X-Message-Number: 13392 From: "John de Rivaz" <> Subject: PPL Therapeutics PLC Produces World's First Cloned Pigs Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 15:55:08 -0000 If nanotechnology does not work, then an alternative may be to rebuild humans from cloned parts. Breeding animals for this purpose may be distasteful to some people, but unless they are vegetarians this is illogical, because it is really no different to eating meat products. I have therefore added PPL Therapeutics to my shares page, on http://geocities.yahoo.com/longevityrpt/shares.htm Please be aware 1. because of the importance of this news the share price has been marked up very hard - if you want to buy it would be better to wait a while until it has fallen back to its previous level. 2. PPL's corporate web page is difficult to load because of excessive access at the moment. Try in the middle of the night or wait a few days. 3. The stock is traded on the London market >>>>>>>>>>>>>> PPL Therapeutics PLC Produces World's First Cloned Pigs A major step towards successful production of Xeno organs for human use PPL Therapeutics Plc is pleased to announce that on 5th March 2000, five piglets, all healthy, were born as a result of nuclear transfer (cloning) using adult cells. This is the first time cloned pigs have been successfully produced from adult cells. DNA from blood samples taken from the piglets was shown in independent tests to be identical to DNA from the cells used to produce the piglets but clearly different from DNA taken from the surrogate mother. The DNA tests were carried out by Celera-AgGEN on coded samples. The cell samples had been provided to the testing company before the piglets were born. The successful cloning of these pigs is a major step in achieving PPL's xenograft objectives. It opens the door to making modified pigs whose organs and cells can be successfully transplanted into humans; the only near term solution to solving the worldwide organ shortage crisis. Pigs are the preferred species for xenotransplantation on scientific and ethical grounds. Clinical trials could start in as little as four years and analysts believe the market could be worth $6 billion for solid organs alone, with as much again possible from cellular therapies, eg. transplantable cells that produce insulin for treatment of diabetes. The method used to produce the five female piglets, to be named Millie, Christa, Alexis, Carrel and Dotcom, was different from that used to produce "Dolly" in that it used additional inventive steps for which a patent application has been filed. The work was carried out by PPL's US staff in Blacksburg, Virginia, partly supported by an ATP Award from the US Government's National Institute of Standards and Technology. This award has as its objective the production of a "knock-out" pig, i.e. a pig which has a specific gene inactivated. The ability to clone pigs is the first essential step in achieving this objective <<<<<<<<<<<<<<< -- Sincerely, John de Rivaz my homepage links to Longevity Report, Fractal Report, my singles club for people in Cornwall, music, Inventors' report, an autobio and various other projects: http://geocities.yahoo.com/longevityrpt Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=13392