Applied DNA Systems Inc.'s (NASDAQ:ADNA) board of directorshas put the company up for sale.

The Warwick, R.I., company holds the patent on a fluorescentassay for determining the sensitivity of tumor biopsies tovarious chemotherapy drugs. "This provides information as towhich drugs will be most valuable in treating a patient'stumor," Edmund W.E. Stein, Applied's chairman of the board,told BioWorld. The technology is not only patient-specific, but itcan be used for any type of accessible tumor, Stein added. Infact, "we can test experimental chemotherapy drugs beforethey ever have to be tested in humans."

"We're a medical lab," Stein said. The ideal buyer would be"another medical lab that serves the oncology market." Otheracquisitors might be cancer treatment and therapyorganizations, or even health maintenance organizations, Steinadded.

Applied DNA also reported its third-quarter earnings onWednesday, showing that the company's revenues fell to$95,514 from $213,127 in the equivalent period last year. Thecompany also reported a net loss of $276,237, or 2 cents pershare, compared with a loss of $70,747, or 1 cent per share, forthe equivalent period last year.

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