THE LEGAL BATTLE BREWING OVER A BETTER AIDS TEST.

GENETIC System Corp.; UNITED States. Food & Drug Administration; ABBOTT Laboratories Inc.

The article reports that the test developed by Genetic Systems Corp. for screening donated blood for antibodies to the deadly virus causing AIDS has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last February 1986. When it got the approval, the Red Cross, which accounts for 25 percent of blood screened in the nation, has not renewed its annual contract with Abbott Laboratories Inc. However, the test may become the of dispute between scientists in France and the U.S. over patent rights.