"Health News - Medicine, Diet and Fitness"

PITTSBURGH, October 02, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Mylan Inc. today announced the appointment of John Montgomery to the position of President, Asia Pacific following the completion of Mylan’s acquisition of Merck’s Generics Group today.

Mr. Montgomery has worked for over 30 years in the pharmaceuticals industry and has extensive experience in both patented and generics pharmaceutical products in the UK, U.S. and Asia Pacific regions. At Merck Generics, he served as Regional Director, Asia Pacific, and CEO of Alphapharm, Merck Generic’s business in Australia and the country’s leading pharmaceutical company as measured by prescriptions. Prior to joining Merck, he spent 18 years with Warner Lambert in the UK, U.S. and Australia in roles including Business Director, Europe; Vice President, Cardiovascular; Vice President of Portfolio Management for North America; and Regional President Australia/New Zealand. He served five years as Chairman of the Generic Medicines Industry Association (GMiA) in Australia.

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CARLSBAD, Calif., October 02, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that it has received clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act for its collaboration with Ortho-McNeil, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, which was announced on September 13, 2007.

As part of the collaboration, Isis is granting to Ortho-McNeil worldwide development and commercialization rights to two of its diabetes drugs, ISIS 325568 and ISIS 377131, which selectively inhibit the production of glucagon receptor (GCGR) and glucocorticoid receptor (GCCR), respectively. Additionally, Ortho-McNeil will provide funding to Isis to support the joint discovery of novel drugs to treat metabolic diseases, including diabetes and obesity.

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SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 2 — Many patients with the intersex syndrome of complete androgen insensitivity can safely delay gonadectomy and vaginal reconstruction at least until late adolescence, suggests a long-term study. Action Points
Explain to interested patients that this study found that people with the intersex syndrome of complete androgen insensitivity can safely delay decisions about orchiectomy and vaginal reconstruction.

This study was published as an abstract and presented orally at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary as they have not yet been reviewed and published in a peer-reviewed publication.

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ISIS 325568 is an Antisense Drug Targeting Glucagon Receptor for Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes

CARLSBAD, Calif., October 02, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today it has earned $5 million from Ortho-McNeil, Inc. (OMI), a Johnson & Johnson company, for achieving the first development milestone of initializing the Phase 1 clinical trial of ISIS 325568.

The collaboration between Isis and OMI, announced on September 13, 2007, includes the licensing of two second-generation antisense drugs, ISIS 325568 and ISIS 377131, both of which represent novel approaches for the treatment of metabolic disease. ISIS 325568 was designed to selectively inhibit the production of glucagon receptor and has demonstrated improved glucose control in animal models of Type 2 diabetes.

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Direct NMR analysis of cannabis water extracts and tinctures and semi-quantitative data on Delta(9)-THC and Delta(9)-THC-acid.: Phytochemistry. 2007 Oct 25; Politi M, Peschel W, Wilson N, Zloh M, Prieto JM, Heinrich M

Cannabis sativa L. is the source for a whole series of chemically diverse bioactive compounds that are currently under intensive pharmaceutical investigation. In this work, hot and cold water extracts as well as ethanol/water mixtures (tinctures) of cannabis were compared in order to better understand how these extracts differ in their overall composition. NMR analysis and in vitro cell assays of crude extracts and fractions were performed. Manufacturing procedures to produce natural remedies can strongly affect the final composition of the herbal medicines. Temperature and polarity of the solvents used for the extraction resulted to be two factors that affect the total amount of Delta(9)-THC in the extracts and its relative quantity with respect to Delta(9)-THC-acid and other metabolites. Diffusion-edited (1)H NMR (1D DOSY) and (1)H NMR with suppression of the ethanol and water signals were used. With this method it was possible, without any evaporation or separation step, to distinguish between tinctures from different cannabis cultivars. This approach is proposed as a direct analysis of plant tinctures.

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Biotransformation of Green Tea Polyphenols and the Biological Activities of Those Metabolites.: Mol Pharm. 2007 Oct 27; Authors: Lambert JD, Sang S, Yang CS

Green tea ( Camellia sinensis, Theaceae) and its major polyphenol constituents, the catechins, have been reported to have many Men’s health benefits including the prevention of cancer and heart disease. Many mechanisms of action have been proposed based on in vitro models; however, the importance of most of these mechanisms remains to be determined in vivo. The bioavailability and biotransformation of tea catechins play a key role in determining the importance of various mechanisms in vivo. Likewise, the biological activity and bioavailability of tea catechin metabolites, an understudied area, are important in understanding the potential beneficial effects of tea. In this article, we review the data available on the biotransformation of the tea catechins and the limited data set available on the biological activities of the catechin metabolites. Careful interpretation of available data, carefully designed animal experiments, and integration of bioavailability and biological activity data are needed if the disease preventive activity of tea is to be understood. We hope this article will spark research efforts on some of the important questions regarding tea polyphenol bioavailability, biotransformation, and the biological activities of tea catechin metabolites.

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The role of alkamides as an active principle of echinacea.: Planta Med. 2007 Jun;73(7):615-23 Authors: Woelkart K, Bauer R

Alkamides are the major lipophilic constituents of ECHINACEA preparations, which are widely used in some European countries and in North America for common colds. In earlier investigations they have been shown to possess stimulatory effects on phagocytosis. Recent experiments have demonstrated that alkamides are detectable in human blood in relevant concentrations after oral administration of Echinacea preparations. Alkamides show structural similarity with anandamide, an endogenous ligand of cannabinoid receptors. Consequently, it was found that alkamides bind significantly to CB (2) receptors, which is now considered as a possible molecular mode of action of Echinacea alkamides as immunomodulatory agents. It was also demonstrated recently in several studies that alkamide-containing Echinacea preparations trigger effects on the pro-inflammatory cytokines. They were therefore suggested as a new class of cannabinomimetics. However, the therapeutic relevance of these findings is still not clear as clinical studies on the common cold show contradictory results. Among the many pharmacological properties reported, investigations concerning herb-drug interactions have been neglected for a long time. Latest research concludes that prolonged use of Echinacea poses a minimal risk for co-medications metabolized by the P450 enzymes.

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