GBP Health / Biotech News 09-25-2009

Since August, 2005, this news digest has been a complimentary service of GBP Capital, a private equity firm investing in early to mid-stage life science companies. See www.gbpcap.com. The digest is published two to four days a week. If you have colleagues who would be interested in receiving this digest by email, they can be added to the list at: http://www.gbpcap.com/ . Also, the complete history of the entire content of all news articles in our digests since August, 2005 is searchable with Google's enterprise search engine at the same site.


Source - EurekAlert – Biology:

Public Release: 25-Sep-2009
Pitt researchers net $5 million from NIH to explore better ways to grow cells
Regenerative medicine researchers at the University of Pittsburgh received two grants totaling more than $5 million from the National Institutes of Health to explore new methods for cultivating replacement cells from existing tissues and organs.
Contact: Morgan Kelly
mekelly@pitt.edu
412-624-4356
University of Pittsburgh

Public Release: 24-Sep-2009
International Journal of Cancer
Diabetes drug shows promise in fighting lethal cancer complication
Insulin resistance, the hallmark of type 2 diabetes and a condition often associated with obesity, is paradoxically also an apparent contributor to muscle wasting and severe fat loss that accompanies some cancers, according to new research.
Ohio State University, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center
Contact: Martha Belury
belury.1@osu.edu
614-292-1680
Ohio State University

Public Release: 24-Sep-2009
Angewandte Chemie International
Shedding light on cancer cells
A new technique now makes it possible to observe live cancer cells in action, allowing scientists to see how they differ from healthy cells.
Contact: Steve Pogonowski
press@f1000.com
Faculty of 1000: Biology and Medicine

ublic Release: 24-Sep-2009
International Journal of Andrology
Environmental chemicals found in breast milk and high incidence of testicular cancer
A comparison of breast milk samples from Denmark and Finland revealed a significant difference in environmental chemicals which have previously been implicated in testicular cancer or in adversely affecting development of the fetal testis in humans and animals. This finding is published today in the International Journal of Andrology.
Contact: Jennifer Beal
medicalnews@wiley.com
44-124-377-0633
Wiley-Blackwell

Public Release: 24-Sep-2009
PLoS Pathogens
Scientists determine dynamics of HIV transmission in UK heterosexuals
Among heterosexuals in the United Kingdom, HIV transmission can occur within networks of as many as 30 people, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit, London. Details are published Sept. 25 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens.
Contact: Dr. Andrew Leigh Brown
A.Leigh-Brown@ed.ac.uk
44-131-650-5523
Public Library of Science



Source - Science Daily:
Please note: Due to the format restrictions of Science Daily articles, you must click on the URL (web address) below the article summary, rather than the article title.
Sleep Loss Linked To Increase In Alzheimer's Plaques
September 25, 2009 — Chronic sleep deprivation in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease makes Alzheimer's brain plaques appear earlier and more often, researchers report. They also found that orexin, a protein that helps ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090924141742.htm

Diabetes Most Prevalent In Southern United States, Study Finds
September 25, 2009 — Diabetes prevalence is highest in the Southern and Appalachian states and lowest in the Midwest and the Northeast of America. Researchers have used two public data sources to investigate the ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090924231753.htm

Pancreatic Cancer: Researchers Find Drug That Reverses Resistance To Chemotherapy
September 25, 2009 — For the first time researchers have shown that by inhibiting the action of an enzyme called TAK-1, it is possible to make pancreatic cancer cells sensitive to chemotherapy, opening the way for the ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090924093351.htm

New Strategy For Highly-selective Chemotherapy Delivery Developed; Study Points Way To Precisely Targeted Cancer Treatments
September 25, 2009 — Researchers have created a new approach that vastly improves the targeting of chemotherapeutic drugs to specific cells and ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090924141746.htm

Gammaglobulin Treatment For Alzheimer's Disease To Be Tested
September 25, 2009 — Researchers will begin testing an intriguing new approach to slowing down the progression of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) using Intravenous Immune Globulin (IGIV), also known as gammaglobulin. IGIV is ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090924101632.htm

Certain Cancers More Common Among HIV Patients Than Non-HIV Patients
September 25, 2009 — Researchers have found that non-AIDS-defining malignancies such as anal and lung cancer have become more prevalent among HIV-infected patients than non-HIV patients since the introduction of ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090925101957.htm

New Cancer Drug Test Promises Safer And More Effective Clinical Trials
September 24, 2009 — A group of scientists from Hamburg may have taken a big step towards more effective cancer drug development. They report the development of a preclinical drug test platform that would enable ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090923102329.htm

Trial Of New Treatment For Advanced Melanoma Shows Rapid Shrinking Of Tumors
September 24, 2009 — Researchers have made significant advances in the treatment of metastatic malignant melanoma -- one of the most difficult cancers to treat successfully -- according to a new study. In the phase I ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090923102325.htm

Excess Body Weight Causes Over 124,000 New Cancers A Year In Europe: New Estimates
September 24, 2009 — At least 124,000 new cancers in 2008 in Europe may have been caused by excess body weight, according to estimates from a new modeling study. The proportion of cases of new cancers attributable to a ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090924093349.htm

Coronary Imaging Techniques Helps To Identify Plaques Likely To Cause Heart Attacks
September 24, 2009 — Late-breaking results from the PROSPECT clinical trial shed new light on the types of vulnerable plaque that are most likely to cause sudden, unexpected adverse cardiac events, and on the ability to ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090924185537.htm



Source - Health Day:

Health Highlights: Sept. 25, 2009

• Toxins In Drinking Water at Thousands of U.S. Schools
• Many U.S. Parents Underestimate Swine Flu Risk for Kids: Survey
• House Passes Bill to Halt Medicare Part B Premium Hike
• Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg Hospitalized Briefly
• Tylenol Maker Recalls Some Products for Kids
• FDA Advisers Back New OxyContin Pill
  

Angst May Protect Against Some Skin Cancer
Study finds less squamous cell carcinoma in mice under short-term stress
Clinical Trials Update: Sept. 25, 2009

• Atrial Fibrillation
• Chronic Pain
• Flu Vaccine
  

Experimental AIDS Vaccine Delivers Good News
Thai trial is first test in humans to show vaccine can work against HIV

New Treatment May Beat Melanoma
In trials, advanced cancers shrunk rapidly, researchers say

Sleep Deprivation Might Lead to Alzheimer's
Research in mice suggests that suspect plaques build up during waking hours



Source - Yahoo Biotech News:


Sector Snap: HIV vaccine developers - AP - Thu 12:39 pm ET
Shares of several companies developing potential HIV vaccines were little changed in reaction to Thursday's announcement from researchers that they may be on track for a breakthrough HIV vaccine.

Japanese National Institute of Health to Present New Data on Hemispherx's Vaccine Enhancer - GlobeNewswire - Thu 9:15 am ET
PHILADELPHIA -- Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. today announced that Dr. Hasegawa, Director, at the Japanese National Institute of Infectious Diseases will present data on one of Hemispherx's lead compounds, Ampligen at the 18th Conference of the Japanese Society of Vaccinology, Sapporo, Japan on September 26 and 27, 2009.



Source - Google Health News:


Single swine flu jab protects children; Single rabies vax shot ...
FierceVaccines
The new flu vaccine has proven surprisingly effective in guarding children as young as 10 from swine flu after a single shot. ...

Cancer Vaccine Shows Improved Results With Vical Additive
Wall Street Journal
It is also developing a vaccine for the H5N1 avian flu. In the cancer studies, data from which are being presented at a forum in Boston, a low dose showed ...
XOMA to Develop Therapeutic Antibody for H1N1 and H5N1 Influenza ...
GlobeNewsWire (press release)
Because the region undergoes less structural change due to mutation or reassortment than vaccine targets, an antibody that binds to it could potentially be ...



Source - Medical News Today:



In Thailand Clinical Study, HIV Vaccine Regimen Demonstrates Modest Preventive Effect
In an encouraging development, an investigational vaccine regimen has been shown to be well-tolerated and to have a modest effect in preventing HIV infection in a clinical trial involving more than 16,000 adult participants in Thailand. Following a final analysis of the trial data, the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, the trial sponsor, has announced that the prime-boost investigational vaccine regimen was safe and 31 percent effective in preventing HIV infection. "These new findings represent an important step forward in HIV vaccine research," says Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the NIH, which provided major funding and other support for the study. "For the first time, an investigational HIV vaccine has demonstrated some ability to prevent HIV infection among vaccinated individuals. Additional research is needed to better understand how this vaccine regimen reduced the risk of HIV infection, but certainly this is an encouraging advance for the HIV vaccine field.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/165277.php

Is Inhaled Insulin Delivery Still A Possibility? Why Has It Been A Commercial Failure?
The commercial failure of Exubera® (Pfizer, New York, NY), the first inhaled insulin product to come to market, led other companies such as Eli Lilly-Alkermes to halt studies of similar drug delivery in development intended to compete for a share of the lucrative diabetes market. Does this signal defeat for efforts to deliver insulin via the lungs? The science and circumstances behind the Lilly-Alkermes decision to discontinue trials of the AIR® inhaled insulin product are explored in a special supplement to Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The supplement is available free online athttp:// www.liebertpub.com/dia The supplement presents the data on AIR inhaled insulin that has been made available by Eli Lilly (Indianapolis, IN) and Alkermes (Cambridge, MA), co-developers of the drug. Eight articles describe various protocols in which the effectiveness and safety of AIR were compared to traditional insulin injections in patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. These studies represent noninferiority trials, in which AIR was evaluated for its potential to be at least as safe and effective as subcutaneous (SC) insulin across a range of parameters.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/165093.php

Drug Might Slow Parkinson's Disease Progression
Following one of the largest studies ever conducted in Parkinson's disease (PD), researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine report in The New England Journal of Medicine that rasagiline, a drug currently used to treat the symptoms of PD, may also slow the rate of disease progression. Known as ADAGIO (Attenuation of Disease Progression with Azilect Given Once Daily), the 18-month study used a novel design called the delayed start. In this type of study, patients are randomized to start active treatment early or late, and then researchers look to see if early treatment influences the outcome at final visit when patients in both groups are on the same treatment.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/165022.php



Source - MIT's Technology Review:


A Turning Point for Personal Genomes
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/23522/

A Better Bug for Biofuels
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/23526/