Beursonline.nl

aossa 21 oktober 2007 12:33

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Grappig om een PB van Crucell onder "Ad-Hoc SANOFI News" te vinden.

SANOFI NEWS
Crucell discovers human monoclonal antibodies for the prevention and treatment of the avian flu virus. The antibody provides immediate protection and neutralizes the broadest range of H5N1 strains.

etc.

www.ad-hoc-news.de/Aktie/12718062/New...

Soms een nieuwe deal met Sanofi in de maak ?
De anti-bodies zouden immers tesamen met het vaccine kunnen toegediend worden om snel(ler) en betere respons te verkrijgen.

[verwijderd] 22 oktober 2007 15:54

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Merck nettowinst stijgt 62%; verhoogt winstverwachting 2007

AMSTERDAM (Dow Jones)--Merck heeft in het derde kwartaal een 62% hogere nettowinst geboekt, meldt het Amerikaanse farmaceutische concern maandag. De omzet steeg sterk, terwijl de voorraden van de pijnstiller Vioxx sterk daalden.

Het bedrijf verhoogt zijn winstverwachting voor het boekjaar 2007 en rekent nu op een winst tussen $3,08 en $3,14 per aandeel, exclusief reorganisatielasten. Inclusief bijzondere lasten gaat het bedrijf uit van $2,87 tot $2,93 nettowinst per aandeel.

De winstverwachting wordt daarmee voor de vierde keer op rij verhoogd. Een kwartaal eerder mikte Merck nog op $3,00 tot $3,10 winst per aandeel exclusief reorganisatiekosten.

De nettowinst kwam in het afgelopen kwartaal uit op $1,53 miljard, of $0,70 per aandeel, tegen $0,43 per aandeel in dezelfde periode een jaar eerder.

Daarbij is inbegrepen een last van $325 miljoen voor afschrijvingen in verband met de overname van biotechbedrijf NovaCardia inc. Anderzijds is ook een boekwinst meegenomen van $100 miljoen uit de schikking van patentgeschillen.

Merck nam in het afgelopen kwartaal een last van $129 miljoen voor reorganisatiekosten en een voorziening van $70 miljoen voor schadeclaims voor Vioxx.

Dat is aanzienlijk minder dan in het voorgaande jaar, toen in het derde kwartaal bijna $200 miljoen aan reorganisatiekosten werd geboekt, terwijl er voor Vioxx-schadeclaims niet minder dan $598 miljoen werd opzij gezet.

Exclusief bijzonder posten zou de winst per aandeel zijn uitgekomen op $0,75, tegen $0,51 een jaar eerder, bij een omzet die steeg naar $6,07 miljard van $5,41 miljard.

Analisten rekenden gemiddeld op $0,69 winst per aandeel exclusief bijzondere posten, bij een omzet van $6,06 miljard, volgens een steekproef door Thomson Financial.

Merck is bezig zich te herstellen van een aantal tegenvallers. Zo raakte het bedrijf vorig jaar zijn patentbescherming kwijt voor zijn anti-cholesterolmiddel Zocor. In 2004 werd de pijnstiller Vioxx van de markt gehaald om veiligheidsredenen.

Het bedrijf heeft personeel ontslagen en fabrieken gesloten in een poging om $5 miljard te besparen in de periode tot en met 2010. Merck zegt "op koers" te liggen voor zijn doelstelling om tussen 2005 en 2010 een dubbelcijferige jaarlijkse winstgroei te boeken, exclusief eenmalige en reorganisatiekosten.

Door Archie van Riemsdijk, Dow Jones Nieuwsdienst; +31-20-5890270, archie.vanriemsdijk@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 22, 2007 09:48 ET (13:48 GMT)

[verwijderd] 25 oktober 2007 08:28

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In manufacturing, GSK will reduce the overall number of sites operating in its network and simplify processes and site activities to reduce over-capacity. The company will also continue to seek opportunities to outsource manufacture of existing products and for low-cost sourcing of materials, whilst focusing its capability on new products.

www.engelpub.com/News/index.cfm?artic...

aossa 25 oktober 2007 10:06

0

quote:
gocrucellgo schreef:
In manufacturing, GSK will reduce the overall number of sites operating in its network and simplify processes and site activities to reduce over-capacity. The company will also continue to seek opportunities to outsource manufacture of existing products and for low-cost sourcing of materials, whilst focusing its capability on new products.

www.engelpub.com/News/index.cfm?artic...

'Vaccine sales up 49% to £593 million; impressive US performance driven by flu and hepatitis vaccines In the USA, vaccine sales rose 97% to £237 million. Sales growth was driven by orders for flu vaccines, Fluarix and FluLaval, which together contributed sales of £93 million and continued good performance of Infanrix/Pediarix, (+40% to £58 million), and hepatitis vaccines (+82% to £66 million). In August, the FDA accepted a marketing application for Rotarix, GSK’s vaccine to prevent rotavirus gastroenteritis in infants.'

Met vaccines zit je goed ...

[verwijderd] 5 november 2007 13:42

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Scientists Question Folic Acid Fortification
Scientists at the Institute of Food Research have highlighted possible consequences of fortifying flour with folic acid due to new evidence of how it is absorbed by the body.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
See also:
Health & Medicine
Gastrointestinal Problems
Heartburn
Nutrition
Dietary Supplement
Cholesterol
Alternative Medicine
Reference
B vitamins
Nutrition and pregnancy
Spina bifida
Leaf vegetable
In May, the Food Standards Agency's Board agreed unanimously that 'mandatory fortification' with folic acid should be introduced to make sure the number of babies born with neural tube defects is reduced. This means that it would be compulsory to add folic acid to either bread or flour.

Folic acid is a synthetic form of folate, a B vitamin found in a wide variety of foods including liver and green leafy vegetables. Folates are metabolised in the gut, whereas in a paper to be published in the British Journal of Nutrition in October IFR scientists suggest that folic acid is metabolised in the liver. The liver is an easily saturated system, and fortification could lead to significant unmetabolised folic acid entering the blood stream, with the potential to cause a number of health problems.

"Fortifying UK flour with folic acid would reduce the incidence of neural tube defects", said Dr Siân Astley of the Institute of Food Research. "However, with doses of half the amount being proposed for fortification in the UK, the liver becomes saturated and unmetabolised folic acid floats around the blood stream.

"This can cause problems for people being treated for leukaemia and arthritis, women being treated for ectopic pregnancies, men with a family history of bowel cancer, people with blocked arteries being treated with a stent and elderly people with poor vitamin B status. For women undergoing in-vitro fertilisation, it can also increase the likelihood of conceiving multiple embryos, with all the associated risks for the mother and babies.

"It could take 20 years for any potential harmful effects of unmetabolised folic acid to become apparent."

It has already been shown that folic acid forticifation can exhibit Jekyll and Hyde characteristics, providing protection in some people while causing harm to others. For example, studies have confirmed that unmetabolised folic acid accelerates cognitive decline in the elderly with low vitamin B12 status, while those with normal vitamin B12 status may be protected against cognitive impairment. Most over 65s in the UK have low B12 status.

Similarly, dietary folates have a protective effect against cancer, but folic acid supplementation may increase the incidence of bowel cancer. It may also increase the incidence of breast cancer in postmenopausal women.

Since the 1980s a consensus formed that that folic acid is metabolised in the small intestine in a similar way to naturally-occuring folates. This consensus was used to assess the safety of folic acid fortification.

"We challenge the underlying scientific premise behind this consensus", said Dr Astley. "This has important implications for the use of folic acid in fortification, because even at low doses it could lead to over consumption of folic acid with its inherent risks".

Full reference for the paper: British Journal of Nutrition (2007), October, 98.4 "Folic acid metabolism in human subjects revisited: potential implications for proposed mandatory folic acid fortification in the UK"

Adapted from materials provided by Norwich BioScience Institutes.

[verwijderd] 8 november 2007 12:26

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Infections, Bacteria 'Critical For Healthy Life'
ScienceDaily (Nov. 7, 2007) — Mothers around the world are armed with anti-bacterial gels, sprays and baby blankets, diligently protecting their children from nasty forms of bacteria. But recent research shows that society's anti-bacterial and anti-infection crusade makes children and adults more likely to develop asthma and allergies - and perhaps even mental illnesses.

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See also:

Dr. Gerald Callahan, who studies bacteria and infectious diseases at Colorado State University, argues that all living things on earth must have infections to thrive, and society's challenge is to sort the good infections from the bad infections. People's love affair with anti-bacterial products is changing - and not necessarily for the better - how immune systems, gastrointestinal systems and even nervous systems develop and function.

"Microorganisms shape the lives of all living things and infections steer the course of the world. Most people understand that infections are at the root of many terrible diseases like malaria and leprosy. But infection may also play a significant role in many chronic aliments, including some that may surprise you such as schizophrenia, ulcers and obsessive compulsive disorder," said Callahan, an immunology professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and the College of Liberal Arts.

The role Toxoplasm gondii, a parasite, may play in producing schizophrenia in people isn't clear. But rats infected with T. gondii exhibit suicidal behaviors. And otherwise normal men and women infected with T. gondii exhibit alterations in their behaviors: Infected women are likely to be more warmhearted and outgoing, and infected men often are more jealous and suspicious.

About 15 percent of all cancers could be prevented if infectious diseases that play a role in causing these cancers, which include stomach, cervical and liver cancers, could be controlled, Callahan said.

But what many people may not realize is that most infections ensure our health instead of compromise it.

Mitochondria are bacteria that take fats and sugars and make adenosine triphosphate, or ATP. Every action that distinguishes a living human being from a dead human being is dependent on ATP.

"We need our bacteria," Callahan said.

Other research shows that sheltering a child from bacterial infections increases his or her chances of developing asthma and allergies. In fact, recent studies show that the more educated parents are, the more likely their children are to develop asthma and allergies possibly because these parents are more likely to worry about bacterial infections.

Of course, parents want to protect children from infectious diseases. Callahan draws an analogy between how parents teach their children to recognize unsavory characters and how society must differentiate good from bad bacteria and infectious microorganisms.

"We understand that part of becoming an adult is learning to interact with people and recognize both bad and good in those people. The same is true for bacteria and other infectious microorganisms," he said.

Humans have 10 times more bacterial cells in their bodies than human cells. Without bacteria, there would not be humans. Human life depends on certain infections.

"Before we knew the important role that infections play, we knew about things like rabies and polio and yellow fever," Callahan added. "Because of that, when Fleming finally introduced penicillin in 1945, we went crazy with joy and began to slather everything with antibiotics, especially ourselves. Now we are paying our dues for that overreaction."

Not long ago, all staph infections responded to methicillin. But within a few decades of the widespread use of methicillin, many staph infections are unfazed by this once powerful antibiotic and all of its chemical relatives.

Callahan points out that there are more bacteria by far in this world than any other living thing.

"We are a minority on this planet, and we must learn how to work with the majority," he said.

Callahan is the author of two books on the topic of infectious disease, the human immune system and the impact of infection on life and the world: "Infection: The Uninvited Universe" and "Faith, Madness and Spontaneous Human Combustion."

Adapted from materials provided by Colorado State University.

Need to cite this story in your essay, paper, or report? Use one of the following formats:
APA

MLA Colorado State University (2007, November 7). Infections, Bacteria 'Critical For Healthy Life'. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 8, 2007, from www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2007/11/071106194009.htm

A ton of microscopic bacteria may be active in each acre of soil. (Credit: Michael T. Holmes, Oregon State University, Corvallis.)

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The Hygiene Hypothesis: Are Cleanlier Lifestyles Causing More Allergies For Kids? (Sep. 9, 2007) — A little dirt never hurt. But in today's super-clean world, vaccinations, anti-bacterial soaps, and airtight doors and windows are keeping dirt and disease-causing germs at bay. While staying ... > read more
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flosz 6 maart 2008 13:55

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Malaria, HIV,……
www.nrc.nl/economie/article962184.ece...
www.forbes.com/home/billionaires/2008...

[verwijderd] 6 maart 2008 14:15

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quote:
flosz schreef:
Malaria, HIV,……
www.nrc.nl/economie/article962184.ece...
www.forbes.com/home/billionaires/2008...

Zal best z'n weerslag hebben op de investeringen van de Gates Foundation".

:-)

Dirk

[verwijderd] 6 maart 2008 14:19

0

quote:
flosz schreef:
Malaria, HIV,……
www.nrc.nl/economie/article962184.ece...
www.forbes.com/home/billionaires/2008...

Heb al je aandelen crucell koopt en prijs daalt alsmaar.

flosz 15 maart 2008 16:29

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Vrijheid bestuurders beperkt

15 maart 2008, 10:22 uur | FD.nl
Topbestuurders moeten vanaf volgend jaar kiezen bij een overname: ze onderhandelen niet mee, of ze bevriezen de koers van hun aandelen- en optiepakketten op het niveau van vóór de gesprekken.
Dit heeft het kabinet vrijdag besloten om bestuurders te vrijwaren van 'dubbele petten' bij een overname.
Het kabinet grijpt hiermee direct in op de zelfregulering van topinkomens, die in de code-Tabaksblat voor ondernemingsbestuur wordt gepropageerd.
De wet gaat onderhandelen verbieden als de koersen van de aandelen- en optiepakketten niet worden bevroren. Volgens minister Wouter Bos van Financiën is dit 'vooral een stok achter de deur'.
Bedrijven zullen er volgens hem namelijk voor kiezen de koers van de bestuurderspakketten wèl te bevriezen op het niveau van voor de overnamegesprekken. In dat geval mogen bestuurders gewoon deelnemen aan de overnameonderhandelingen.
Het kabinet reageert hiermee op de publieke kritiek die losbarstte toen bestuurders van onder meer ABN Amro en Numico tientallen miljoenen overhielden aan de verkoop van het bedrijf waarvoor zij werkten. Tot dusver gaf de politiek het bedrijfsleven de kans eerst zelf orde op zaken te stellen. Met dat beleid wordt gebroken als de voorstellen van het kabinet in wet worden omgezet.
Een delegatie van commissarissen van grote beursfondsen heeft de afgelopen maanden met Bos gesproken en gevraagd om tijd om de benodigde maatregelen te kunnen nemen. Dat zij van goede wil zijn, blijkt uit het feit dat TNT onlangs als eerste Nederlandse beursfonds aankondigde een bevriezingsregeling in te voeren.
Ook de commissie-Frijns heeft onlangs bij een evaluatie van de code-Tabaksblat ervoor gepleit zelfregulering als uitgangspunt te behouden voor beloning in het bedrijfsleven.
'Het kabinet heeft blijkbaar onvoldoende vertrouwen in de ruggengraat van commissarissen. Dat vraagt om een stevig debat over wat zij nog van commissarissen verwachten en wat zij zelf willen regelen', zo klinkt het in bestuurderskringen. Frijns was overigens ook tegen de dubbele petten voor topbestuurders. Bos gaat dit nu dus wettelijk verankeren en komt daarmee meteen tegemoet aan de roep uit de Tweede Kamer om excessieve beloning aan te pakken.
In dat kader nam het kabinet vrijdag ook nog drie fiscale maatregelen, die bij elkaar jaarlijks euro 60 mln opleveren voor de schatkist. De maatregelen treffen inkomens boven de euro 500.000 en managers van private equity. Volgens staatssecretaris Jan Kees de Jager van Financiën worden 'enkele duizenden' mensen geraakt.
De eerste fiscale regel betreft de pensioenopbouw volgens het eindloonsysteem bij een inkomen boven euro 500.000. Dit wordt voortaan bij de werkgever voor 15% belast over de forfaitair berekende pensioenpremie. Voor bestuurders die bijvoorbeeld tegen een fors hoger salaris worden binnengehaald moet de onderneming soms miljoenen euro's belastingvrij bijstorten in de pensioenpot. Dit wordt nu belast.
Deze nieuwe maatregel, die een fors deel van de euro 60 mln moet opleveren, is volgens Bos eenvoudig te pareren door het middelloonsysteem te kiezen. Het maakt op de lange termijn voor de schatkist per saldo niets uit. Voor werknemers die bij hun vertrek meer dan euro 0,5 mln, of een nog hoger jaarsalaris, meekrijgen, wordt het bedrag dat hierboven uitgaat bij de werkgevers voor 30% belast.
De derde fiscale maatregel die het kabinet vrijdag nam, betreft meer dan proportionele winsten die managers van durfkapitaal, of private equity innen. Die winsten kunnen vanaf 2009 niet meer in belastingbox 3 worden belast ad 1,2%, maar vallen voortaan onder box 2 en krijgen daar te maken met een tarief van 25%.
Volgens staatssecretaris De Jager is Nederland hiermee nog steeds concurrerend ten opzichte van omringende landen. Het tarief in Groot-Brittannië wordt binnenkort ook opgetrokken, naar 18%. De Jager verwacht dat Duitsland, België en Luxemburg op dit punt niet voordeliger zijn dan Nederland.
De werkgeversorganisatie VNO-NCW zegt in een reactie niet gelukkig te zijn met de kabinetsmaatregelen, maar wijst ze ook niet categorisch af. De werkgevers noemen de fiscale ingrepen die het kabinet heeft genomen 'een risico voor het Nederlandse vestigingsklimaat voor hoofdkantoren en beursfondsen'.
www.fd.nl/csFdArtikelen/WEB-HFD/y2008...
***************************
Fed redt grote bank in VS van ondergang
15 maart 2008, 10:51 uur | FD.nl
De Federal Reserve van New York heeft vrijdag noodsteun moeten geven aan Bear Stearns, een van de grootste zakenbanken op Wall Street met 14.000 werknemers. Bear Stearns kampt met een acuut liquiditeitstekort. Het kan niet langer bij collega-banken geld lenen..
Bear Stearns is een van banken die geld heeft uitgeleend aan het in Amsterdam genoteerde hedgefonds Carlyle Capital. De zakenbank had volgens Carlyle eind 2007 voor $ 1,65 mrd aan krediet uitstaan. Het hedgefonds verkeert in problemen en moet onder dwang van de kredietgevende banken de onderliggende beleggingen verkopen.
Bestuursvoorzitter Alan Schwartz van Bear Stearns, een bank die sinds 1923 tot het vierde kwartaal van 2007 altijd winst had gemaakt, meldde vrijdag in een schriftelijke verklaring dat de 'liquiditeitspositie van de bank in de laatste vierentwintig uur aanzienlijk is verslechterd'. Volgens Schwartz kwam dit door 'marktgeruchten over onze financiële positie'. Over heel 2007 moest de bank $ 2,75 mrd afschrijven. De bank is de tweede partij in de Amerikaanse markt voor verhandelbare hypotheekobligaties.
www.fd.nl/csFdArtikelen/WEB-HFD/y2008...

flosz 4 april 2008 12:24

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investor.dendreon.com/ReleaseDetail.c...

Friday, April 4, 2008
Dendreon gathers $47 million in stock sale

By Ángel González
Seattle Times business reporter

Dendreon said Thursday it has completed a deal to sell shares and warrants to an institutional investor for $47 million.
The unnamed investor agreed to pay $5.92 for 8 million shares of Dendreon stock, a 17 percent premium over Wednesday's closing price. Dendreon shares climbed 20 cents, or 3.9 percent, to close at $5.28 Thursday.
The unidentified investor also bought warrants to purchase up to 8 million of Dendreon's shares at $20 per share. The warrants will be exercisable after Oct. 8.
Interim results for the company's late-stage clinical trial on prostate-cancer drug Provenge, which could lead to the therapy's approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, are due in the second half of the year.
The company had previously said it had enough cash in hand to sail through the interim results.
"I'm a little surprised," said McAdams Wright Ragen analyst Paul Latta. "It's always better to be prepared at some level, but the trade-off there is dilution," he said.
The move will dilute existing shareholders' stake by about 10 percent, he added.
On the other hand, the company may be taking preventive measures for what could be a rocky stock market if predictions of a recession come true. Raising money in such an environment could be difficult. At the end of last year the company had some $76 million in cash and cash equivalents.
"Having cash on hand is a good thing," Latta said.
Net proceeds from the new financing, approximately $46 million, will bankroll the commercial launch of Provenge and fund the company's research.
seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/busine...

flosz 6 april 2008 12:21

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Today’s Husband Creates 7 Extra Hours of Housework Each Week

By MedHeadlines • Apr 5th, 2008
That’s according to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, a federally funded, diary-based study of family dynamics conducted by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. They’ve been tracking household labor since 1968.
The latest analysis comes from time-diary data from 2005, which shows that some traditional family values remain true. Men work more outside the home and women work more at home. Children change things, too. And time has changed the situation as well.
In general, the number of hours spent each week on housework in the US since 1976 has dropped for women but has increased for men. In 1976, women spent about 26 hours cleaning house each week but the hours dropped to about 17 in 2005. Men claimed six hours of housework in 1976 but they did about 13 in 2005. For the purpose of the study, housework is defined as cooking, cleaning, and other basic work around the house. Washing the car, gardening, and household repairs are not considered housework.
For men and women alike, marriage generates more housework today than bachelorhood. Single women in the twenty- to thirty-something age range do about 12 hours of housework each week these days while married women in their 60s and 70s do about 21 hours. Younger men do less housework than older men, too, but the bachelors of any age do more housework than married men.
Children, as can be expected, alter the workload dramatically. Married mothers with three or more children average 28 hours of housework each while their fathers report only 10 hours of weekly household labor.
So, if a bride gains seven extra hours of housework each week, how does marriage affect the household workload of her spouse? It’s reduced by about an hour from his bachelor days.
medheadlines.com/2008/04/05/today%E2%...

tegoed 6 april 2008 17:48

0

quote:
flosz schreef:
Today’s Husband Creates 7 Extra Hours of Housework Each Week

By MedHeadlines • Apr 5th, 2008
That’s according to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, a federally funded, diary-based study of family dynamics conducted by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. They’ve been tracking household labor since 1968.
The latest analysis comes from time-diary data from 2005, which shows that some traditional family values remain true. Men work more outside the home and women work more at home. Children change things, too. And time has changed the situation as well.
In general, the number of hours spent each week on housework in the US since 1976 has dropped for women but has increased for men. In 1976, women spent about 26 hours cleaning house each week but the hours dropped to about 17 in 2005. Men claimed six hours of housework in 1976 but they did about 13 in 2005. For the purpose of the study, housework is defined as cooking, cleaning, and other basic work around the house. Washing the car, gardening, and household repairs are not considered housework.
For men and women alike, marriage generates more housework today than bachelorhood. Single women in the twenty- to thirty-something age range do about 12 hours of housework each week these days while married women in their 60s and 70s do about 21 hours. Younger men do less housework than older men, too, but the bachelors of any age do more housework than married men.
Children, as can be expected, alter the workload dramatically. Married mothers with three or more children average 28 hours of housework each while their fathers report only 10 hours of weekly household labor.
So, if a bride gains seven extra hours of housework each week, how does marriage affect the household workload of her spouse? It’s reduced by about an hour from his bachelor days.
medheadlines.com/2008/04/05/today%E2%...

Blijken mannen toch efficienter te werken......1976 totaal 32 uur, 2005 totaal 30 uur ;-)

[verwijderd] 7 april 2008 09:47

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Malaysia on track to become biotech hub

06/04/2008 -- 7:14 PM

Hanoi (VNA) - Malaysia's aspiration to become a biotechnology hub by 2020 with a combined approved investment worth 20 billion ringgit (roughly 6.27 billion USD) is on track.

Malaysia has so far already rolled out 51 BioNexus-status companies with a combined approved investment value of 1 billion ringgit (313.48 million USD), Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Maximus Ongkili said.

"All incentives are in place and we will go all out to produce 70 BioNexus-status companies by year-end," Ongkili was quoted by the New Straits Times as saying.

As planned, Malaysia will end its capacity building in biotechnology sector by 2010, hoping to generate a revenue of 80 billion ringgit (25.08 billion USD) and contribute 4 percent to Malaysia's gross domestic product.-Enditem

www.vnagency.com.vn/Home/EN/tabid/119...

[verwijderd] 7 april 2008 10:44

0

Training a cold to kill cancer
Scientists testing tweaked virus on tumors
By TOM PAULSON
P-I REPORTER

Researchers at the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center are trying to trick a strain of the cold virus into killing several kinds of cancer, including a notoriously difficult-to-treat brain tumor.

"There are not many options out there for these patients," said Dr. Hans-Peter Kiem at Fred Hutch, noting that most people with this kind of tumor, glioblastoma multiforme, die within a year of diagnosis.

So far, the scientists have only been able to use the viruses to attack the brain tumors in mice.

The concept of employing viruses as biological anti-cancer smart bombs, though it may sound bizarre, has been around for quite a while.

"It's not a new idea," said Dr. Andre Lieber, a researcher at the University of Washington and a leader in this field. But Lieber and others are using innovative genetic techniques to retrain the common cold virus, known as adenovirus.

Some say the notion of enlisting infections to fight cancer first took hold back in 1912, when a rabid dog bit an Italian woman who had advanced ovarian cancer. Italian doctors injected the woman with a weakened rabies virus, a vaccine, to protect her against the deadly infection. And after the immunization, to everyone's surprise, her aggressive ovarian tumor also shrank back.

This is often cited as the first scientific report of the possibility that viral infections or vaccinations might somehow work against cancer. There had been earlier anecdotal stories about people with cancer being cured after getting this or that bug, but not much hard evidence.

"It wasn't until the 1950s and '60s that it really took off," Lieber said. Scientists in the '50s and '60s tried injecting cancer patients with all sorts of live viruses such as mumps or the cold virus, he said, but without really knowing exactly what was going on inside the body.

If you consider what cancer really is and what viruses do, it makes perfect sense. Cancer is the uncontrolled proliferation of cells in the body. Viruses selectively kill cells.

"The trick is to make them kill only the cells you want them to kill, the cancer cells," Lieber said.

Lieber, Kiem and their colleagues have focused on a strain of cold virus, adenovirus serotype 5 (or Ad5). The cold virus achieves its purpose in nature by injecting its genes into our cells, forcing our nasal passage cells or whatever else is infected to produce new viral offspring. Eventually the nose or lung cells that are infected burst, which helps explain why we cough and our noses turns red.

Catching a cold means your cells have been hijacked. Lieber and Kiem, in turn, are hijacking the cold virus to redirect it against cancer.

"Andre has modified the viruses so they can selectively target the tumor cells, replicate inside them and kill them," Kiem said. "And they can only replicate inside the tumor cells."

Though the research is limited to mice in the U.S., Lieber is working with British researchers to do clinical testing soon of his modified cold virus in a dozen people with late-stage, incurable colon cancer.

There are still plenty of obstacles, however, to making this an approved cancer therapy -- beginning with the immune system's tendency to fiercely attack and destroy viruses.

"That's a big problem," Lieber said. One way to get around it, he said, is to use immune-suppressing drugs until the anti-cancer virus finishes its attack on the tumor.

Another concern is that the virus could stimulate an adverse immune response in the patient, he said, or that the altered virus would evolve and revert to its disease-causing natural "wild type" -- or perhaps turn into something even worse.

"Andre is an incredibly creative guy, but he does tend to focus on problems," joked Dr. Stephen Russell, a researcher at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., widely considered one of the world leaders in the field known as oncolytic (cancer-killing) virotherapy.

Russell and his team have altered measles viruses to attack ovarian cancer, multiple myeloma and glioblastoma, and have recently launched early stage human trials.

"It's no longer a question of whether virotherapy will work so much as it is a question of what we still need to do to make it work better," Russell said.

After the field's long history of fits and starts, the Mayo Clinic scientist is nevertheless concerned about anything that might once again send this avenue of inquiry back into hibernation.

When his 17-year-old daughter came home one night to report that she just saw the movie "I Am Legend," in which Will Smith is a scientist who alters a measles virus that creates zombies and kills everyone in Manhattan, Russell was concerned.

"I thought, 'Oh no, here we go,' " he said. "We're at a very vulnerable stage in development, just moving into early stage human trials."

Russell and his colleagues monitored the Internet to see what people said about this Hollywood movie that had the altered measles virus creating zombies and depopulating New York City. Fortunately, few saw any reason to storm the Mayo Clinic and demand that the science stop. "It may have helped that the movie was pretty cheesy," Russell said.

Despite his reputed tendency to see most glasses half empty, Lieber believes the new genetic and molecular biological techniques available today do promise to finally make virotherapy an effective, incredibly accurate and safe way to rid the body of cancer.

"These viruses have evolved over millions of years to figure out how to get into cells," he said. "They have an inherent ability to take over specific cells and kill them."

seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/357985_v...

flosz 15 april 2008 14:37

0

Pharming overwoog te stoppen met Rhucin
15 Apr 08, 07:31
door Edwin van der Aa
LEIDEN (DFT) - Pharming heeft na een negatieve opinie van de Europese medicijnenwaakhond EMEA in december haar strategie serieus tegen het licht gehouden. Daarbij heeft het management ook de mogelijkheid overwogen te stoppen met verdere pogingen om zijn belangrijkste kandidaat-middel Rhucin naar de markt te brengen. Dat stelt commercieel directeur Rein Strijker tijdens een interview in aanloop naar de aandeelhoudersvergadering van morgen.

„We moesten de kans dat goedkeuring nog voor elkaar zou komen, afwegen tegen de kosten en opbrengsten”, aldus de bestuurder van het Leidse biotechbedrijf. Uiteindelijk besloot het bestuur van Pharming, na overleg met experts, destijds een herziening aan te vragen bij de Europese medicijnenwaakhond EMEA.
Vorige maand bleek inderdaad dat de bezwaren tegen een registratie van Rhucin, een middel tegen angio-oedeem (acute zwellingen van zachte weefsels), grotendeels waren verdwenen. Op één belangrijk punt na: de mogelijkheid dat zich bij veelvuldig gebruik antilichamen kunnen ontwikkelen.
Door de aanhoudend negatieve opinie van EMEA kreeg het management de afgelopen periode veel vragen van grote en kleinere bezorgde aandeelhouders. Strijker: „Ze wilden allemaal weten of het nog wel goed komt met Rhucin, en op de langere termijn met hun investering. Garanties zijn niet te geven, maar het is zeker dat Pharming niet meer hetzelfde bedrijf met dezelfde potentie zou zijn als we Rhucin in de prullenmand zouden gooien.”
Debacle
Strijker geeft wel toe dat het commerciële plaatje van Pharming er niet beter op is geworden na het debacle met EMEA. „Maar ik ontken dat we er een potje van hebben gemaakt. Er vallen natuurlijk altijd lessen te leren. Zo hadden we veel meer aandacht moeten besteden aan de impact die vergelijkbare studies, die niet altijd even goed afliepen, blijkbaar hebben gehad op de mening van de leden in de beoordelingscommissie.”
Pharming heeft zich nog steeds doel gesteld dit jaar een grote alliantie voor de verkoop van Rhucin te sluiten. De commerciële topman erkent dat die onderhandelingen er in de huidige onzekere situatie niet zo goed voorstaan als enkele maanden geleden. Het management kan nu moeilijk om de tafel met grote farmaceuten om een lucratieve samenwerking op dit product te beklinken. „Als we een positieve opinie hadden ontvangen voor Rhucin, dan had er zeker al een mooie licentiedeal gelegen.”
Décharge
Ondanks deze problemen voor het management houdt Strijker zich niet bezig met de vraag of zijn aandeelhouders het bestuur morgen wel décharge willen verlenen voor het gevoerde beleid. Eén grote aandeelhouder, Van Herk (ca. 10% in Pharming), wilde vorige week niet vooruit lopen op zijn stemgedrag. Strijker: „We hebben de keuze gemaakt voor de juiste strategie: doorgaan met Rhucin. Dat zal tijdens de vergadering ook de kernboodschap zijn.”
De bestuurder vindt het moeilijk om te zeggen wat de gevolgen zullen zijn van de negatieve Europese opinie voor een mogelijke registratie in de VS. „De uitslagen van een ander onderzoek naar Rhucin liggen nu bij een groep onafhankelijke statistici. We verwachten binnen enkele weken de uitkomst te kunnen melden. Daarna moeten we met de FDA (medicijnenwaakhond VS, red.) gaan praten over de voorwaarden van de registratieprocedure.”
Pharming overlegt momenteel ook met experts over een hernieuwde, versnelde aanvraag voor registratie in Europa. Wellicht zal het bedrijf een procedure voeren bij de EMEA waaruit dan moet blijken wat er nodig is om alsnog een fiat te krijgen voor Rhucin. Tot die tijd probeert Pharming het middel op de markt te krijgen in landen buiten Europa en de VS, zoals Turkije.
Licentiedeals
Verkopen in landen als Turkije moeten de komende jaren voor inkomsten gaan zorgen. Met de huidige kaspositie kan Pharming nog zo’n tweeënhalf jaar door. Daarnaast zoekt het management naar licentiedeals en zijn ook andere financieringsinstrumenten (zoals leningen’) niet uitgesloten. Overigens heeft het bestuur geen plannen om geld binnen te halen via een uitgifte van nieuwe aandelen.
Strijker: „Ik zie de ontwikkeling van dit bedrijf als een drietrapsraket: ten eerste de marketing van Rhucin als middel tegen angio-oedeem, daarna de toepassing van Rhucin bij andere indicaties en tot slot de ontwikkeling van middelen tegen verouderingsziekten. Grote farmaciebedrijven willen nu al toegang tot onze research op dit gebied. We willen echter eerst zelf middelen testen en beschermen. Maar, ook hier ligt een grote toekomst voor Pharming.”
www.dft.nl/bedrijven/pharming/3789004...

[verwijderd] 28 april 2008 17:44

0

Mutated fatal Adenovirus!!!!

A deadly new mutated adenovirus is about in the China seas. This promed email was forwarded to me by Luke Beckman:

Deadly virus> ------------> Medical examinations have determined that 8 other Chinese sailors> have the deadly virus, but have not developed any illness. The cook,> aged 40, and a crewmember of the vessel, aged 38, died on 9 Apr 2008,> after suffering high fevers for hours. No medication was able to stop> the progression of the disease.>> Experts of the Forensic Medicine Institute of Public Prosecutions> [IML] have determined that the cause of death was an adenovirus that> has become extremely deadly.>> Adenoviruses are spread by physical contact or through the air and> are one of the causes of the common flu, but were not considered> fatal. At least, not so far.>> The virus that causes severe acute respiratory [syndrome], an> atypical pneumonia that first appeared in November 2002 in Guangdong> Province, China, has been ruled out.>> The head of the IML, Luis Bromley Coloma, indicated that "we are> facing an adenovirus that has mutated and become deadly, but it is> still unknown what caused the mutation and how fast it can spread",> which is why an Epidemiological Alert has been declared.>> The autopsy performed on the 2 victims hurled death, multiorgan edema> in the brain, lungs, heart, liver, pancreas, and kidneys, and> microhemorrhages in all organs. Toxicological, biological, and> pathological tests performed revealed the presence of the mutated> adenovirus.>> Now, health authorities are working to establish where and what> generated the mutation to find a cure or a way to contain it.>> "Chan An 168" is a squid and shrimp fishing vessel that sailed from> the port of Yautay, China, on 19 Aug 2007 with 23 people on board.> Since then they have not had contact with dry land. On 13 Dec 2007 it> delivered its catch to another boat and received 2 other crewmembers.> The same happened on 15 Mar 2008.>> On 9 Apr 2008, the port captaincy of Callao received a distress call> from the captain of the "Chan An". That morning 2 Chinese crewmembers> -- the cook and a fisherman -- had died. The only symptom was a high> fever lasting from 2-5 hours; none of the medicines on board helped.>> Unfortunately, the Navy and International Maritime Health personnel> boarded the Chinese ship to provide the care they needed, without> taking the precautions needed to avoid contagion, hence it has been> decided to quarantine them. The disease can manifest itself in 14> days to 3 months.>> Specialists from the IML, and epidemiologists from the Ministry of> Defense, the Navy, and the Ministry of Health, met yesterday 19 Apr> 2008] to assess the results of the biological and pathological> examinations in order to take the necessary preventive measures to> avoid spread of the virus.>> "The autopsies carried out indicate that the 2 Chinese crewmembers> died from pneumonia resulting from an adenovirus, a cause of the flu> that is not usually fatal. What happened in this case is that the> virus has mutated and become deadly, and we are on an epidemiological> alert,'' the head of the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Luis> Bromley, said yesterday [19 Apr 2008].>> The specialist added that this outbreak has 2 characteristics: the> victims are people with weakened immune systems, having been almost a> year at sea, isolated and living in subhuman conditions. The other> factor is still being studied -- still unknown are the cause that led> to the mutation and how to fight it.>> "The entire crew has been evaluated and it has been found that 8> crewmembers are infected with the mutated adenovirus and are under> observation; they can not be treated, because we do not know how to> fight this virus," stressed Bromley.>> It has been arranged for 30 Peruvian people who have been to the ship> to provide help and have come into contact with patients remain under> epidemiological surveillance, isolated, and without contact with> their families until the deadly disease has been ruled out. In these> cases ''security measures may sound extreme, but prevention is better> than later to have to bear the consequences if nothing was done,"> asserted emphatically the head of the Institute of Forensic Medicine.

aossa 28 april 2008 20:10

0

quote:
Arabica k. schreef:
Mutated fatal Adenovirus!!!!

I don't eat chinese sea worms any more ...

flosz 30 april 2008 12:00

0

Heparin Contamination May Have Been Deliberate, F.D.A. Says

WASHINGTON — Federal drug regulators believe that a contaminant detected in a crucial blood thinner that has caused 81 deaths was added deliberately, something the Food and Drug Administration has only hinted at previously.
“F.D.A.’s working hypothesis is that this was intentional contamination, but this is not yet proven,” Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s drug center, told the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations in written testimony given Tuesday
www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/health/pol...

Baxter calls tainting 'deliberate'
CEO: Adulteration of heparin likely done by Chinese suppliers
By David Greising and Bruce Japsen | Tribune reporters
April 30, 2008
During a heated congressional hearing aimed at exposing systemic failures linked to deaths from a tainted blood thinner, the chief executive of Deerfield-based Baxter International Inc. said the company appears to have been the target of a "deliberate adulteration scheme," likely by suppliers in China.

Robert Parkinson made the remark Tuesday to a House oversight panel that also addressed tough, pointed questions to Baxter supplier Scientific Protein Laboratories. The top safety officer of the Food and Drug Administration also came under fire, as both Democrats and Republicans on the committee called for reform and increased funding at the FDA.
www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-w...,0,5848024.story
www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/hepari...

flosz 30 april 2008 14:09

0

Sunrise Partners Llc made $1,552,500 on Crucell N V (CRXL)
LONG BEACH (Mffais.com) - Sunrise Partners Llc made $1,552,500 on changes made with Crucell N V making it the funds best move.

www.mffais.com/institutions/124155/

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