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Week Ending: June 23rd , 2007
Alan Franciscus
Editor-in-Chief
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This Issue:
June 16th, 2007
Feuerstein's Biotech-Stock Mailbag
http://www.thestreet.com
By Adam Feuerstein
Senior Writer
Thanks for stopping by the Biotech Mailbag. I'm keeping my promise of last Saturday to steer clear of cancer talk this week. Well, sort of, as you'll see below. But seriously, I'm moving on to other topics. If you have comments, suggestions or gripes, please email me here.
Bruce H. emailed me last month about Idenix Pharmaceuticals' (IDIX) hepatitis C drug NM283. "What do you see as the likely results of the drug-drug interaction of NM283 and standard of care?" he asked, adding that he thought Idenix was an undervalued stock because NM283 would find a place in future hepatitis C treatment regimens.
NM283, also known as valopicitabine, is a polymerase inhibitor that works against the hepatitis C virus. On Tuesday, Idenix released phase II data showing that NM283 does not interact negatively with ribavirin, one of two drugs (the other one being pegylated interferon) that are currently considered the standard care for hepatitis C.
This is good news for Idenix because there were concerns that NM283 and ribavirin (and PEG-interferon) might not be combinable into a single treatment regimen.
But with that said, the knock on NM283 that it is a relatively impotent hepatitis C drug remains intact. A closer look at the data released Tuesday underscored that point, as I pointed out on RealMoney. So with all respect to Bruce, I have to take issue with his assertion that Idenix is undervalued today based on NM283's potential.
Efficacy data on the drug to date suggest that it's perhaps marginally better than current standard of care. The problem is that other experimental hepatitis C drugs in development look more effective. And there are still worries about side effects and tolerability of NM283 that need to be resolved.
And Tuesday, Idenix indicated that NM283 will need additional phase II work before pivotal phase III studies can begin late next year. That sounded like a delay to the program.
I think Citibank analyst Yaron Werber said it best recently when he wrote that NM283 has the potential to be like the HIV drug AZT -- a pioneering drug (albeit one with flaws) that is quickly surpassed by more effective and better tolerated competitors coming up behind it, fast.
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As I write this column Thursday, Onyx Pharmaceuticals (ONXX) trades near $30. That's essentially where it was before the big ASCO meeting, before the great news about Nexavar's liver-cancer data was delivered. And before we learned that Pfizer's (PFE) drug Sutent doesn't seem like a credible competitor in liver cancer. Strange.
Onyx did have a nice run into ASCO, so some amount of post-meeting selling is expected. Maybe it's the summer doldrums I mentioned. Merrill Lynch analyst Eric Ende emerged from his Florida bungalow this week to whack at Onyx, too, issuing a report suggesting that the liver cancer market is much smaller than most people, including myself, believe it to be.
I still think the stock is worth more. Over the next quarter or two, we'll see how much Nexavar sales pick up due to off-label use in liver cancer.
If anyone has any thoughts on these stocks, or others, feel free to drop me an email .
Please note that due to factors including low market capitalization and/or insufficient public float, we consider Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Altus Pharmaceuticals, Vasogen, Encysive Pharmaceuticals, Genelabs Technologies, Pharmasset and Amicus Therapeutics to be small-cap stocks. You should be aware that such stocks are subject to more risk than stocks of larger companies, including greater volatility, lower liquidity and less publicly available information, and that postings such as this one can have an effect on their stock prices.
Adam Feuerstein writes regularly for RealMoney.com. In keeping with TSC's editorial policy, he doesn't own or short individual stocks, although he owns stock in TheStreet.com. He also doesn't invest in hedge funds or other private investment partnerships. Feuerstein appreciates your feedback; click here to send him an email.
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June 17th, 2007
Hepatitis C spreads among drug abusers in Iceland
http://www.icelandreview.com
During the last ten years, 636 individuals have been infected by Hepatitis C. Most of the cases involve substance abusers who share needles. Doctors say this is serious news and that health authorities should take immediate action.
“About 70 percent of those who inject drugs into their veins are infected. That is a very high percentage that can be traced back to individuals using contaminated needles and needles that others have used,” Sigurdur B. Thorsteinsson, a senior physician at the Infectious Disease Ward at the National Hospital told Fréttabladid.
Thorsteinsson said health authorities should consider providing easier access to disinfected needles for substance abusers.
Doctors fear that the high number of Hepatitis C infections is an indication of an upcoming HIV epidemic; recently three substance abusers who had shared needles were diagnosed as HIV positive. In other countries an HIV epidemic is known to have followed a spread of Hepatitis C.
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Hep C Doctor Has Bad Rep
http://gothamist.com/
The doctor we wrote about Friday, who was connected to three separate cases of patients infected with hepatitis C, apparently has a less-than-stellar reputation. Dr. Brian Goldweber had his medical license suspended for three years in 1999 after he "botched" anesthesia in several patients and altered records in one case, according to the New York Post. The Dept. of Health has contacted approximately 4,500 patients of Goldweber to recommend they get tested for infectious diseases. One of the patients who received the letter commented after our earlier piece and said that the letter was "super vague."
Goldweber was administering anesthesia to patients at ten outpatient clinics around the city. One man is suing the doctor and the gastroenterologist who hired him, after nearly dying from a hepatitis C infection not long after he underwent an endoscopy. The Post reports that the Board of Medical Examiners in New Mexico previously denied Godlweber a license to practice for "fraud in his application". He's previously been fined for applying to work at an upstate NY hospital while still under suspension for previous ethical and practical breaches.
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Lawmaker recalls late father in vote today
http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com
Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski Jr., D-New City, spoke about his late father in voting this afternoon for legislation to set up a statewide hepatitis C advisory council. His dad, former Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski, died March 18 from liver and kidney failure after a battle with hepatitis C.
“It’s very important. It’s a disease that a lot of people don’t know about,” said Kenneth Zebrowski Jr., who was elected last month to the district his father served.
Under the bill, the panel would advise the state health commissioner about implementation of a comprehensive hepatitis C program and would evaluate and report to the Legislature and governor on the state’s system for screening and detecting hepatitis C. Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern, Rockland County, is the lead sponsor.
Zebrowski his father had a brain tumor removed in 1973. Decades later, in the 1990s, he was diagnosed with hepatitis C.
The bill passed unanimously and now goes to the Senate, where it is sponsored by Sen. Thomas Morahan, R-New City, Rockland County.
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June 20th, 2007
Hepatitis B drug can compromise HIV treatment
http://www.eurekalert.org
Treating hepatitis B patients with the drug entecavir can cause those who are also infected with HIV to become resistant to two of the most important drugs in the anti-HIV arsenal, according to a new report in the New England Journal of Medicine.
In findings published June 21, 2007, online in the journal, the researchers reported that a patient infected with both hepatitis B and HIV who was treated with entecavir developed a mutant strain of HIV that is resistant to the antiviral drugs lamivudine and emtricitabine. Entecavir is manufactured by Bristol-Myers Squibb and is marketed under the trade name Baraclude.
The research team was led by Chloe Thio and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Robert Siliciano, both at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The analyses reported in the paper were performed by lead authors Moira McMahon, Benjamin Jilek, and Timothy Brennan in the Siliciano laboratory.
The group’s initial report of the findings in February, 2007, at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections led the drug’s manufacturer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, to change its product labeling to warn of the potential for HIV drug resistance, notify prescribing physicians, and inform the Food and Drug Administration. The United States Department of Health and Human Services now recommends against using entecavir as the first option in treating hepatitis B in co-infected patients who are not already using drugs to suppress HIV. More than 4 million people worldwide are believed to be infected with both viruses.
The scientists emphasized that finding drug resistance in this setting underscores the need to test all antiviral drugs for anti-HIV activity before they are approved for use.
Entecavir is a chemically altered version of a chemical called a nucleoside. The drug blocks viral replication by plugging itself into a polymerase enzyme in the hepatitis B virus that helps produce new viral DNA. However, the hepatitis B polymerase closely resembles the reverse transcriptase enzyme that HIV uses to copy its genome inside an infected cell. Thus, there was a possibility that treating co-infected patients for hepatitis B with entecavir might also have an effect on HIV. But earlier tests by Bristol-Myers Squibb using techniques available at the time did not detect such an effect on HIV, said Siliciano. However, Thio, study co-author Robert Hegarty, and Braden Hale of the Naval Medical Center in San Diego recently identified three co-infected patients in whom entecavir treatment did inhibit HIV replication.
Siliciano and his colleagues analyzed entecavir’s effects on HIV using a more sensitive test they had developed to measure inhibition of HIV replication. That test uses a strain of HIV engineered to be capable of only a single round of replication, making the assay more precise. The engineered virus carries the gene for a green fluorescent protein, so that its replication can be readily detected and quantified. The researchers test viral replication inside the same type of immune system T cell that the virus naturally infects.
“This system is an extremely sensitive and reliable way to measure inhibition of HIV replication,” said Siliciano. “And when we applied it to test the effects of entecavir, we found the drug did have an effect on HIV. It was quite subtle and relatively easy to miss, but with the right assay it turned out to be a highly reproducible effect.”
The researchers’ studies revealed that entecavir does inhibit HIV’s reverse transcriptase. They also found that one of the patients treated with entecavir developed a specific mutant form of HIV that rendered the virus resistant to lamivudine and emtricitabine.
“This well-known mutation, called M184V, greatly reduces the effectiveness of two of the best anti-HIV drugs,” said Siliciano. “So HIV patients not yet on any HIV medications will lose the advantage of treatment with drugs that are part of the most recommended drug regimen for HIV.”
The finding offers a broader lesson for drug development, said Siliciano. “I think we need very careful screening of new antiviral agents that have activity against other viruses to make sure that they are not doing the same thing; that is, selecting for HIV resistance. This is particularly a problem for drugs like nucleoside analogs, which might easily affect polymerases from a variety of viruses since all viruses use the nucleoside triphosphates as substrates for synthesizing their genomes,” he said.
An especially intriguing finding from the study, added Siliciano, was that entecavir showed a peculiar dosage effect on HIV replication. “Probably the most interesting part of this study was that, while entecavir inhibits HIV infection at a very low concentration—meaning that it has a very high affinity for reverse transcriptase, much better than the drugs that we currently use—it is actually not a very good HIV drug. The inhibition doesn't increase with dosage; it just plateaus. So the overall effect is that entecavir is actually a very potent, but not particularly effective, inhibitor of HIV replication,” he said.
Altering the entecavir molecule to eliminate that plateau of effectiveness might well yield a new and effective anti-HIV drug, said Siliciano. Thus, he and his colleagues are further exploring the mechanism of the plateau and how it might be overcome.
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Anadys Pharmaceuticals Nominates ANA598, a Small-Molecule, Non-Nucleoside Inhibitor of The NS5b Polymerase, as a Candidate for Clinical Development in Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection
http://biz.yahoo.com
SAN DIEGO, June 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Anadys Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ANDS - News), a biopharmaceutical company committed to the discovery, development and commercialization of novel medicines for the treatment of hepatitis and cancer, announced today that it has nominated ANA598 as a candidate for clinical development as an orally-administered direct antiviral for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.
"We have identified a small-molecule, non-nucleoside inhibitor of the NS5b polymerase that, based on pre-clinical studies conducted to date, has shown favorable antiviral, metabolic, pharmacokinetic, and preliminary toxicologic properties, and is the culmination of several years of work in our HCV direct antiviral discovery program," said Lawrence C. Fritz, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Anadys. "We are now conducting additional pre-clinical studies in anticipation of submitting an Investigational New Drug application (IND) in the second quarter of 2008."
Preclinical Study Results
In a series of in vitro pre-clinical studies ANA598 demonstrated excellent potency against HCV genotype 1 NS5b polymerase and potent activity in HCV replicon assays. The compound also displayed very good in vitro metabolic stability and did not significantly inhibit human CYP enzymes, suggesting a low potential for drug-drug interactions. Extending these in vitro findings, in vivo preclinical studies of ANA598 demonstrated high oral bioavailability and good tolerability. Also, drug levels were sustained in the plasma and in the liver, the principal site of HCV replication.
"The current standard of care is inadequate for many chronic HCV patients, including about half of those with genotype 1 disease," said Steve Worland, Ph.D., president, Pharmaceuticals. "We believe ANA598 possesses favorable characteristics that may enable it to play an important role in future HCV therapy."
About Anadys
Anadys Pharmaceuticals, Inc., http://www.anadyspharma.com , is a biopharmaceutical company committed to advancing patient care by discovering, developing and commercializing novel small molecule medicines for the treatment of viral diseases and cancer. The Company's programs focus on Toll-Like Receptor-based small molecule product candidates and direct antiviral compounds that inhibit key steps in viral proliferation. The Company has core expertise in medicinal chemistry coupled with structure-based drug design, and is developing compounds for the treatment of hepatitis C infection, hepatitis B infection and cancer.
SafeHarbor Statement
Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical in nature constitute "forward-looking statements." Such statements include, but are not limited to, references to the believed favorable antiviral, metabolic, pharmacokinetic, and preliminary toxicologic properties of ANA598, the expected timing and plans for filing an IND and the possibility that ANA598 may play an important role in future HCV therapy. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause Anadys' actual results to be materially different from historical results or from any results expressed or implied by such forward- looking statements. In particular, the results of in vitro studies and initial in vivo studies may not be predictive of future results, and Anadys cannot provide any assurances that any of its product candidates will not have unforeseen safety issues, will have favorable results in future clinical trials or will receive regulatory approval. In addition, Anadys' results may be affected by other factors. In particular, there is no guarantee that Anadys and Novartis will be able to agree on future development activities for ANA975, that the FDA will lift the clinical hold on the ANA975 IND, or that the clinical development of ANA975 will be able to be resumed. There also is no guarantee regarding Anadys' future involvement with, or value recognition from, the ANA380 program. Anadys' results may be further affected by risks related to its collaborative relationships with Novartis and LG Life Sciences, competition from other biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, its effectiveness at managing its financial resources, its ability to successfully develop and market products, the level of effort that its collaborative partners devote to development and commercialization of its product candidates, difficulties or delays in its pre-clinical studies or clinical trials, difficulties or delays in manufacturing its clinical trials materials, the scope and validity of patent protection for its products, regulatory developments involving future products and its ability to obtain additional funding to support its operations. Risk factors that may cause actual results to differ are more fully discussed in Anadys' SEC filings, including Anadys' Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006 and the "Risk Factors" section of Anadys' Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2007. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Anadys is providing this information as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this document as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Source: Anadys Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
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Hepatitis C could be considered occupational hazard
http://www.centralpennbusiness.com
Eric Veronikis
The state House Labor Relations Committee approved a bill yesterday that would classify hepatitis C as an occupational disease for certain law-enforcement jobs.
Rep. James E. Casorio Jr. (D-Montgomery County) introduced House Bill 1025. The legislation would presume that officers suffering with hepatitis C who work for the state Fish and Boat Commission, the Department of Natural Resources and the Port Authority contracted the disease on the job. The law would provide automatic workers' compensation to officers with the disease, Casorio said in a written statement.
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June 21st, 2007
Oncolys BioPharma and Tacere Therapeutics Form Strategic Alliance to Develop RNAi Hepatitis C Drug
http://biz.yahoo.com
TOKYO and SAN JOSE, Calif., June 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Oncolys BioPharma, Inc. (Tokyo, Japan) and Tacere Therapeutics, Inc. (San Jose, CA, USA) announced today that they have entered into a strategic alliance to develop TT-033, Tacere's lead clinical program. Under this agreement, Oncolys has been granted an option to acquire the Asian rights for TT-033, a novel RNA interference (RNAi) based product for the treatment of hepatitis C (HCV), which Oncolys will market as OBP-701. Further, Oncolys has made an equity investment in Tacere of an undisclosed amount.
"We are extremely excited about forming a collaborative relationship with Tacere, one of the pioneers in RNAi, as OBP-701/TT-033 greatly expands and perfectly matches our product pipeline," said Yasuo Urata, President and Chief Executive Officer of Oncolys. "Regarding HCV, there are still many patients who have no meaningful cure and there is a definite need for new drugs that are both effective and safe. We believe that OBP-701/TT-033 will enable us to offer new treatments for patients suffering from HCV."
Sara M. Hall, President and Chief Executive Officer of Tacere, stated, "After the team at Tacere's significant investment into the development of TT- 033, from proof-of-concept in 2004 as RNAi was first being recognized as a therapeutic modality to the beginning of IND-enabling studies, we are pleased to see this validation of our technology by Oncolys. Following our recent successful pre-IND meeting with the FDA, we share the excitement of seeing this product advance to the clinic. HCV continues to be a significant public health crisis in Japan, China and Korea, and we look forward to Oncolys' expert guidance along the regulatory and marketing path in Asia."
About TT-033
TT-033 is a novel therapeutic product containing three separate RNAi elements entrapped in an AAV protein coat. AAV delivery methods have demonstrated clinical safety and the ability to penetrate hepatocytes (the site of HCV replication) at high levels following a single intravenous administration. In preclinical animal studies, this "cocktail in one drug" targeted and cleaved the hepatitis C virus itself at three different sites simultaneously without toxicity. The three sequences were chosen to be effective against all genotypes of HCV. Tacere will begin IND-enabling studies on TT-033 shortly and plans to enter Phase 1 clinical studies in late 2008.
About Oncolys BioPharma, Inc.
Oncolys BioPharma is a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel biologics for the treatment of cancer and infectious disease. The company's lead product for the treatment of cancer, Telomelysin® (OBP-301), is based on replication-competent oncolytic virus, and is being tested in Phase-I clinical trial in the U.S. for various solid tumors. A novel cancer diagnostic product, Telomescan® (OBP-401), is at validation stage (feasibility studies) and is expected to be effective in detecting most types of cancer. The company also has a major program for infectious disease, OBP-601, in late pre-clinical stage (Pre-IND) for HIV/AIDS therapy. OBP-601 is a novel NRTI with highly promising safety and resistance profiles. For additional information, please visit www.oncolys.com .
About Tacere Therapeutics, Inc.
Tacere is an innovative biotechnology company focused on developing therapeutics to treat serious infectious diseases using its proprietary knowledge in the development of RNAi therapeutics. Tacere is located in San Jose, California, USA. Its lead therapeutic compound is TT-033, an RNAi drug for the treatment of hepatitis C. For additional information, please visit www.tacerebio.com.
CONTACTS:
ONCOLYS BIOPHARMA, INC.
Hide Takahashi
VP, Corporate Planning Division
+81 3 5575 3378
anticancer@oncolys.com
TACERE THERAPEUTICS, INC.
Mike Catelani
Chairman, Sr. VP & CFO
+1 408 960-2205
mcatelani@tacerebio.com
MEDIA CONTACT
Gregory Tiberend
Richard Lewis Communications, Inc.
+1 212 827-0020
gtiberend@rlcinc.com
Source: Tacere Therapeutics, Inc
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June 22nd, 2007
Pfizer’s Lyrica Receives FDA Approval for Fibromyalgia: Based on Expedited Review
http://home.businesswire.com
First FDA-Approved Medicine for Fibromyalgia Represents Treatment Advance for Millions of Americans Suffering From This Chronic, Widespread Pain Condition
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pfizer announced today that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Lyrica® (pregabalin) capsules CV for the management of fibromyalgia, one of the most common chronic, widespread pain conditions in the United States. The approval of Lyrica, which received a priority review, represents a breakthrough for the more than six million Americans who suffer from this debilitating condition who previously had no FDA approved treatment options.
“This is an important day for people with fibromyalgia and a real opportunity to help physicians effectively manage this disorder,” said Dr. Don Goldenberg, M.D., co-chair of the fibromyalgia guideline panel for the American Pain Society and professor of medicine, Tufts University. "Having a medication approved for use in fibromyalgia, along with research advances, will go a long way to improving our understanding and treatment of this common disorder."
Characterized by chronic widespread pain that can be relentless, fibromyalgia is usually accompanied by poor sleep, stiffness and fatigue; sufferers also report experiencing deep tenderness, soreness and flu-like aching. The pain of fibromyalgia can hamper a patient’s ability to work and often results in increased medical costs and disability.
“I had to give up my career and I wasn’t able to participate in a lot of my children’s activities,” said Carolyn Bishop, a fibromyalgia patient and participant in one of the Lyrica clinical trials.
Fibromyalgia is thought to result from neurological changes in how patients perceive pain, specifically a heightened sensitivity to stimuli that are not normally painful. Lyrica binds to a specific protein within overexcited nerve cells and works to calm damaged nerves. This is thought to reduce the level of pain in patients suffering from fibromyalgia, although the exact mechanism of how Lyrica acts in fibromyalgia is not known.
“Since I’ve started taking Lyrica, I’ve had less pain and felt better,” added Carolyn Bishop.
Lyrica’s approval for fibromyalgia represents the eighth Pfizer treatment to receive “priority review” status from the FDA over the past two and a half years. In addition to Lyrica’s initial approval for the management of neuropathic pain associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy, other priority reviews included Sutent for advanced kidney cancer and gastrointestinal stromal tumors and Chantix for smoking cessation.
“Pfizer undertook a robust clinical development program to evaluate Lyrica’s effectiveness in treating a number of conditions where there is a huge unmet medical need,” said Joe Feczko, Pfizer’s chief medical officer. “We are now seeing the dividends from our comprehensive research investment in the value that Lyrica will bring to patients suffering from fibromyalgia.”
In the clinical trials, Lyrica demonstrated rapid and sustained improvements in pain compared with placebo. In addition, patients taking Lyrica reported feeling better and improvements in physical function.
About Lyrica
Lyrica has been prescribed to more than five million patients worldwide.
In addition to this new indication in the United States, Lyrica is approved for the management of neuropathic pain associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy and post-herpetic neuralgia, and for the adjunctive therapy for adult patients with partial onset seizures.
The most common side effects occurring during the clinical trials for patients taking Lyrica versus those taking placebo were dizziness, somnolence, dry mouth, edema, blurred vision, weight gain, constipation, euphoric mood, balance disorder, increased appetite and thinking abnormally (primarily difficulty with concentration/attention).
Lyrica may cause allergic reactions such as angioedema and hypersensitivity. Some reported allergic reactions include swelling of the face, mouth, lips, gums, tongue, neck and trouble breathing. Others may include rash, hives and blisters. Patients should be instructed to discontinue Lyrica and seek immediate medical care if they experience these symptoms.
Patients taking Lyrica should be counseled that dizziness and somnolence may impair their ability to perform potentially hazardous tasks such as driving or operating complex machinery until they have sufficient experience with Lyrica to determine its effect on cognitive and motor function.
In all controlled studies, a higher proportion of patients treated with Lyrica reported blurred vision (7%) than did patients treated with placebo (2%), which resolved in a majority of cases with continued dosing. More frequent assessment should be considered for patients who are already routinely monitored for ocular conditions. If patients have had a drug or alcohol problem, they may be more likely to misuse Lyrica.
For Lyrica prescribing information, please visit www.lyrica.com.
To preview and request free broadcast-standard video about this announcement digitally or by tape, please log onto http://www.thenewsmarket.com/pfizer.
Contacts
Pfizer Inc
Jack Cox, 212-733-5017
or
Stephen Borboroglu, 212-733-1787
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NWT has Canada's highest Hep C rate
http://nnsl.com/northern-news-services
Jessica Klinkenberg
Northern News Services
YELLOWKNIFE - Health Canada reports that the NWT has the highest rate of Hepatitis C infection per capita in Canada.
The NWT's rate of Hepatitis C is 86.4 cases per 100,000 population.
British Columbia ranks second with 73 cases per 100,000 population.
In total, there are 356 known cases in the NWT as of May 29, reports the department of Health and Social Services.
Yellowknife has 223 of these cases.
But this number is an underestimation, said Dr. Andre Corriveau, chief medical officer of the NWT.
"Many cases remain hidden due to silent Hepatitis C virus carriers who experience no symptoms at all," Corriveau said Tuesday at the fourth Aboriginal Hepatitis conference, a three-day long event in Yellowknife.
"It's scary and I'm always saying we haven't seen the worse of it," said Fox Morin, who founded the conference. Morin was referring to the high number of people with the virus in the territory.
Morin said bringing the conference to Yellowknife was vital. It was attended by about 500 people from across Canada.
"It was very important because there was absolutely no education going on in the NWT," he said.
Corriveau said public health nurses and doctors provide people with the information if they feel that the person could potentially have Hep C.
He said this may be partly why the NWT has such high numbers: nurses and doctors here are looking for the disease more actively than those in other provinces.
"I think our rates are high because we diagnose people," he said. "I think we're doing a very good job of tracking them."
Corriveau said the numbers for Nunavut, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia can't be accurate, as all three report zero cases.
"It's also hard to believe that (they) have no rates at all," he said.
Wanda White, health protection and communicable disease specialist with Health and Social Services, said studies show that the majority of Hepatitis C carriers in the NWT are Aboriginal.
Corriveau said people often worry about HIV first when sharing needles or getting a piercing or tattoo in an unsanitary condition.
"People think that because it's their friends and family and they know that they don't have HIV, it's safe," Corriveau said.
"People don't know that (Hepatitis C) is more common than HIV," Corriveau said.
Ten per cent of people with Hep C who don't receive treatment in time can suffer severe damage to their liver and may need a transplant, Corriveau said.
"If the liver fails and we can't get them a liver, they're going to die," he said.
- Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus that causes inflammation of the liver, and can lead to cirrhosis.
- The virus is spread by contact with infected blood - through unsterilized needles, tattoo or piercing equipment; sexual activity, or by being born to a mother with Hep C.
- Many Canadians who received donated blood via tranfusions prior to 1992 are also at risk of infection
- Infection with two other strains of the hepatitis virus - Hepatitis A, which is spread through contaminated food and drink, and Hepatitis B, which is sexually transmitted - can be prevented through vaccinations.
- There is no vaccine for Hepatitis C.
- While some people can go for their entire lives never knowing they carry the virus, typical sign of an infection is inflammation of the liver.
- Other symptoms following initial infection include jaundice and fatigue.
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Ailing man fights for retirement benefits
http://www.news-leader.com
Donna Baxter
For the News-Leader
Without full benefits, Darrell Fuqua will struggle to pay for medical care he needs.
Darrell Fuqua, 48, of Springfield had really never been sick not until February 2006, when he was handed a diagnosis of end-stage liver cancer and kidney failure.
Now he's waiting for kidney and liver transplants, traveling to the Mayo Clinic every three months and hoping for retirement benefits sufficient to allow him to continue paying his monthly health insurance premium, according to his daughter Alisha Yates.
Her mother, Terry Fuqua, organized a benefit pancake breakfast at Applebee's south-Springfield location Saturday to help raise money for Fuqua's medical care.
"They're kind of in a hard spot right now," Yates said of her parents' position.
"It's a shock, a really big shock."
Terry Fuqua is unable to work and is on disability after spinal surgery, said Yates, an employee at Physical Therapy Care.
Darrell's sister, Tammy Young, of Springfield, helps with his care, Yates said.
When Darrell Fuqua first started traveling to the clinic in Rochester, Minn., for treatment, his wife set out donation cans at local gas stations and stores to solicit funds for their expenses.
Applebee's manager Andy Holman said he couldn't let her put a container in the restaurant because of a company policy, but suggested a pancake breakfast instead.
"I'm so pleased they let us use the restaurant," she said.
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