Published Oct. 14 & 21 (EPO) and Oct. 15 (WO )

BioWorldLs weekly European patent preview lists inalphabetical order by assignee, and briefly summarizes, allsalient biotechnology patent applications as they are madepublic in Europe.

European patent offices publish full texts of patent applicationsworldwide within six months of their filing, and months toyears before the corresponding U.S. patent issues.

Two organizations comprise the European 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.

As a reader service, BioWorld will supply full-texts of Europeanpatent disclosures upon request. (These can run anywherefrom half a dozen to 100 pages.) A flat fee of $55 each, payablein advance by credit card, defrays airmail postage and handlingcosts from Europe to your. Allow 10 days to two weeks fordelivery.

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

Eli Lilly & Co. Human cytosolic EPO 509 719Indianapolis, Ind. phospholipase A2Expression of "exceptionally rare, human cytosolicphospholipase A2 enzyme @ believed to partake in severaldisease processes."

Eli Lilly & Co. Bovine GHRF EPO 509 831Indianapolis, Ind. precursorPolypeptide forms of bovine growth hormone releasing factorprecursor, leader peptide "and a new form of mature bGHRF."

Nippon Oil Co. Recombinant fish EPO 508 672Tokyo prolactinGenetically engineered prolactin from piscine orderPleuronectina, family Paralichthydae, useful in promoting fishgrowth.

Ohio University Inhibition of WO 92/17211Athens, Ohio retrovirusesTherapeutic antisense nucleic acid molecules hybridize only toretrovirus packaging sequence, inhibit its genomic RNA.

Oregon Health Sci. Keratinocyte-dermis WO 92/17498Univ., Portland adhesionProtein kalinin provides epidermal keratinocyte adhesion todermis. Monoclonal antibody BM165 localizes it to basementmembranes.

Oregon Health Sci. Norepinephrine WO 92/17568 Univ., Portland transporterA cDNA encodes human norepinephrine transporter isolatedfrom neuroblastoma cells; to study effects of antidepressantdrugs.

PanLabs Inc. Recombinant WO 92/17496Bothell, Wash. cephalosporinsExpression of cephalosporin C synthetase, last enzyme insynthesis of cephalosporin antibiotics.Princeton University Totipotent stem WO 92/17486Princeton, N.J. cell receptorsNucleic acid molecules encoding receptor protein tyrosinekinase expressed in primitive, but not mature, hematopoieticcells.

Regeneron Pharm. Inc. High-yield WO 92/17581Tarrytown, N.Y. mammalian vectorDNA plasmid expression vector enables cDNA cloning inmammalian cell culture "with marked increase in geneexpression."

Rhone-Poulenc Glyphosate- EPO 508 909Agrochimie, Lyon, Fr. tolerant plantsChimeric gene construct includes promoter, transit peptide,glyphosate tolerance sequence, and polyadenylation signal.

Rhone-Poulenc Helianthinin WO 92/17580Agrochimie, Lyon, Fr. regulatory DNARegulatory elements of helianthinin genes confer herbicideresistance, improved lipid quality to transgenic plants.

Rougier Inc. Shellfish toxin EPO 509 819Montreal detectionAnti-idiotypic monoclonal antibody against antibody specificfor okadaic acid shellfish toxin, to detect it in marine samples.

Salk Inst. Biotech. Pichia proteolytic WO 92/17595Ind. Assn., activityLa Jolla, Calif.Genes permitting generation of Pichia yeast strains useful ashosts to express proteolytically sensitive recombinant products.

Schweiz Serum & AIDS vaccine WO 92/17590Imfinst, Berne conjugatesImmunogenicity-enhancing conjugates of peptides with aminoacid sequences similar to gp120 of HIV envelope.

Takeda Chemical Ind. Anti-metastasis EPO 508 417Kyoto monoclonalA monoclonal antibody, and its peptide target, "capable ofsuppressing the motility of cancer cells," to prevent metastasis.

Tanox Biosystems Inc. Anti-allergy IgE WO 92/17207Houston monoclonalsSelective IgE binding properties make murine monoclonal andchimeric mouse-human antibody "well-suited for use in allergytherapy."

Tonen Corp. Disulfide EPO 509 841Saitama-ken, Japan isomerase geneCoexpression of multi-gene construct coding for human serumalbumin prepro-sequence and "a useful polypeptide."

United States. Plasmodium strain WO 92/17204Washington, D.C. variantsDifferences in circumsporozoite cDNA protein betweenPlasmodium reichenowi (malaria in apes) and P. falciparum,point to new vaccines.

Washington, Univ. of Stem cell factor WO 92/17505Seattle receptorsMonoclonal antibodies to a cell receptor specific for humanstem cell factor, and pharmaceutical compositionscontainingsuch antibodies.

Wellcome Fndn. Bordetella membrane WO 92/17587London antigenA protein uncontaminated by Bordetella bronchiseptica, whichbinds to antibody that also binds the pathogen's P.68antigen.

(c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.