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As They Debate Health Overhaul, Politicians Keep Eye On 2010
"Fifteen months before the midterm congressional election, health care is appearing in candidate stump speeches and interviews - particularly by Republican challengerṣ€¦ running in districts recently claimed by Democrats," USA Today reports. "That dynamic helps explain why a $1 trillion-plus health care bill stalled last week in Congress. ̣€¦ Obama has said he wants lawmakers to finish health care by the end of the year, in part because it could become mired in election-year politics. All 435 members of the House and 36 members of the Senate are up for election in 2010."

Reducing Gasoline Emissions Will Benefit Human Health
President Barack Obama and Energy Secretary Steve Chu are consistent in their message that when it comes to transportation fuels, carbon-neutral biofuels as an alternative to gasoline are coming. While the focus of a shift from gasoline to biofuels has been on global warming, such a shift could also impact human health. A grant from the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) has produced a novel and comprehensive "Life Cycle Impact Assessment" to measure the benefits on human health that might result from a switch to biofuels. Although there are a number of uncertainties that must be addressed for a more accurate picture, these early results show that a biofuel eliminating even 10-percent of current gasoline pollutant emissions would have a substantial impact on human health in this country, especially in urban areas.
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Queensland Researchers Help Unlock Genetic Keys To MS
New genes discovered by Australian and New Zealand researchers may hold the key to new treatments for people with multiple sclerosis (MS).
Nutrition

ARYx Therapeutics Inc. Updates Progress With Tecarfarin EmbraceAC Study

ARYx Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:ARYX), a biopharmaceutical company, announced today that the database for the EmbraceAC study has been locked and the study remains on schedule, with the efficacy and safety results to be available during the week of July 6, 2009. The study was designed to compare its oral anticoagulation therapy, tecarfarin (previously ATI-5923), against the leading anticoagulant agent, warfarin. The purpose of the trial is to evaluate whether tecarfarin is superior to warfarin in its ability to maintain patients within a target therapeutic range of the level of anticoagulation as measured by INR (International Normalized Ratio). Based upon recent interactions with the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), ARYx believes this trial could be positioned as one of the required registration studies for tecarfarin. The raw data, containing both the efficacy and safety results, will now be transferred to independent statisticians who will create the tables and listings according to the previously adopted statistical analysis plan. This plan has been reviewed by the FDA. The results from the study will remain blinded to ARYx until just prior to their public release. The trial of approximately 600 patients is a randomized, double blind, parallel group, active control study comparing tecarfarin with warfarin in patients who require chronic, oral anticoagulation. All patients in the study were treated for a minimum of six months and required anticoagulation therapy to avoid serious blood clotting resulting from their underlying condition. This includes patients with atrial fibrillation; an implanted prosthetic heart valve; a history of venous thromboembolic disease; a history of myocardial infarction or cardiomyopathy; or another indication for which they are currently receiving chronic warfarin therapy. The same target therapeutic range of INR has been applied for patients receiving warfarin therapy as those administered tecarfarin. The primary endpoint of the trial is to demonstrate that patients are maintained within the target INR range a higher percentage of the time when treated with tecarfarin than with warfarin. For more information, go here.. About Tecarfarin Tecarfarin (previously ATI-5923) is modeled on the drug warfarin as an oral anticoagulation therapy for patients who are in danger of forming life-threatening blood clots as a result of atrial fibrillation, prosthetic heart valve replacement or venous thromboembolism. There are at least an estimated 3.5 million patients requiring anticoagulation therapy in the United States alone. Patients with implanted mechanical heart valves are also amongst those requiring anticoagulation therapy. Tecarfarin, like warfarin, is a selective inhibitor of VKOR, or vitamin K epoxide reductase enzyme, and has the same mechanism of anticoagulation action as warfarin. Unlike warfarin, which is dependent upon cytochrome P450 enzymes for metabolism, tecarfarin was designed to avoid drug-drug interactions through its alternative metabolic pathway. ARYx believes the avoidance of cytochrome P450 metabolism will cause the dosing and response to tecarfarin to be more predictable than with warfarin, avoiding the dangers of over-or-under therapeutic anticoagulation long associated with that therapy. ARYx Therapeutics, Inc.


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