Yes, they've been looking at Enbrel as a treatment for CHF for a while now...nice to see positive results reported.
Here's the link, for other threaders
biz.yahoo.com
Sunday November 7, 8:46 pm Eastern Time
Enbrel arthritis drug shows heart-disease promise
By Ransdell Pierson
ATLANTA, Nov 7 (Reuters) - The popular arthritis drug Enbrel offers promise in treating patients with heart disease, according to a study released Sunday that indicates it helps restore the body's normal balance of anti-inflammation and pro-inflammation proteins.
Dr. Douglas Mann, a Baylor College of Medicine cardiologist, presented data from the U.S. study at an annual meeting of the American Heart Assn. being held here.
Enbrel, co-marketed by American Home Products Corp. (NYSE:AHP - news) and its majority-owned subsidiary Immunex Corp. (NasdaqNM:IMNX - news), was approved in late 1998 for treatment of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. It works by binding and thereby disabling tumor necrosis factor (TNF), an immune-system protein that promotes inflammation as means of fighting pathogens.
Mann said the three-month trial involved 44 patients with chronic heart failure, a condition in which weakened hearts are unable to adequately pump blood to the rest of the body. Some patients typically lack strength to perform even routine chores such as making their beds.
Immunex began the Phase I trial after earlier studies by company scientists suggested an association between high TNF levels and the heart condition which affects an estimated 5 million Americans. Studies by other researchers are also increasingly linking inflammation to heart disease.
``TNF is generally the first molecule that is expressed during inflammation. It's released by a variety of cells in tissues and the bloodstream,' Mann said. He added that TNF, in turn, activates two other inflammatory molecules called Interleukin 1-beta and Interleukin-6.
Mann said levels of all three inflammatory molecules are typically elevated in patients with chronic heart failure, while there is a depressed level of a protein called Interleukin-10 whose job is to reduce inflammation.
``Normally, when Interleukin 1-beta and Interleukin-6 go up, Interleukin-10 also goes up to keep things in balance -- to keep inflammation from getting out of control. But in patients with heart failure, that normal self-regulating mechanism breaks down,' Mann said.
In his study, Mann said heart patients were treated with either 5 milligram- or 12-milligram doses of Enbrel (etanercept), or with placebos, receiving injections twice a week.
In patients taking placebos, after three months levels of the pro-inflammatory protein Interleukin 1-beta rose 11 percent, compared with a rise of only 7 percent for the lower-dose Enbrel group and a 13-percent decline among patients taking the higher Enbrel dose.
Placebo-taking patients saw their levels of inflammation- promoting Interleukin-6 rise 5 percent, while levels of the protein fell 25 percent for the combined Enbrel groups.
Meanwhile, levels of the anti-inflammatory protein Interleukin-10 fell 48 percent in the placebo group, but rose 12 percent in the low-dose Enbrel group and 74 percent for the high-dose Enbrel patients.
``Enbrel, by removing TNF, seems to have made a dramatic change on both sides of the equation, helping to restore the balance in inflammation regulation,' said Mann, who added that Enbrel patients generally reported some improvement in ability to perform daily chores and tolerate exercise.
Based on the favorable data, Immunex has already begun a larger Phase II/III trial to see whether Enbrel can increase survival times and reduce severity of illness in patients six months after treatment. It expects results of that trial by 2001.
Seattle-based Immunex has said it expects Enbrel to garner revenues of $350 million this year, leaping to $2 billion within five years. |
