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Largest Lupus Drug Trial Ever Completed Is Successful!
Today, Human Genome Sciences (HGS) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced positive results from a year-long clinical trial of BENLYSTA for treating lupus. When the 52-week study concluded, the lupus patients who were treated with BENLYSTA had improvement in overall disease activity without clinically significant flare-ups in one or more isolated organs when compared to patients who received the placebo (inactive agent). The patients receiving BENLYSTA also were able to reduce their intake of steroid medications. The study is the largest ever to be completed for lupus and the first Phase III (late stage) trial of a new biologic immune therapy for lupus to succeed in meeting its primary endpoint and most of its secondary endpoints.
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Dutch-Style System Would Make Health Funds Compete For Medicare Funding
Australians should be able to receive Medicare-type benefits directly from the private health fund of their choice, according to the authors of an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
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Congress Should Not Restrict Use Of Local Funds For Abortion Funding In D.C., Washington Post Editorial States
During debate on the fiscal year 2010 appropriations bill for Washington, D.C., some House members on Tuesday "are expected to use the opportunity to introduce provisions that limit how the district may use locally derived funds," including funding for abortion services, a Washington Post editorial states. "These efforts are wrong, infringe on the district"s right to self-rule and should be voted down," the editorial adds.According to the editorial, "For years, the district has labored under a provision that prevents it from using local tax dollars to fund or subsidize abortion services." The editorial notes that the "Hyde Amendment already forbids state and local jurisdictions from using federal money for abortion services, but it does not restrict these entities from using local tax dollars."A House subcommittee last month approved $768 million in federal funds for D.C., but Rep. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.) -- chair of the subcommittee -- "stripped the abortion provision from the appropriations bill," according to the editorial. It continues that this version of the bill is "now before the full House Appropriations Committee," and "[s]ome abortion foes in the House plan to reintroduce the abortion-funding restriction."The editorial states, "Federal lawmakers have the right to seek limits on how federal money is used, but not to impose those same limits on states." It concludes that D.C. "should be treated with the same respect afforded every other sovereign jurisdiction in the country" (Washington Post, 7/7).
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Traumatic Brain Injury Treated By Alzheimer's Disease Drug

The destructive cellular pathways activated in Alzheimer"s disease are also triggered following traumatic brain injury, say researchers from Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC). They say this finding suggests that novel therapy might successfully target both conditions. In an oral presentation at the Alzheimer"s Association 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer"s Disease, the scientists showed that deactivating these pathways in part by using a gamma secretase inhibitor - a class of Alzheimer"s disease drugs currently being tested - reduced loss of neurons in animal models of traumatic brain injury and protected the animals against motor and cognitive deficits. "The goal for both diseases is to prevent neuronal cell death, and this study suggests that one therapy could possibly work for both," says the study"s lead author, neuroscientist Mark Burns, PhD, an assistant professor at GUMC. Both disorders are associated with build-up of beta amyloid, a toxic brain peptide. This substance is commonly found in the brains of elderly patients who died from Alzheimer"s disease, but has also been found in a third of traumatic brain injury victims, some of whom are children, Burns says. It is also known that people who experience such a brain injury have a 400 percent increased risk of developing Alzheimer"s disease. Burns says that buildup of beta amyloid occurs in a second wave of damage that follows immediate "necrotic" death of nerve cells after traumatic brain injury. This secondary injury can last months, if not years, resulting in large holes within brain tissue. Amyloid peptides are produced when a long brain protein known as the amyloid precursor protein (APP) is cut in two by the enzyme beta secretase, and then cut once again by a second enzyme known as gamma secretase. Agents that inhibit the activity of gamma secretase are now being studied as treatment for Alzheimer"s disease. In this study, researchers used mice that were either treated with DAPT, an experimental gamma secretase inhibitor, or mice which were "BACE knock-outs" - so called because they were genetically altered in such a way that they could not produce beta secretase. In unaltered and untreated "normal" mice, brain injury resulted in a rapid accumulation of beta amyloid, along with cognitive and motor deficits. But DAPT and BACE knock-out mice had brain lesions that were as much as 70 percent smaller than control animals and they experienced minimal impairment. The findings further cement the connection between Alzheimer"s disease and traumatic brain injury, Burns says, and show that "modulation of beta and gamma secretase may provide novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of traumatic brain injury." The study was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health and by the Klingel Family Foundation. The scientists report no potential financial conflicts in this research. Georgetown University has filed a patent application for the technology involved in this research. Karen Mallet Georgetown University Medical Center


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