Tim Freeborn of the Daily Mail on the 生物工学 buzz

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 00:00 BST, 14 February 2000

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What has been the hottest 部門 on 塀で囲む Street this year? Not the Internet. The really hot money is 長，率いるing into biotechnol ogy - and not just any biotech. The buzz this time is genomics, or even proteomics.

Most people have heard about the human genome 事業／計画（する）. This is the 世界的な race to identify each human 遺伝子 and its 機能（する）／行事.

All very exciting, but turning this knowledge into useful 治療s is nightmarishly hard and expensive. It is the 恐れる of this cost that is 軍隊ing the 麻薬 巨大（な）s into 合併s.

But genomics may lead up a blind alley. Each 独房 in the 団体／死体 含む／封じ込めるs the same 遺伝子s but produces different proteins, the 化学製品s which 現実に make things happen. Proteomics 目的（とする）s to match proteins with 病気s.

One of the 主要な players in this 現れるing field is Oxford Glyco-Sciences. It has a 共同 with US 巨大（な） Incyte and is working for Pfizer and 開拓する Hi-Bred. Up 22 1/2p to 1050p, Oxford has been going like a ロケット／急騰する and is already 価値（がある） £400m. But this is a fraction of Incyte, which is 価値（がある） £3bn, up from £600m in November.

Cambridge Antibody 科学（工学）技術 has a system to select 約束ing human antibodies for 研究 by other 麻薬 companies. Its partners 含む Monsanto, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, BASF and AstraZeneca. CAT is already 価値（がある） more than £360m, and has risen eightfold since August, though it is still at a 割引 to 類似の US companies.

For 底（に届く） fishers, PPL 治療力のあるs looks more 約束ing. Famous for Dolly the Sheep, it has been a stinker of an 投資. 頂点（に達する）ing 簡潔に at 452p three years ago, it touched 49p last year and has since bounced to 116 1/2p, 価値（がある） £58m.

PPL is working in several areas, using cloning to produce genetically 修正するd animals. Some of these will produce useful 化学製品s in milk, others can be 修正するd to become 組織／臓器 寄贈者s.

This may sound gruesome, but could （一定の）期間 the end of waiting 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）s for 移植（する） 患者s. 恐れるs of 援助（する）s or BSE-type 災害s are misplaced, argues Dr Erling Refsum of Nomura.

'In Britain we eat 5m pigs a year,' he says, 追加するing that if dangerous ウイルスs lurk within pigs' 遺伝子 s, we should already have succumbed.

In the US, £120m Nasdaq-名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）d Diacrin is 報告（する）／憶測ing good results from implanting foetal pig tissue into people's brains. The pig 独房s kickstart growth in the brain. One woman 患者 has shown 回復 five years after a 一打／打撃.

犠牲者s of Parkinson's 病気 報告（する）／憶測 a 30% 削減 in symptoms. Diacrin has partnered with Genzyme.

PPL is looking for a cash-rich friend to take its 移植（する） work 今後. In the 地位，任命する-BSE 気候, it is likely to move the 事業／計画（する） abroad. But the 取引，協定 when it comes should 打ち明ける some of PPL's ground-breaking work on 減ずるing 拒絶 difficulties.

For the いっそう少なく 勇敢に立ち向かう, Phytopharm remains a unique and 無所属の政治家 適切な時期. It only has herbal 治療（薬）s rather than 遺伝子s or proteomes. But a growing 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of heavyweight partners 示唆するs the 約束 is real.

In Chinese 裁判，公判s, an Alzheimer's 治療 appeared to show 患者s 回復するing. Western 実験（する）s are 進行中で. Appetite suppressant 実験（する）s on animals have been 効果的な.

In the 早期に autumn we will see 段階 II results on a baldness 治療. Rumours from the 裁判，公判 are 楽観的な, though many 治療s give good results at first, only to relapse into 失敗.

Either way, Phytopharm's wide 大臣の地位 減ずるs its 危険. Up 23p to 417 1/2p, it is now 価値（がある） £150m. This would be pocket money for a dotcom, but it may have more chance of turning into a nest egg. Biotechs deserve another chance.