February 29, 2008

• Actelion And Nippon Shinyaku To Collaborate On Novel PAH Compound
  (Actelion) -- NS-304, originally discovered and synthesized by Nippon Shinyaku, is an orally available long acting prostaglandin I2 (PGI-2) receptor agonist, which stimulates PGI-2 receptors in blood vessels and exerts vasodilating effects. NS-304 has major potential as a novel treatment of PAH.
  

• Brave Barbara's Battle
  (Melton Times) -- A woman with a rare incurable disease is highlighting the difficulties faced by sufferers.
  

• Google Reveals Plans For Health Database
  (Financial Times) -- Google on Thursday laid out plans for one of its most anticipated new services, a digital health records system meant to give users more control over their personal healthcare.
  

• Heart-Transplant Survival Better At Busier Hospital
  (Columbus Dispatch) -- In an analysis of seven years of data from the United Network for Organ Sharing, which oversees organ donations in the United States, researchers found that patients have better outcomes at hospitals that perform at least 14 heart transplants a year.
  

• Mycophenolate Mofetil Useful For Scleroderma-Associated Interstitial Lung Disease
  (Medicexchange.com) -- "MMF is a promising drug for the treatment of scleroderma-related ILD," Dr. Anthony J. Gerbino from Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, told Reuters Health. "It requires further study to know how effective it truly is, but in individual cases it is a reasonable alternative to cyclophosphamide."
  

• Extreme Makeover Planned For Flu Vaccine
  (MedPage Today) -- Next season's influenza vaccine recipe is set for a complete overhaul, but a CDC official downplayed speculation that delays or shortages could result.
  

• The Role Of Statins In Treating Pulmonary Hypertension
  (Medscape) -- What is the role of statins in the treatment of pulmonary hypertension (PH)?
  

• FDA Unveils Plan To Boost Oversight Of Drugs Once They Are On Market
  (Wall Street Journal) -- Among other changes, the plan, dubbed "Safety First," involves creating a new database listing possible side effects of drugs, along with clear schedules for following up on questions about them.
  

• When The Body Decides To Stop Following The Rules
  (New York Times) -- Every day over breakfast, I fill three pillboxes. Fifteen pills in the morning, 3 at lunch and 8 before bed, for a total of 26.
  

• Embracing Exercise: Lung Transplant Patient Relishes Second Chance At Life
  (Maryville Daily Times) -- From Monday through Friday, in the Medical Fitness program at Blount Memorial Hospital, you will likely run into Dennis Valenti, a 64-year-old lung transplant recipient who now embraces exercise and his second chance.
  

•   Organ Donations In Hospitals Save Lives
  (The Age) -- Last week was Organ Donor Awareness Week but it seems its impact on the number of donations in hospitals will be negligible. Yet it is the number of organ and tissue donations in our hospitals that drives organ and tissue transplants in this country and saves lives.
  

• The Hypertension Fight Expands
  (Motley Fool) -- Encysive Pharmaceuticals appears to have engineered a sale of itself just in time. Yesterday, the European Union's medical authorities said they had issued a positive opinion that will allow a rival pulmonary arterial hypertension drug onto the market in a few months.
  

• Dong-A PharmTech Co., Ltd. Announces Portal Hypertension Clinical Trial With Udenafil
  (The Earth Times) -- Dong-A PharmTech Co., Ltd. announced today that its European licensee, Dr. Falk Pharma, has initiated a 200 patient, phase 2 proof of concept clinical study to investigate the use of udenafil, a long acting phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor, for portal hypertension, an unmet medical need.
  

• Coping With A Health Crisis, One Click At A Time
  (Newsweek/msnbc) -- Personal patient Web sites transform the experience of illness, users say.
  

• Judge Reviewing Fen-Phen Fund
  (Lexington Herald-Leader) -- McPherson was one of more than two-dozen former clients of suspended attorneys William Gallion, Shirley Cunningham Jr. and Melbourne Mills Jr. to ask Special Judge Roger Crittenden if and how $23.5 million recovered from the settlement will be distributed.
  

• Sarcoidosis And Pulmonary Hypertension
  (Medscape) -- A review of the current data on sarcoidosis and pulmonary hypertension.
  

• Inhaled Iloprost Effective For Some Children With PAH
  (Medscape/Reuters) -- Inhaled iloprost, already approved for adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), also appears effective in the pediatric setting, although treatment can cause severe bronchoconstriction in some young patients.
  

• Bosentan May Offer Modest Benefits For Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
  (Medscape/Reuters) -- Trial results indicate that bosentan does not improve exercise tolerance but may extend survival and improve quality of life.
  

• Pfizer To Acquire Encysive Pharmaceuticals
  (Encysive) -- Pfizer will acquire the rights to THELIN® (sitaxsentan sodium), an oral, once-daily endothelin A receptor antagonist (ETRA) for the treatment of PAH, as well as Encysive's other pipeline candidates.
  

• EU Agency Backs Gilead's Rival Drug To Tracleer
  (Reuters) -- The European Medicines Agency has recommended approval of Gilead Sciences Inc and GlaxoSmithKline Plc's drug ambrisentan, also known by the brand names Volibris and Letairis.
  

• Transplant Recipient Recovering Well, Feeling Grateful For Another Chance
  (Beaverton Valley Times) -- Amelia was diagnosed on her 18th birthday on Feb. 2, 2000, with pulmonary hypertension, a rare blood vessel disorder of the lung in which pressure in the pulmonary artery rises above normal levels. Since that time her condition had progressed, making a heart and lung transplant her only hope for survival.
  

• New Switch Of The Immune Response Discovered
  (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080221101319.htm) -- At the Institut Curie, Inserm researchers, in collaboration with collegues from Dynavax(1), have discovered a new mechanism controlling the choice in humans between two lines of defence in the event of attack.
  

• Curlin Case To Continue March 21
  (CBS) -- A Kentucky circuit court judge granted a continuance on Tuesday to 418 plaintiffs who are seeking control over a 20-percent interest in Curlin, the reigning Horse of the Year, that is currently held by William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham Jr., jailed lawyers who have been ordered to pay the plaintiffs $42 million in connection with a class-action suit over the diet drug fen-phen.
  

• Blacks More Likely To Die Or Be Denied Transplants
  (Spero News) -- “These disparities are consistent with those observed among patients awaiting kidney and liver transplantation and among patients with other advanced lung diseases such as pulmonary arterial hypertension and pulmonary fibrosis,” wrote lead researcher, David Lederer, M.D., M.S., of Columbia University Medical Center.
  

• Narrative Review: The Enigma of PAH: New Insights From Genetic Studies
  (Annals of Internal Medicine) -- Inherited susceptibility to PAH occurs in families and is almost always due to mutations in genes of the TGF-? family of receptors.
  
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• Clinical Trial A Breath Of Fresh Air For Cedar Falls Woman
  (Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier) -- When Lois Rippe agreed in 2003 to take part in a clinical trial for a new medicine to treat the symptoms of pulmonary hypertension she didn't think she'd live to see the end of the experiment.
  

• Teen Awaits Lung Transplant
  (Dubuque Telegraph Herald) -- A rare lung ailment called primary pulmonary hypertension led to Nick's first lung transplant a decade ago.
  

• Prevalence Of HIV-Associated PH Unchanged With HAART
  (Medicexchange) -- The prevalence of HIV-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) hasn't changed much since highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) became available, according to results of a prospective study from France.
  

• Costa Rica's First Heart-Lung Transplant Patient Dies
  (Tico Times) -- Her passing occurred despite successful multiple operations, Hernández said. “The surgery was a success. Mairen was with us one month and during that time she regained consciousness, began eating and breathing by herself. Her heart was working well,” he said.
  

• Where Do The Candidates Stand On Health Care?
  (Washington Post) -- If you're confused on just how the front-runners compare on key health-care issues, you're not alone. Here's some help.
  

• Typical Flu Season Now On Upswing
  (MedPage Today) -- "Seasonal flu activity was slow to start this year, but has increased sharply in recent weeks," said Joe Bresee, M.D., of the CDC's influenza division, during a telephone press conference.

• Sigh Of Relief
  (GoErie.com) -- Erie man with pulmonary hypertension breathes easier with treatment.
  

• La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company Reports Progress In International Phase 3 Riquent® Study
  (Business Wire) -- “We have made tremendous progress toward the completion of enrollment in the Phase 3 study,” said Deirdre Y. Gillespie, M.D., President and CEO of La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company. “We have increased the dose nine-fold and are very encouraged that the data continue to indicate that the 300 mg and 900 mg doses of Riquent are as well tolerated as the 100 mg dose was in our previous studies.”
  

• Restless Legs Syndrome May Cause Heart Problems
  (Caremark/HealthDay News) -- People with restless legs syndrome face twice the risk of a stroke or heart disease compared to people who don't have the neurological condition, a new study suggests.
  

• Sugar Substitutes May Contribute To Weight Gain
  (HealthDay News) -- Purdue researchers report that saccharin altered the ability of rats to control their appetites. However, the head of an artificial sweetener trade group scoffed at the findings, saying they don't necessarily translate to humans.
  

• FDA Gives arGentis Treatment 'Orphan' Designation
  (Memphis Business Journal) -- Memphis-based arGentis Pharmaceuticals LLC's systemic sclerosis, or scleroderma, treatment has been given orphan drug designation by the Food and Drug Administration.
  

• FDA OKs Heart Valve Made From Human Tissue
  (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first replacement heart valve made from donated human tissue in which the cells have been removed.
  

• Kindergartner With Lung Disease Benefits From Therapy At UCLA
  (Newswise) -- “UCLA, and only a few other hospitals in the U.S., are on the forefront of using Tracleer in the younger pediatric population,” Alejos said. “We’ve been using the drug for the past two to three years, and the results have been good, with kids showing definite improvement.”
  

• Breakthrough For Fatal Lung Disease -- In-Depth Doctor's Interview
  (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Michael Kutryk, M.D., explains how using a patient's own cells could potentially repair damage done from pulmonary hypertension.
  

• Impaired Systemic Oxygen Extraction At Maximum Exercise In Pulmonary Hypertension
  (Medscape) -- Is maximum systemic oxygen extraction impaired in pulmonary arterial versus pulmonary venous hypertension, thus contributing to the exercise limit?
  

• Rare Type Of Albinism Linked To Deadly Lung Disease
  (FOXNews) -- Mayra Nieves is used to being ostracized and called names as an albino in this Caribbean community. What she fears is not being able to breathe. Nieves is among hundreds of Puerto Ricans who have a rare type of albinism that leads to a deadly lung disease.
  

• Respiratory Disturbances During Sleep Increase With Age
  (MedPage Today) -- The frequency of breathing irregularities during sleep started to increase after age 50 in completely healthy individuals and rose dramatically after 65, a study found.
  

• Prevalence Of HIV-Associated Pulmonary Hypertension Unchanged With HAART
  (Medicexchange.com/Reuters) -- The prevalence of HIV-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) hasn't changed much since highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) became available, according to results of a prospective study from France.
  

• Study Finds Good Outcomes For Older Lung Transplant Patients
  (EurekAlert) -- A new UCLA Medical Center study shows that select patients age 65 and older can safely undergo lung transplantation and have acceptable outcomes. The findings are reported in the February issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.
  

• New Study Finds Most Organ Transplant Patients Are Unaware Of Their Increased Risk For Skin Cancer
  (FOXBusiness) -- "Educating transplant patients about the risk of skin cancer is essential, but multiple studies have shown that education during their hospital stay is not retained by patients and is not enough to change patient behavior regarding sun protection," said Dr. Youker.
  

• Heart Disease Is A Major Complication Of Lupus
  (Medical News Today) -- Heart disease is a major complication of lupus and is now a leading cause of death among people living with autoimmune disease. Individuals with lupus are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD), which involves hardening of the arteries and can lead to heart attacks or strokes later in life.
  

• Fen-Phen Decision Affirmed By New York Supreme Court
  (Newsinferno.com) -- The New York Supreme Court has affirmed a decision by a New York State Judge to allow the Long Island law firm, Parker Waichman Alonso LLP, to intervene and seek disclosure of documents related to a November 2001 fen-phen settlement.
  

• Fen-Phen Lawyers Appeal Bond
  (Lexington-Herald) -- Lawyers for Melbourne Mills Jr., William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham Jr. filed notice Friday with the federal court in Covington, saying that they plan to ask the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to look at their clients' bond amounts, some of the highest bonds ever set in the federal court in the Eastern District of Kentucky.
  

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