Father of Jamie Inglis to be stem cells donor 9:37am Saturday 28th July 2012 in News By Kate Liptrot, kate.liptrot@thepress.co.uk THE father of a six-year-old boy bravely fighting cancer is likely to be a stem cell donor for medical treatment which could potentially save his life. Jamie Inglis has a 75 per cent chance of survival if he successfully goes through a clinical trial in Germany, according to his oncologist at Leeds General Infirmary, an expert on neuroblastoma. This form of cancer is so aggressive that treatment in the UK is inadequate and will prolong Jamies life only for months, so his family are in the process of raising 250,000 to fund the treatment. They have currently raised about 80,000. Jamies parents, John and Vicky, of Kelfield, near Selby , have been tested to see who would be the most appropriate donor. John has been chosen by the experts because he has the best properties to assist Jamies immune system, which does not recognise cancer cells. He is due to travel to Germany in early August, when he will have tests to detect any defects and to clarify that he can definitely be a donor. Mr Inglis said: We are … Continue reading →

Stem cells for neck injury: $20 million July 27th, 2012, 3:45 pm posted by Pat Brennan, science, environment editor Human neural stem cell. Image courtesy StemCells Inc. The states stem-cell institute has awarded $20 million to UC Irvine researchers, along with a private company, to prepare the way for human testing of a treatment for spinal-cord injuries in the neck region one that could restore movement and independence for some of the 1.3 million spinal-cord injury sufferers in the United States. The treatment, developed by the husband and wife research team, Aileen Anderson and Brian Cummings, along with StemCells Inc. of Newark, Ca., would involve injecting versatile human neural stem cells into the neck area. The cells, capable of transforming themselves based on cues from the body, could then migrate to the injured area and perhaps repair the protective sheaths, known as myelin, around nerve cells. If the treatment works as expected, it would restore movement and body control for patients with debilitating injuries. While the treatment has the potential to allow the paralyzed to walk again, more modest gains are more likely and well worth the effort, Anderson said Friday. UC Irvine husband-wife research team, Brian Cummings and Aileen … Continue reading →

irishtimes.com - Last Updated: Friday, July 27, 2012, 10:08 Irish drug company Amarin has won US approval for its first drug, a treatment to help combat high levels of blood fat that can lead to stroke and heart attack. The Food and Drug Administration last night cleared Vascepa as an adjunct to diet for a condition known as very high triglycerides, the company said in a statement. The medication will compete with GlaxoSmithKline's Lovaza. Amarin anticipates starting sales in the first quarter of 2013, chief executive Joseph Zakrzewski said in the statement. Vascepa may have an advantage because it doesn't raise bad cholesterol levels, a possible side effect for Lovaza, Jon Lecroy, an analyst with MKM Partners in Stamford, Connecticut, said in an interview. Amarin's drug has the potential to reach sales of $1.25 billion in 2017, which may lead to acquisition offers for the Dublin-based company from drugmakers including AstraZeneca, Mr Lecroy said ahead of the approval. "There will be interest from large pharmaceutical companies," Mr Lecroy said. "Any company with a large cardiovascular or diabetes sales force makes sense. That's almost any." AstraZeneca, based in London, may be an option because of its best-selling cholesterol medication Crestor, Lecroy … Continue reading →

A trip to China this spring to work out some of his physical disabilities due to a stroke was deemed a success by Marshalltown's Gary Septer. Septer spent 90 days in Tianjin, China, where he received acupuncture, aroma therapy, herbal soaks, electronic stimulation and other methods used by Chinese doctors to help stroke victims regain strength. Septer, 64, got some movement back in his right hand but not his right arm and got more feeling back in his arms and legs. "It went surprisingly good," Septer said. "The whole staff and all the doctors make you feel really welcome." They also put him on a diet where he was able to get off his diabetes and blood pressure medication. He spent his first six weeks in the hospital before he was finally given a chance to experience the sites of China. "They loaded us up one Sunday and took us to The Great Wall," Septer said. Gary said the doctors in China were looking to heal the whole person. "They don't just treat the symptoms," he said. When he returned in the spring he did suffer one setback - a bout with pneumonia one day after he was back in … Continue reading →

Reading Eagle The Pennsylvania Primary Stroke Center Recognition Act goes into effect today and to mark the occasion St. Joseph Medical Center officials Friday demonstrated new technology being used to treat stroke victims. The act, co-sponsored by State Rep. Thomas R. Caltagirone, a Reading Democrat, establishes a statewide network of certified primary stroke centers. It also calls for local emergency personnel to develop protocols so that stroke patients can immediately be taken to the nearest primary stroke center. Both St. Joseph and Reading Hospital are designated primary stroke centers in Berks County. "The act will assure that patients experiencing stroke symptoms will be quickly identified and transported to facilities that ensure the rapid triage, diagnostic evaluation and treatment of patients suffering a stroke," said Michael A. Jupina, vice president of marketing and communications at St. Joseph. In addition to recognizing Caltagirone for his work on passing the bill, staff of St. Joseph and Hershey Medical Center demonstrated LionNet, a system that uses real-time remote audio-visual technology to conduct consults with stroke neurologists or neurosurgeons from the Hershey hospital. Continued here: Hospital demonstrates stroke treatment system … Continue reading →

EXTON, Pa., July 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --ViroPharma Incorporated (VPHM) today announced the publication of data demonstrating that routine prophylactic use of Cinryze (C1 esterase inhibitor [human]) provided effectiveness and maintained a generally favorable safety profile in the majority of treated subjects with hereditary angioedema (HAE). HAE is a rare, severely debilitating, life-threatening genetic disorder caused by a deficiency of a human plasma protein called C1 inhibitor. The paper entitled Safety and Efficacy of Prophylactic Nanofiltered C1-inhibitor in Hereditary Angioedema by Drs. Bruce L. Zuraw and Ira N. Kalfus describes the maintenance of effectiveness and the safety profile of Cinryze as continuing prophylactic therapy in a large cohort of subjects with HAE. These data have been published in the July 14th online edition of The American Journal of Medicine (AJM). The company expects the data to appear in the September print issue. According to the publication, subjects were to be treated with Cinryze 1000 units every 3 to 7 days based on the decision of the investigator; subjects in the study experienced a 93.7 percent reduction in attacks while taking prophylactic Cinryze (median of 0.19 attacks per month) compared with the median historical rate at baseline (3 attacks per month). Some … Continue reading →