Subject: Integrated Genetics, Amoco Unveil Test for AIDS Virus
Date: Published: 6/23/87 36 lines
Source:  WALL STREET JOURNAL. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

   Integrated Genetics, Amoco
   Unveil Test for AIDS Virus

   FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- Integrated Genetics Inc. said
Gene-Trak Systems, its joint venture with Amoco Corp., has
developed a new test to directly detect the AIDS virus in
blood samples.
   Integrated Genetics, a biotechnology concern, said
research trials have been reported in the British medical
magazine Lancet.  Integrated said it plans to apply to the
Food and Drug Administration to begin clinical trials in July
under an automatic investigational device exemption.
   Current tests for acquired immune deficiency syndrome to
identify the AIDS antibody and have been widely criticized
for being inaccurate.  Integrated said its method detects the
AIDS messenger RNA, indicating the level of AIDS virus
activity at a given time.  Unlike tests for the DNA of the
AIDS virus that are under development, the Integrated method
spots only active AIDS viruses.
   Robert J. Carpenter, president and chairman of Integrated,
said the method "may provide the most sensitive means to
detect and monitor the level of activity of the virus."  As a
result, it may prove useful in establishing whether
experimental AIDS treatments are actually rendering the virus
inactive.  It also may help spot infected individuals who
become infectious, Integrated said.

[This article is made available here by Dow Jones Co. for the 
personal and non-commercial use of callers to this bbs, in the 
hope that it will be of some help to those who are suffering 
from the disease and others who are seeking to help them.]