AUCKLAND, NZ, January 13, 2003 -- In a session today at the annual meeting of the International Embryo Transfer Society (IETS), Randall Prather, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Reproductive Biotechnology at the University of Missouri-Columbia, announced the successful cloning of the first miniature swine with both copies of a specific gene "knocked out" of its DNA. The ultimate goal of this research, which is being conducted in partnership with Immerge BioTherapeutics, Inc (a BioTransplant Incorporated (Nasdaq:BTRN)/Novartis Pharma AG (NYSE:NYS) joint venture company), is to develop a herd of miniature swine that can be used as a safe source for human transplantation, a process known as xenotransplantation.

"The fact that we have been able to clone this particular strain of miniature swine with both copies of the gene that produces GGTA1 knocked out is a very exciting step for the field of xenotransplantation," said Dr. Prather, a researcher in MU's College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. "Organs from regular swine are too large for human transplant, and this particular strain of miniature swine has been refined for years solely for its potential use in humans."

New options for organ sources are desperately needed to treat the rapidly increasing number of critically ill people on the transplant waiting list (more than 80,000 in the U.S. alone). Researchers have targeted the pig as the best potential candidate for an alternative organ source because of the similarity between human and pig organs and the relative ease of breeding. However, the massive rejection response mounted by the human immune system has been a major hurdle in this research.

A key player in this rejection process is the gene called a-1,3-galactosyltransferase or GGTA1 that produces a sugar molecule. When a foreign organ is introduced, human antibodies attach to the sugar molecule on the surface of pig cells produced from the action of the GGTA1
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Contact: Susan Hayes
shayesconsult@earthlink.net
212-533-4472
S. Hayes Consulting
14-Jan-2003

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