Celera Genomics Group and Myriad Genetics Inc., two of the largest US genomics companies, are dedicating their DNA sequencing and typing expertise to the massive effort of identifying victims in last month's World Trade Center attack. The companies are creating DNA databases from victims, their personal effects, and from relatives. Myriad, a Salt Lake City, Utah, biopharmaceutical company, is using short tandem repeats (STR) to quantify the number of DNA repetitions on each of 13 nonfunctional genome loci, a process that yields statistically high matching probabilities. Myriad has used STR to help New York State build a genomic database of convicted felons. The company will be testing at least 30,000 DNA samples per month, says Myriad vice president Brian Ward, and more, if necessary. As time passes, obtaining victim samples before tissue decomposes is increasingly challenging. So Celera, the Rockville, Md.-based company known for its work in helping sequence the human genome, is sequencing mitochondrial DNA, which can be detected from hair, teeth, and bones-materials that may more readily survive decomposition. "As a corporation, we decided that because of our expertise in DNA sequencing and our large capacity to do high-throughput screening, the best way we could help was to offer to aid in the identification of the victims," says Heather Kowalski, Celera's communications director. Following a careful evidentiary chain-of-custody process, the two companies will deliver their DNA databases to the New York City Medical Examiner and New York State Police Laboratory in Albany, where matches will be attempted.
Senator Scrutinizes Drug Royalty Payments
The World Trade Center tragedy has pushed a federal financial controversy to the back burner: the ownership of the profits garnered by companies dependent on funding by the National Institutes of Health. US Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) planned to hold hearings this month on an NIH report released in August that warns that seeking royalties or license fees from successful commercial pharmaceuticals developed with government-funded research "may have a deleterious effect on biotechnology development." But the hearings, part of Wyden's efforts to recoup taxpayers' money spent on research, have been postponed while top federal officials struggle to deal with the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The report is NIH's response to a directive, authored by Wyden, to develop a plan "to ensure taxpayers' interests are protected" when research leads to the creation of "blockbuster" drugs (pharmaceuticals that achieve $500 million or more in annual US sales). Commercial sales of four blockbuster drugs created using NIH-owned technologies produced nearly $5 billion for their manufacturers in 1999. But NIH took in no payments at all for three of these drugs and only a tiny fraction of royalties for the fourth.
