MATURE MARKET HEADLINES 10/25/2000
Bio-Tech Joint Venture to Fight Aging
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has recently signed a Material Supply
and Collaboration Agreement with the San Francisco based biotechnology company, Geron Corporation. The collaboration will focus on the discovery of drug leads for cancer and age-related diseases using Geron's proprietary telomerase technology platform.
The University's Biotechnology Research Institute (BRI) will support and conduct the research aspects of the collaboration. This collaboration marks a strong marriage between two complementary technologies. "BRI has strategically partnered with Geron in order to utilize the University's existing state-of-the-art drug screening capabilities to focus on the identification of small molecule modulators of telomerase that possess the potential for commercial drug development. Such a drug could well prove to be a blockbuster therapeutic in making a significant contribution to global healthcare," said Professor Nancy Ip, Director of BRI.
As cells age, the DNA sequences at the ends of each chromosome become shorter with every cellular division, a phenomenon known as telomere shortening. Scientists have shown that this phenomenon can be attributed to a loss of telomerase activity. In comparison, cancer cells do not experience a telomere shortening because they possess high levels of telomerase activity. In this light, the ability to modulate telomerase activity would have enormous applications for treating cancers and other age-related disease.
Under the agreement, HKUST is granted a non-exclusive technology transfer of Geron's proprietary methodology for the identification of telomerase activity in various biological samples. In addition to upfront fees to support the research activities of the collaboration, Geron will pay HKUST undisclosed milestone and royalty payments based upon the successful development and commercialization of drugs in the field of telomerase therapeutics as well as another undisclosed application.
The Biotechnology Research Institute identifies and engages in biotechnology opportunities that promise to
impact the development of a local biotechnology industry. Geron is a biopharmaceutical company with a market capitalization approaching US$ 700 million. The Company's research and development efforts are directed at the commercial development of therapeutic and diagnostic products for applications in oncology, drug discovery, and regenerative medicine.
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Florida's Prescription Drug Affordability Act
Governor Jeb Bush has unveiled a statewide public awareness program to inform seniors about Florida's new Prescription Drug Affordability Act. "Our administration is committed to making sure all seniors are aware of the
prescription drug benefit passed by the Legislature," said Governor Bush. "We need to do a better job getting the message out so that not one senior overpays for their prescription drugs."
Governor Bush signed SB 940, the "Prescription Drug Affordability Act for Seniors," earlier this Summer. The law requires pharmacies that participate in Medicaid to provide discount drug pricing to all Medicare beneficiaries who are Florida residents resulting in an average savings of up to ten percent per prescription, brand name or generic.
As part of the public awareness campaign, copies of an informational brochure along with posters will be sent to senior centers, retirement homes, doctors' offices, pharmacies and area agencies on aging. A thirty-second public service announcement will also be aired beginning the third week in November on television stations throughout the state informing seniors about the discount program.
The law also established a program to provide prescription drug coverage to certain low-income elderly who are dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare. Residents 65 and over with an income between 90 and 120 percent of the federal poverty level will receive monthly cash benefits for prescription drugs of up to $80. This portion of the law will take effect January 1, 2001.
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Flu Epidemic Threatens Nation's Elderly
A flu epidemic sweeps the country every winter in the U.S. and is responsible for killing on average 20,000 Americans, most of them over age 65. While 63 percent of seniors receive the flu shot, millions more remain unprotected. Pneumococcal disease, a common cause of pneumonia, kills more than 10,000 Americans each year, many of them age 65 and older.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is recommending that vaccination efforts should focus on persons at high risk of complications associated with influenza disease, including those over 65. "This year, because of the delay in flu vaccine availability, it is especially important for older Americans to begin now to make extra efforts to obtain their flu shots," said U.S. Health and Human Service Secretary, Donna E. Shalala.
"Everyone who comes in contact with senior citizens, whether a relative, doctor, pharmacist or other health care provider, should take the opportunity to remind them that flu shots are important and to make sure they have been vaccinated against pneumococcal disease. These shots are often free for Medicare beneficiaries and are life saving."
Medicare coverage for flu shots for the elderly began in 1993. The shots are free for those enrolled in Medicare Part B from physicians who accept Medicare payment as full payment. Medicare also covers vaccinations against pneumonia. A beneficiary who has not previously received the pneumococcal vaccine can obtain it the same time as the flu shot.
"People age 65 and over are more likely to get flu or pneumonia and to experience serious complications. That's why we're reaching out to remind beneficiaries that it's important to get their shots now and that they are covered by Medicare", says Michael Hash, Health Care Financing Administration.
For more information about receiving a flu shot covered by Medicare, call toll-free 1-800-633-4227.
For more information about influenza disease and CDC's recommendations for influenza vaccination, call the CDC National Immunization Information Hotline at 1-800-232-2522 (English) or 1-800-232-0233 (Spanish).
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New Pap Test Cancer Risk Biomarker
A UT Southwestern Medical Center study proves that a recently developed fluid-based Pap test offers a relatively simple way for molecular changes in cell samples to be analyzed. This process could lead to the development of biomarkers identifying women at risk for cervical cancer.
The UT Southwestern team reported that using the "ThinPrep Pap test" could allow researchers to discover the risk-assessment biomarkers. "Our study shows that it is possible to conduct multiple molecular analyses of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), RNA (ribonucleic acid) and protein levels of bits of cells from the cervical area using the leftover cells from the widely used, simple-to-perform fluid-based ThinPrep Pap test," said Dr. Carolyn Muller, the lead UT researcher.
Muller said that over the past few years, physicians have been moving toward use of the ThinPrep Pap test for primary cervical-cancer screening because of its decreased false-negative rate. Muller said that one of the reasons the ThinPrep Pap is ideal for attempting to find risk-assessment biomarkers is that its alcohol-based liquid can maintain the integrity of the various protein specimens while preserving them. Also, only a fraction of the sample is used for the clinical Pap smear, allowing for further testing of the sample, she said.
The study appeared in the August issue of the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Other UT Southwestern researchers in the study were Dr. W. Michael Lin, obstetrics and gynecology fellow; Dr. Adi Gazdar, professor of pathology ; Dr. Anirban Maitra, pathology resident; and Eugenia Michalopulos, research assistant in the Nancy B. and Jake L. Hamon Center for Therapeutic Oncology Research.
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Elder Racial and Ethnic Minority Health
One million dollars in grants has been awarded by the U.S. Administration on Aging (AoA) to four community coalitions that serve older members of racial and ethnic minority populations. The grants are intended to develop initiatives that eliminate the high rates of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and increase
the rates of adult immunizations in older minority and ethnic groups.
Spearheaded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the new initiative targets the African American, American Indian, Alaska Native, Hispanic American, Asian American, and Pacific Islander populations. "We know that chronic diseases such as diabetes are at epidemic levels among older Native Americans and that cardiovascular disease, our nation’s leading cause of death, occurs most often among older minority and ethnic populations", says AoA's Dr. Takamura. "We know too that while vaccines are covered by Medicare, less than half of older African Americans and Hispanics receive life-saving vaccinations."
AoA’s demonstration projects will develop culturally sensitive community-based health promotion and disease prevention programs to reduce health disparities experienced by aging minority groups by identifying culturally appropriate prevention activities, encouraging healthy lifestyles through cultural practices and diets, increasing access to medical and health interventions.
The four community programs will educate elderly:
- African Americans about diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and immunizations;
- Latinos about cardiovascular disease and late on-set diabetes;
- Indian and Alaska Native populations on prevention of diabetes;
- S.E. Asian and Pacific elders on cardiovascular disease, diabetes and immunizations.
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Use It or Lose It: How to Keep Your Brain Fit as it Ages
"Use It or Lose It" is a new book developed by Allen D. Bragdon and David Gamon of the Brainwaves Center. Based on the latest published research in the neurosciences, this absolutely fascinating resource offers readers mind maintenance techniques, exercises that build skills, and tests of mental acuity. A highly informative, useful, and fun resource for keeping your brain fit as it ages.
What makes this book stand out is a powerful combination of two simple elements. First, it reveals otherwise inaccessible results of current brain research so a layperson can apply valuable findings in the real world to improve thinking and memory skills. Second, the book is designed with puzzles, games, and self-tests based on results of current cognitive research. The book's brain exercises stimulate and renew a wide range of mental abilities, from memory to map-reading.
Chapter One offers a series of tests of mental acuity helping the reader determine if a problem exists. Chapter Two reviews normal age-related declines, then offers techniques for sharpening your memory. Chapter Three introduces the reader to the many sources of cognitive problems such as depression, mini-strokes, medication, social isolation, alcohol, and lifestyles without challenges. Chapter Four explains recent advances in brain research and offers practical applications for reversing or minimizing age-related declines. Chapter Five concludes with easy to follow brain exercises that target specific brain functions that often become problematic with advanced age.
The Brainwaves Center suggests these five age-graded steps to keep your mental equipment operating up to specs as your brain grows old, gracefully, along with the rest of you.
- 10 years old
Establishing early mental habits that become natural ways of thinking correlate with presence or absence of dementia in senior years. Try to figure out WHY things happen, just for the fun of it, not just WHAT is happening and whether it affects you personally.
- 25 years old
When you read an article imagine that, later, you will have to express your opinion to someone else on what you have learned in it. 80% of the neurons that fire when you do something physically also fire when you imagine doing it.
- 38 years old
Puzzles and games that require you to reach back for facts and manipulate them is great for keeping your wits about you. A brain-exercise technique that pays off both short-and long-term is to concentrate closely on what another person is saying to you. It builds "concentration power".
- 52 years old
The brain moves resources around all the time. The brain recruits circuits for each task it has to accomplish. Disuse of brain circuits breaks up this ability. So keep challenging your mind. Even if some brain cells are lost over time, the remaining cells will serve you well by working harder.
- 65 years old
Your brain works best when you have a lot of new things to learn. In the later years, people are not compelled to learn as much new stuff. So the brain's capacity withers. Here's a brain renewal technique. Every day, take on as many new challenges as you can. An active mind keeps you sharp.
There you have it. So, STOP worrying about your memory, and START doing something constructive about keeping your mind active and alert. "Use It or Lose It" is available in bookstores now. 128 pages. October 2000. $9.95. Allen D. Bragdon Publishers Inc, South Yarmouth, MA. "People learn best when the experience is practical, inspirational, and fun. Use It or Lose It scores an educational bull's eye on each of those counts." AgeVenture News Service.
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Heart Disease Risk Reduced by Vitamin E
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have found that a high intake of the antioxidant vitamin E reduces levels of a predictor of cardiovascular disease called C-reactive protein, or CRP. The American Diabetes Association funded the study.
The study subjects were divided into three groups: those with type II diabetes and heart disease, those with type II diabetes without heart disease, and normal controls. Each person in each group was given 1,200 International Units of natural vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) daily for three months.
The researchers measured each person's CRP levels before and after supplementation and two months after the vitamin E therapy had ended. They found that vitamin E supplementation lowered levels of CRP by 30 percent in all three groups. Levels of the monocyte interleukin-6, which elicits the secretion of CRP from the liver, were decreased an average of 50 percent in all groups.
"This study shows that vitamin E lowers CRP significantly in both diabetics and nondiabetics. The research suggests that vitamin E could be an additional therapy in our quest to reduce cardiovascular disease," said Jialal, the principal investigator of the study. Type II diabetes is the most common form of diabetes, and it accounts for 90 percent to 95 percent of diabetes. Heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of death and morbidity in type II diabetics.
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Head Injuries Linked to Alzheimer Risk
A new analysis of head injuries among World War II veterans links serious head injury in early adulthood with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in later life. The study, by researchers at Duke University and the National Institute on
Aging (NIA), also suggests that the more severe the head injury, the greater the risk of developing AD.
The researchers studied military medical records of male Navy and Marine World War II veterans who were hospitalized during their period of service with a diagnosis of head injury or an unrelated condition. A specially trained team evaluated the records of both head injury and its severity. Mild injury involved loss of consciousness or post-traumatic amnesia for less than 30 minutes with no skull fracture, moderate injury involved loss of consciousness or post-traumatic amnesia for more than 30 minutes but less than 24 hours, and/or a skull fracture, and severe injury was loss of consciousness or post-traumatic amnesia for 24 or more hours.
Using a three-stage screening and assessment process, the scientists then identified the aged veterans with dementia. They also determined whether the veterans had Alzheimer’s disease specifically or another type of dementia. The researchers then compared the number of veterans with AD or other dementias in the group who had suffered a head injury to those in the group with no head injury. The risk of AD and dementia was increased about two-fold among all those with moderate head injury. And risk of AD increased with the severity of the injury. Those with head injuries categorized as severe had a four-fold greater risk.
Researchers caution that the new findings do not demonstrate a direct cause-and-effect relationship between head injury in early life and the development of dementia, but rather show an association between the two that needs to be studied further. An estimated 2 million individuals per year suffer a significant head injury in the U.S. An estimated 4 million Americans currently have AD. For more information, contact the Alzheimer Information Line: 1-800-438-4380.
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