Biotechnology Law Report • Volume 18, Number 5 431

and filed a complaint with the European Court ofJustice. Farmers groups are saying that the increasein the morbidity and mortality that would followomission of antibotics from feeds would lead to in-creases in the price of meat.]Research and development tax credits might fa-

cilitate antibiotic development; the United States isalready looking at this issue.Dr. Poste warned that we must not fail to learn

from the serious results of our earlier complacencyabout infectious disease control. When the new an-tibiotics become available, which he does not seehappening before 2006, we will need to begin plan-ning to deal with the next cycle of resistant organ-isms, which can be expected to become a seriousproblem in 2025 to 2040.

{BLR 2992} InterLink-Genetically Modified Plants

ANTIMICROBIAL PEPTIDE GENES MAYPROTECT PLANTS

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InterLink Technology May Be Useful inForestry, Agriculture

PRINCETON, N.J. 6/21/99-InterLink Associ-ates, Inc., has released data confirming that expres-sion of its antimicrobial peptide genes in plants con-veys significant resistance to infection by bacteriaand fungi. The technology, which is covered by twoU.S. patents and additional pending applications, in-cludes techniques for stabilizing the peptides againstthe actions of plant proteases. However, the pep-tides still are degraded rapidly in the soil and by an-imal and human digestive proteases, so the peptideswill not produce long-lasting residues.Most of the work to date has involved tobacco

plants, but InterLink is discussing collaborationswith several seed companies. The company has al-ready granted rights under the patents for forestryapplications.

{BLR 2993} Creative BioMolecules-MorphogeneticProteins-Neurons.

CREATIVE BIOMOLECULES PROTEINSINDUCE MATURATION OFNEURON PRECURSORS

—Potential Treatment for Stroke, Brain andSpinal Cord Injury?

HOPKINTON, MASS. 6/23/99-Undifferentiatedneural progenitor cells treated with bone morpho-genetic proteins 6 and 7 and with GDF-7 differen-tiate into functional neurons. That's the conclusionof a study published in the June issue ofNature Neu-roscience. The effect was seen both in vitro andwhen the treated precursors were transplanted intoyoung mice.For decades, it was an article of faith that neu-

rons are not repaired and that neurologic damage isessentially permanent. This article is the latest evi-dence that the dictum is not always true, at least notif the proper growth factors can be delivered. Thus,it may eventually be possible to repair the neuro-

logic damage of a stroke, brain or spinal cord in-jury, or Parkinson's disease.The BMPs and other morphogenetic proteins

(compounds that direct the development and differ-entiation of various types of tissue) are being de-veloped by Creative BioMolecules, Inc.

{BLR 2994} Breast Cancer-Ligand Pharmaceuticals-Retinoids.

SYNTHETIC RETINOID ANALOGINDUCES REGRESSION OF BREAST

CANCER IN RAT MODEL

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Betaxarotene in Early Clinical TrialsSAN DIEGO, CAL. 6/14/99-Attendees at the En-

docrine Society meeting heard today about the ben-eficial effect of bexarotene (Targretin), a syntheticretinoid analog that acts selectively on the retinoidX receptor, in rats with breast cancer. Bexaroteneinduced regression of 72% of primary breast can-cers, accompanied by an increase in histologicallynormal breast tissue. The tumors that respondeddemonstrated induction of fat-specific genes.In another series of experiments, a combination

of bexarotene and tamoxifen caused complete or

partial regression of 94% of tamoxifen-resistant tu-