Wall Street Journal - June 21, 1984
Carolyn Phillips, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

A spokeswoman for the federal agency said the companies will get samples of the human cancer virus, HTLV-111. Scientists at the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control isolated the virus as a "probable" cause of AIDS earlier this year. The suspected virus belongs to the Human T-cell Leukemia Virus family.

"We're the only people who have been able to grow the virus," the spokeswoman said, "and the U. S. Public Health Service holds a patent on the method of growing the virus." The licensing agreement thus gives the companies a "leg up" that other companies don't have for developing a diagnostic test for AIDS, she said.

The companies are Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, Ill.; Electro-Nucleonics Inc., Fairfield, N. J. ; Litton Bionetics Inc., Kensington, Md., a unit of Litton Industries Inc. ; Travenol/Genentech Diagnostics, Cambridge, Mass., and a joint effort between Du Pont Co, Wilmington, Del. and Biotech Research Laboratories Inc, Rockville, Md. Travenol/Genentech is a joint venture of Baxter Travenol Laboratories Inc., Deerfield, Ill., and Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, Calif.

The agency expects a test to be developed and ready for marketing by early next year. Blood banks, hospitals and physicians will be able to use the test to screen blood donations before the donations are used for transfusions or to make certain blood products. The test also could be used to detect the disease in victims. The government estimates the kit will have annual sales of more than $100 million.

"People are putting off operations and hemophiliacs aren't following their usual treatment routines" for fear of contracting AIDS from transfusions or blood products, the spokeswoman said. About 100 cases of AIDS related to donated blood have been reported to the agency.

The agency has said discovery of the virus and development of tests for it don't have any immediate application to treatment of current AIDS victims. But the department said development work by the companies and by government researchers will help to better define AIDS and its progression, and earlier identification of people exposed to the virus may lead to new methods of treatment.

About 25 companies applied for the AIDS licenses, the agency said. The health agency said it based its selections, among other things, on the companies' expertise with viruses; ability to package, market and distribute test kits; and experience with developing new drug products. The agency spokeswoman said the number of applicants was fairly low because "we had a very short turnaround time" for applications. "We're dealing with a public health emergency, so we felt that quick -- although solid -- scientific action was the thing to do."

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