The Swiss drug company Novartis is set to sidestep mounting controversy over its xenotransplantion research in Britain by shutting its UK subsidiary Imutran. It is collaborating with the US-based company BioTransplant to set up a company that will conduct the research in Massachusetts.

Imutran researchers have transplanted pig organs into monkeys, with a view to developing the technique for use in humans. But some scientists are concerned about the potential for retroviruses — inactive and harmless in the pig genome — to become infectious in humans. In addition, animal rights activists have campaigned against Imutran's research.

The Campaign for Responsible Transplantation, a pressure group critical of xenotransplantation, branded the move by Novartis as an attempt to duck the negative public sentiment in Europe and to take advantage of a more relaxed regulatory climate in the United States.

But Paul Herrling, head of global research at Novartis, dismisses the idea that the plan was a response to recent bad publicity. He does concede, however, that the United States already has defined regulatory criteria that would allow human trials.

Novartis will invest $30 million over three years to take a two-thirds stake in the new company, with BioTransplant owning the other third. It says all relevant Imutran operations will move to the new company.

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