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Generation Ages Author: Karen Young Kreeger Date: February 19, 1996 As the baby-boomer generation gets older, biotech companies are stepping up their research efforts with the goal of capitalizing on the huge potential market for anti-aging products. The number of drugs and therapies in development for diseases of the elderly increased from 125 in 1993 to 132 in July 1995. The number of companies developing those remedies climbed from 60 to 71 in the same time frame, according to New Medicines

Too Much On Alzheimer's? Author: Steven Benowitz Date: February 19, 1996 The National Institute on Aging (NIA) spent approximately $216 million last year-practically one-half of its 1995 total budget of $433 million-on research related to Alzheimer's disease. Overall, the National Institutes of Health funded some $311 million in Alzheimer's-associated work. Concerned: Richard Adelman worries about a lack of money for basic aging science. Is that too much? Is spending that much on Alzheimer'

In what some industry observers liken to biotechnology's early days of scientific hope mixed with public pessimism, gene therapy has come under the scope of scrutiny at the National Institutes of Health. A much-publicized December panel report commissioned by NIH director Harold Varmus lambastes companies' use of clinical trials to lure investors; urges stringent peer review of gene therapy protocols; calls for more basic research; and warns that "overselling of the industry" could cause a back

While scientists debate how the National Institutes of Health should allocate gene therapy dollars, the agency is quietly moving out of routine clinical-protocol review. In December, an ad hoc committee of biomedical experts appointed by NIH director Harold Varmus gave a formal stamp of approval to the changes. NIH's Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) is a panel of 14 independent scientists and nine public representatives. For years, RAC has reviewed gene therapy protocols by any research

NRC Date : 11/78 Location : University of California, San Francisco Isotope : 32p Dose/Intake : 3-4 millicuries (110-190 megabequerels) Perpetrator : suspected self No. of People : 3 Contaminated Date : 2/82 Location : Brown University Isotope : 32p Dose/Intake : 157 microcuries (5.8 megabequerels) Perpetrator : none found No. of People : 2 Contaminated Date : 3/83 Location : Washington University, St. Louis Isotope : 125I Dose/Intake : 0.360 microcuries, (0.013 megabequerels) Perpetrator : s

Strive To Improve The Health Of Impoverished Populations Author: Steve Sternberg The World Bank, once a stronghold of public-spirited but nonscientific economists, has over the past decade emerged as the major financier of research to improve the health of people in Third World countries. Banking on Health: Richard G.A. Feachem, World Bank senior adviser on human development, has put health at the top of the bank's agenda. Each year, the World Bank invests $2 billion for health programs in i

Professional Societies and Journals American Society for Microbiology 1325 Massachusetts Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20005-4171 (202) 737-3600 Fax: (202) 942-9340 Call for appropriate E-mail address. Executive director: Michael Goldberg President: Carol Nacy Internet Home Page: http://www.asmusa.org Pertinent journal: Journal of Virology Thomas Jefferson University 233 S. 10th St., Room 408 Philadelphia, Pa. 19107 (215) 955-5534 Fax: (215) 923-8021 E-mail: jnv@jeflin.tju.edu Kamel Khalili, ed

Date: February 5, 1996 BIOTECX Laboratories Inc. BioVentures Inc. Boehringer Mannheim Corp. Clontech Laboratories Inc. Gentra Systems Inc. Invitrogen Corp. Life Technologies Inc. Molecular Bio-Products Inc. Perkin-Elmer Corp. , Applied Biosystems Division Qiagen Inc. Roche Molecular Systems Stratagene Cloning Systems

Employment Crunch Author: Peter Gwynne Sidebar: How to Reach the Institutions One of the unpublicized victims of the heated congressional debate over the federal budget for fiscal 1996 is the discipline of history of science. In an environment of general uncertainty, one sure thing is that the field will lose significant funding. As a result, new Ph.D.'s as well as postdocs and junior faculty face intense and growing competition for academic posts. One year ago, for example, Harvard Universit

Gay Health Advocates To Launch Journal Bioegineers, Move Over At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, even the plumbers are inventors New IIASA Head Named Horwitz Prize Honoree Building Blocks Cheeseburgers In Paradise Save A Species, Kill A Bill The San Francisco-based Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA), a health-advocacy group, has announced plans to launch the Journal of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association. The quarterly, planned to begin publication in early 1997, will

A center for studying and understanding the history of the chemical sciences. In addition to its publications, the foundation awards fellowships and grants. Address as of Feb.1,1996: 315 Chestnut St. Philadelphia, Pa. 19106 (215) 925-2222 Fax: (215) 925-1954 Publications: Chemical Heritage (journal) Co-sponsor of two book series The institute's goals are fostering and disseminating outstanding scholarship in the history of science and technology and allied fields, and initiating new directi

In Plant-Derived Drugs Author: Steven Benowitz Date: February 5, 1996 Historically, industry interest in plant-derived pharmaceuticals has waxed and waned. But greatly improved drug-screening technologies and a concern over disappearing Third World resources (and potential sources of medicines) have fueled a resurgence of drug-industry interest in natural products and plant-derived drugs in recent years. Optimistic: James Miller of the Missouri Botanical Garden sees new technology as key to