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Science 6 September 2002:
Vol. 297. no. 5587, p. 1643
DOI: 10.1126/science.297.5587.1643b
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Scientists say they have succeeded in disabling both copies of a gene that makes it problematic to transplant pig organs to humans. Edinburgh-based PPL Therapeutics announced late last month that it had produced the world's first piglets lacking an enzyme that generates a cell surface sugar that is rejected by the human immune system.

Last January researchers announced the birth of "single knockout" pigs that lacked one copy of the troublesome gene (Science, 4 January, p. 25). Now PPL's Blacksburg, Virginia, facility says it's got four new piglets that lack both copies. That means that the company can start primate trials using pancreatic islet cells, kidneys, and hearts from the modified pigs, says PPL's David Ayares.

PPL's news drew a warning from the U.K.'s Royal Society, which said scientists should be "skeptical about this so-called breakthrough" pending peer review. "This announcement," it added, "no doubt will boost the company's share price."

Ayares says the company is legally required to announce "stock-sensitive information" because it is traded on the London Stock Exchange. A paper will soon be submitted to a journal, he adds. The news has had little immediate effect on PPL's stock price, which has been sliding all year and is now scraping along at about 7 pence.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)