GenoMed, Inc. Announces Publication of Study Suggesting Many Disease Indications for Its New Treatment
ST. LOUIS, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- GenoMed, Inc. (OTC Pink Sheets: GMED), ("the Company" or "GenoMed") a St. Louis, Missouri-based medical genomics biotechnology company, announced today that a research article documenting the many diseases which may benefit from its novel ACE inhibitor treatment will be published soon. The article, entitled "Is Angiotensin I-Converting Enzyme a 'Master' Disease Gene?" is a study in the new field of genomic epidemiology. It describes the results of genotyping 10,400 hospital and clinic patients for the ACE gene polymorphism, including nearly 4,000 patients on kidney dialysis. In all, results are presented for 219 disease categories in white men, 78 diseases in white women, 196 disease categories in black men, 132 diseases in black women, and about a dozen diseases in Hispanic patients. The conclusion of the paper is that effective tissue ACE inhibition may possibly improve patient outcomes in an extraordinary number of diseases: perhaps as many as 60-70% of diseases in whites, and 40% in blacks. At least 30% of the small number of diseases tested in Hispanic dialysis patients ought to benefit from effective tissue ACE inhibition.
These diseases include almost all categories of cardiovascular disease; almost all common cancers except prostate and breast-in where the data are still confusing; and several major psychiatric diseases. Even the rate of infection with the HIV virus, and progression to AIDS, look as if they might be decreased with effective tissue ACE inhibition.
Dr. David Moskowitz, GenoMed's Chairman and Chief Medical Officer, commented, "We are extrapolating from epidemiologic odds ratios to prediction of clinical benefit. This is always risky, but our own extraordinary patient outcomes published earlier this month appear to justify this leap of faith. It will take several years, at the least, to show which of these many diseases we can actually slow down. In the case of cancer, which probably takes decades to develop, it may take decades, too, to show a beneficial effect of our treatment. Given the safety record of our treatment so far, and the seriousness of the diseases we're talking about, to me it seems that the potential benefit of trying our new treatment outweighs the risk of trying something new."
Dr. Moskowitz continued, "I am the first to admit that this whole story sounds incredible, since we're all used to thinking in terms of just one disease at a time. But our extreme good fortune is brought to us by the ACE gene. It happens to be an incredibly old and important gene for life on earth, and our data suggest that it is at the origin of most common diseases in humans, and, probably, vertebrates, that is, animals with a backbone. I personally believe we have hit one of the largest clinical jackpots of all time."
Dr. Moskowitz ended by saying, "The sooner we can convince patients and physicians about the potential usefulness of our method, the sooner we believe we can cut healthcare costs and slow current worldwide epidemics in cardiovascular disease, cancer, and perhaps, if our data hold up, even HIV."
The article will be published in the October/November issue of Diabetes Technology and Therapeutics.
GenoMed has applied for patents on the above material, including the many disease indications for its new treatment and the new treatment itself. GenoMed is actively enrolling physicians and patients in the U.S. and abroad in its Clinical Outcomes Improvement Progam(TM), based on the Company's discoveries.
About GenoMed
GenoMed, Inc. is a medical genomics company whose mission is to improve patient outcomes by identifying the genes that cause disease. A recent St. Louis Business Journal article (http://www.stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2002/05/13/story8.html) reported that the company has applied for patents based on its finding that the ACE gene is associated with a number of common, age-related diseases. These diseases are the subject of the article described here. The Company has filed patent applications on its new treatments for both human and veterinary use. A video version of the company's treatment results for chronic kidney failure is available at 216.234.225.2
Consistent with the Company's goal to improve patient outcomes globally, GenoMed is currently working to license its treatments to physicians and healthcare systems worldwide. GenoMed recently held a press conference at La Clinica Health Center (3646 Fairview Ave., St. Louis, MO; tel. 314-664-5565) in, May 2002 to discuss licensing the same treatment to La Clinica for its Hispanic population, who have a 50% prevalence rate of diabetes. GenoMed also recently announced that it is holding discussions with large physician organizations located in the Midwestern and Southwestern United States as part of its strategy to work directly with physicians to deliver its unique treatments to patients.
For questions, please contact Krissy Fischer, tel. 1-877-GENOMED, FAX 314-977-0042, email: kfischer@genomedics.com or visit GenoMed at www.genomedics.com.
SOURCE GenoMed, Inc.
CONTACT: Krissy Fischer, GenoMed, Inc., +1-1-877-GENOMED, or fax,
+1-314-977-0042, or email: kfischer@genomedics.com
Web site: genomedics.com
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