The Nation - News from May 30, 1985

Researchers have engineered bacteria to produce the human protein lipocortin, the body’s own inflammation fighter, and say it could replace cortisone as a treatment for arthritis and asthma. The development, announced in Boston by the biotechnology firm Biogen, represents the latest effort to induce microbes to make rare proteins by giving them human genes. Lipocortin, a natural substance discovered five years ago, shuts down a chemical chain reaction inside the body that ordinarily leads to inflammation.