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Biotech / Medical : Celera Genomics (CRA) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ryan Mak who wrote (497)	6/27/2000 6:08:00 PM
From: gao seng	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 746

This meeting? Celera mulls sequencing dog, chimpanzee, rat (UPDATE: new throughout, adds details, quotes, background) By Ransdell Pierson NEW YORK, June 27 (Reuters) - Celera Genomics (NYSE:CRA - news) , which has already sequenced the genetic blueprints of a human being and the fruit fly and is now working on the mouse, said its leading next candidates for sequencing are the rat, the dog and the chimpanzee. Executives of Rockville, Md.-based Celera said at an investor meeting in Chicago that decoding the genomes of different organisms will become a growing part of the company's business. They added that Celera expected more drug companies to subscribe to its separate databases describing human and non-human genetic blueprints. ``The rat, dog and chimpanzee are the top candidates under discussion (because) each has a driving force'' in biology, Celera president and chief scientific officer Craig Venter said during a meeting that was aired in a telephone conference call. Venter said drug companies presumably would be interested in knowing the genetic makeup of the rat because that species is often used to test for toxicology of experimental medicines. He said dogs are often used in nutritional studies. Celera and scientists from the publicly financed Human Genome Project made history on Monday by announcing they had separately almost finished rough drafts of the sequence of 3.1 billion chemical pairs that form the human book of life. The two-year-old firm uses sophisticated gene-sequencing machines developed by its sister company, PE Biosystems (NYSE:PEB - news) of Foster City, Calif. A half-dozen drugmakers now subscribe to Celera's databases, typically paying $25 million each for 3-year subscriptions and $50 million for five-year use of the databases." Celera has said it intends to be strictly an information company, with no intention to make drugs. But Venter suggested on Tuesday that the company might reconsider that business model. Asked if Celera might consider some day developing its own therapeutic vaccines against cancer, he said: ``We haven't ruled anything out at this point.'' Therapeutic vaccines are used to stimulate the body's immune system to fight specific diseases, including cancer. Celera estimates it has sequenced 99 percent of the human genome. It said the hurdle now for scientists is to make sense of the endless repetitions and variations of A, C, T and G -- the four letters in the genetic code. Venter said Celera plans to complete by late this year its sequencing of the mouse genome, about 90 percent of which is believed to match the human stretch of genetic code. Scientists can then compare the human genomic data with that of the mouse, many of whose genes are already well understood after a half century of being a standard laboratory subject. ``Overlaying the mouse and human genomes will give you common instructions (by genes). Most of the instructions will be similar,'' Venter said. Venter said 20 to 30 different organisms have been recommended to Celera for future sequencing, everything from ``cows to camels.'' He said the company would pursue those deemed most likely to shed light on the workings of the human genome. Celera estimates that humans are essentially identical in their genetic makeup, except for differences in about 1 of every 1,000 chemical pairs that make up the human genome. Those slight variations, or SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) help explain why people are different and are predisposed to different diseases. The company is building a separate ``SNPs'' database, based upon ongoing sequencing of genomes of six men and women of different ethnic backgrounds. Venter said the SNPs data could transform medicine by leading to creation of genetic blood tests for a wide range of human diseases. The tests will alert people to their susceptibility to specific diseases, he said, giving them an early opportunity to intervene. Celera shares on Tuesday fell 13-13/16 to 98-3/4 on the New York Stock Exchange after falling 12-7/16 on Monday. Even so, they are up over 1200 percent from where they were this time last year. Analysts said investors were taking profits following the announcement of the company's near-complete sequencing of the human genome.