Subject: Business Brief:  Genetics Institute Inc. 
Date: Published: 3/11/88 29 lines
Source:  WALL STREET JOURNAL. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

   Business Brief:  
   Genetics Institute Inc. 

   Genetics Institute Inc., Cambridge, Mass., said it entered
a collaboration with the National Institutes of Health to
investigate a substance that enables the AIDS virus to infect
cells.
   The biotechnology company said it is producing a
genetically engineered version of the substance, an enzyme
called reverse transcriptase, and supplying it to NIH
researchers under the collaboration agreement.  The company
added that it will have the right of first negotiation for
anti-AIDS products developed from the work.
   Reverse transcriptase's functions aren't well understood,
but researchers studying the enzyme hope to develop anti-AIDS
drugs that will block its action without harming other
cellular enzymes.  Such drugs might have fewer adverse side
effects than anti-AIDS drugs such as AZT, which harm normal
cellular processes, Genetics Institute said.

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