protein contaminantsdetectable by capillary electrophoresis; ultrapurificationmethods .

Hagiwara Anti-cancer WO 92/20799Hyogo, Japan human monoclonalAmino acid and DNA sequences for monoclonal antibodyderived from B cell of uterine cancer patient and a humanlymphoblast cell line.

Harvard University DNA sequencing EPO 516 245Cambridge, Mass. methodMethod for determining nucleotide base sequence of a DNAmolecule, by annealing it with a hybridizable primer molecule.

Harvard University Protease blockers WO 92/20804Cambridge, Mass. for cachexiaIdentifying ATP-dependent protease inhibitors of cachexia'sproteolytic muscle-wasting; their use in therapy.

Immuno Japan Inc. Non-A, non-B EPO 516 270Tokyo (NANB) hepatitisVirus-related antigen, antibody polynucleotides, polypeptides,for detecting NANB antigen, antibodies.

In vivo Diagnostik Antigen-specific WO 92/20783& Ther., Zurich B and T cellsAntigen-presenting adhering cells and lymphocytes are co-incubated, cultured; monoclonal antibodies to them obtained.

Inst. de Recherches Transgenic WO 92/20790 Cliniq, Montreal AIDS animal modelTransgenic animal carrying non-infectious HIV genome;complementary proteins in milk, serum and tissues include gagand envelope proteins.

Kanegafuchi Kagaku KKK Recombinant EPO 515 698Osaka, Japan D--g(a) amino acidGene, plasmid, prokaryotic host organism for cloning,expressing D-N carba-moyl-a amino acid amidohydrolase.

Ludwig Cancer Res. Inst. Tumor WO 92/20356New York rejection antigensDNA sequence encoding antigen expressed by tumor cells,recognized by killer T cells; therapeutic and diagnostic uses.

Madrid, Univ. Peptides against WO 92/20801Polytecnica, Madrid plant pestsRecombinant anti-pathogenic peptides, used to transformtransgenic plants to control their pathogenic pests.

Martin, Wm. John Stealth virus WO 92/20787S. Pasadena, Calif. strategiesIsolates from patients with chronic fatigue syndrome used toprepare stealth-virus antigens, antibodies for prevention,detection, treatment.

Melbourne, Univ. of Pure proline WO 92/20713Parkville, Australia from tobaccoProline-rich proteins, or their fragments, from Nicotinianaalata, in high-purity form, plus DNA sequences encoding theseproteins.

Merck & Co. Unencumbered EPO 516 286Rahway, N.J. hepatitis antigenTo reduce entrapped carbohydrate, DNA encoding hepatitis Bvirus particles was expressed in yeast host unable toglycosylate proteins.

Merck & Co. Sorting coccidiosis EPO 516 381Rahway, N.J. pathogens 3,4,5 6, 391,395, 6Unique" genetically engineered probes determine relativeinfectivity of eight Eimeria species in multivalent live vaccines.(8 disclosures)

MRC (Med. Res. Council) Specific binding WO 92/20791London pairs (sbp) kitAt least one polypeptide chain component of sbp members ismanipulated to appear on surface of replicable genetic displaypackage.

Mycogen Corp. Bt toxin hits bees, EPO 516 306San Diego wasps, ants WO/20802Recombinant Bacillus thuringiensis toxin specific toHymenoptera insect pests. Genes can render varioushosts.transgenic. (2 disclosures)

Natural Environment African EPO 515 235Res. C., Swindon, U.K. equine plagueDNA sequences code for protein components of Africanhorsesickness virus; useful in diagnosis; expressed polypeptidesfor vaccines.

Pharm. Discovery Corp. cDNA-photo- WO 92/20821Elmsford, N.Y. fluor probesA cDNA probe bound to a fluorescent molecule (photofluor)which fluoresces at detectable wavelength; binding to targetconsensus sequence.

Pierre Fabri Medicament Gram-positive WO 92/20805Boulogne, France bacterial cellsExpression system for three recombinant DNA fragmentscoding for as many amino acid sequences selectively isolates G+bacterial cells.

Pioneer Hi-Bred Intl. Plant promoter EPO 515 048Des Moines, Iowa sequencesChemically and heat-shock inducible, general-purpose plantgene promoter sequence and expression casettes; transgenicplants.

Salk Institute Transforming WO 92/20793La Jolla, Calif. growth factorsCloning, recombinant production of TGF-b superfamilyreceptors, binding to activins in preference to inhibins; assays;antibodies.

Salk Institute Plant defense WO 92/20807La Jolla, Calif. genesChitinase gene and associated regulatory region, from amonocotyledon plant.

Sandoz Ltd. Plant fungicidal WO 92/20800Basel, Switzerland proteinsRecombinant versions of fungicidally potent proteins isolatedfrom tomato; useful in rendering plants transgenic, resistant tofungal infection.

UAB Research Fn. DNA binding WO 92/20698Birmingham, Ala. drugsA sequence-specific DNA binding drug attached to a triplex-forming oligonucleotide, administered to a mammal tomodulate gene expression.

Wistar Institute Human cytopathic EPO 516 287Philadelphia rotavirus"Novel human cytopathic rotavirus of serotype 3," andreassortants, for use as a vehicle to express rotavirus genes,vaccine preparation.

Yale University Human papillo- WO 92/20784New Haven, Conn. mavirus geneKeratinocyte or epithelial cell line expressing humanpapillomavirus E5 gene; usful as drug screen to identifycompounds that inhibit E5 action.

Zymogenetics, Inc. Islet cell WO 92/20811Seattle autoantigenPancreatic islet cell glutamic acid and decarboxylase, implicatedin insulin-dependent diabetes, cloned, expressed, for diagnosis,immune therapy.

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