February 1996

Sophistication, Experts Say Author: Thomas W. Durso An October dismissal of a lawsuit filed under the federal False Claims Act-which allows whistleblowers to sue institutions defrauding the government and to recover up to three times the funds involved, plus additional penalties-shows that the courts are becoming more sophisticated in judging science-related cases brought under the law, according to several observers. Kathryn M. Milam, a former postdoctoral researcher at the Brain Tumor Resea

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'

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

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

1 It gets a reaction 5 Soporific 10 Sex-birth link 11 Bodily fluid 12 Ecto's opposite 13 Many, at the start 14 Vitro alternative 16 Sex 18 Keratin component 21 Esophagus-duodenum link 23 Respiratory disorder 25 It goes down the tube 26 Sex 27 1,000,000,000,000,000: pref. 31 Type of acid 32 Extinct marine arthropod 33 Type of gland 34 DNA replication enzyme that untwists 1 Brass component 2 Data analysis find 3 Blood oxygenater 4 Nerce-cell interstice 6 Partum preceder 7 Transuranic element 8

American Association for Cancer Research Public Ledger Building, Suite 816 150 S. Independence Mall West Philadelphia, Pa. 19106-3483 (215) 440-9300 Fax: (215) 440-9313 E-mail: aacr@aol.com 11,200 members Executive director: Margaret Foti President: Joseph R. Bertino Journals: Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Cell Growth and Differentiation; Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention American Society for Cell Biology 9650 Rockville Pike Bethesda, Md. 20814 (301) 530-7153 Fax: (

Date: February 19, 1996 Bioscan Inc. Boeckeler Instruments Inc. Data Translation Inc. Imaging Research Inc. Intracellular Imaging Inc. Jandel Scientific Software Noesis Vision Inc. Oncor Inc. Optimas Corp. Princeton Instruments Inc. Scanalytics Universal Imaging Corp.

Comments by Virginia M.-Y. Lee and John Q. Trojanowski, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine New Twist On Tangles: Research conducted by Penn's John Trojanowski and Virginia Lee suggests that phosphatases may be "lazy," or inactive, in Alzheimer's tangles. This paper offers a new way of looking at the formation of tangles-a twisted neuronal knot of paired helical filaments (PHFs). PHFs are one of the two primary diagnostic features found in the brains of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pat

Gene Genies: One of the most important implications is that we showed the [adenovirus-vector] approach was feasible," asserts Cornell's Ron Crystal. Experiments described in this paper represent two firsts in the burgeoning and fledgling field of gene therapy: the first human trial using a virus-specifically an adenovirus, a microbe isolated from human adenoid tissue-to transport a gene, and the first human trial for cystic fibrosis (CF). CF attacks many organs, but the pulmonary disease that