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Clinical Data, Inc. Announces Approval Of Generic Name Vilazodone, First In A New Class Of Experimental Treatments For Depression
Clinical Data, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLDA) announced today that the United States Adopted Name Council (USAN) has approved the generic name vilazodone hydrochloride. Vilazodone, if approved, would represent a first-in-class drug for the treatment of depression, due to its novel dual mechanism of action as both a potent and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and a partial agonist of the 5-hydroxytryptamine 1a (5-HT1A) receptor. Thus, vilazodone combines first-line therapy for depression with 5-HT1A partial agonism, an accepted adjunctive treatment for depression and a first-line therapy for anxiety disorders. Clinical Data has recently completed the second of two positive Phase III registration studies. Results of these studies will form the basis of a new drug application (NDA) that the Company intends to submit with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by the end of 2009.

Micrus Endovascular Announces Positive DeltaPaq Microcoil Study Results
Micrus Endovascular Corporation (NASDAQ:MEND) announced that study results presented recently at the 10th Congress of the World Federation of Interventional and Therapeutic Neuroradiology (WFITN) demonstrated that the DeltaPaq™ microcoil"s proprietary design appears to improve the uniformity of coil distribution within a cerebral aneurysm and the degree of microcoil packing in the aneurysm dome and neck, which may reduce the risk of aneurysm recurrence. Bernard R. Bendok, M.D., Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery and Radiology, Department of Neurological Surgery of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and Matthew Gounis, Ph.D., Director of the New England Center for Stroke Research at the University of Massachusetts, served as principal investigators for the Micrus-sponsored in vitro study.
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PhytoMedical's Anti-Cancer Compound Development Advancing After A Series Of Highly Favorable Test Results
PhytoMedical Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB:PYTO) (FWB:ET6), announced the advancement of their anti-cancer compound research and development. The culmination of a series of favorable test results conducted over several months have allowed the company to justifiably expand their cancer research efforts which includes the designing of an IV formulation of their key compound.
Mental Health

1.02B Chronically Hungry People Worldwide, U.N. Says

For the first time, the number of chronically hungry people worldwide is greater than 1 billion, according to a recent U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) statement, the Financial Times reports (Blas, Financial Times, 6/19). The total number of hungry people is estimated to have reached 1.02 billion - an increase of 11 percent from last year"s 915 million, according to the agency, which based its estimate on analysis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Rizzo, AP/Google.com, 6/20). "The new U.N. assessment signals that the food and economic crisis of the last two years have reversed the past quarter-century"s slow but constant decline in the proportion of undernourished people as a percentage of the world"s population," the Financial Times writes (Financial Times, 6/19). Although food prices are lower than "their mid-2008 highs," they are still "stubbornly high" in some domestic markets, according to the FAO. Jacques Diouf, FAO"s director-general, said regions across the globe "have been affected by the rise of food insecurity" and that "[n]o part of the world is immune." AP/Google.com reports that "Asia and the Pacific has the largest number of hungry people - 642 million, up 10.5 percent from last year. Sub-Saharan Africa registers 265 million undernourished, an 11.8 percent increase. Even in the developed world, undernourishment is a growing concern, with 15 million in all and a 15.4 percent increase, the sharpest rise around the world, FAO said" (AP/Google.com, 6/20). Economic Crisis Perpetuated Hunger Diouf said, "Worsening hunger in the last three years largely stems from economic shocks" and that "[n]either drought, nor floods or disastrous harvests can be held to blame this time" (Xinhuanet, 6/22). He said the world"s food system is "fragile and vulnerable" and that the "situation goes beyond traditional humanitarian dimensions. It calls for a new world food order." Josette Sheeran, the executive director of the World Food Program, said, "Unless world leaders respond by ensuring all people access to adequate and affordable nutrition, we are in danger of losing a generation to malnutrition and despair." Sheeran said hunger can help destabilize countries. "Without food, people have only three options: they riot, they migrate or they die. None of these are acceptable options," she said (DeCapua, VOA News, 6/19). According to AP/Google.com, "The dire figures make it highly unlikely that a goal set by the wealthiest nations to cut hunger in the world in half by 2015 will be met, though officials vow to press world leaders at the Group of Eight summit gathering in Italy next month" (AP/Google.com, 6/20). This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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