Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Biotech / Medical : VD's Model Portfolio & Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rocketman who wrote (6570)	4/3/1999 11:21:00 PM
From: Bluegreen	Respond to of 9719

Anybody got any ideas on what Biotech companies could be candidates for doing the feasibility study? >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Saturday April 3 12:42 AM ET Dolly-Cloners To Try Making 'Natural' Antibiotics WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The company involved in cloning Dolly the sheep -- PPL Therapeutics Plc -- said Thursday it had signed a deal to try to make antibiotics in genetically engineered rabbits. The company said it had an agreement with a U.S. based biotechnology company to do a feasibility study into the project, but would not give any details about its partner. Julian Cooper, chief operating officer at PPL's Blacksburg, Virginia division, said the company was investigating the possibility of genetically engineering animals to produce natural peptides with antimicrobial properties in their milk. Antimicrobials work against small organisms including bacteria and viruses. This is in line with PPL's main business, which is genetically engineering animals to produce proteins, usually human proteins, in their milk. Cooper said he could give no details about the project but it was hoped, in a few years, that perhaps some kind of antibiotic mimicking the body's natural defenses could be produced. ''You just ask the animal to do it for you and we can make large quantities of many peptides very cheaply,'' he said in a telephone interview. In a statement, PPL said it would first work with transgenic rabbits -- rabbits that have been genetically engineered to produce genes from another species. ''These natural antibiotic agents have a novel mode of action compared to conventional antibiotics and offer a potential solution to the increasingly prevalent problem of drug-resistant bacteria which limit the effectiveness of the current generation of drugs,'' the statement read. Doctors complain that drug-resistant ''superbugs'' are becoming more common. Some resist virtually all antibiotics now on the market.