GenoMed, Inc. Announces Publication of Study Suggesting ACE is Behind Most Diseases
ST. LOUIS, Oct. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- GenoMed, Inc. -- ("the Company" or "GenoMed") (OTC Pink Sheets Symbol: GMED), a St. Louis, Missouri- based medical genomics biotechnology company, announced publication today of a research article which identifies a large number of common diseases that may benefit from treatment with an ACE inhibitor. ACE is an abbreviation for "angiotensin I converting enzyme." Drugs which inhibit this enzyme are called "ACE inhibitors," and have been in clinical use since 1976. Several ACE inhibitors are available as generic drugs now.
The research 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 diseases in black men, 132 diseases in black women, and about a dozen diseases in Hispanic patients.
The conclusion of the paper is that effective ACE inhibition may possibly improve patient outcomes in an extraordinary number of diseases: perhaps as many as 70% of all common diseases in whites, and at least 40% of common diseases in blacks.
These diseases include almost every kind of heart disease including most complications of diabetes and high blood pressure; almost all common cancers except prostate and breast cancer; and several major psychiatric diseases. Even the rate of infection with the HIV virus, as well as progression to AIDS, might be decreased with effective ACE inhibition.
Dr. David Moskowitz, GenoMed's Chairman and Chief Medical Officer, commented, "This paper suggests that most common adult diseases are related in that they all start with activation of the ACE enzyme. This is quite a new idea, and one with immediate clinical consequences. Last month in the same journal, we showed the benefit of completely inhibiting ACE for four diseases including diabetic and hypertensive kidney disease. It will take several years at least to show which additional diseases we can 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."
Dr. Moskowitz continued, "Given the overall safety record of ACE inhibitors and of our treatment in particular, and the seriousness of the diseases we're talking about, I believe that the potential benefits of GenoMed's approach far outweigh the risk of trying nothing new."
The article is published in the September/October issue of Diabetes Technology and Therapeutics, volume 4, number 5, pages 683-711.
GenoMed has applied for patents on the above material, including the many disease indications for its new treatment and the new ACE-inhibitor-based 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.
Consistent with the Company's goal to improve patient outcomes globally, GenoMed is currently working to license its treatments to patients and physicians worldwide. For example, GenoMed recently licensed its treatment to La Clinica Health Center (3646 Fairview Ave., St. Louis, MO; tel. 314-664- 5565), whose Hispanic population has a nearly 50% prevalence rate of diabetes.
For questions, please contact Krissy Fischer, tel. 1-877-GENOMED (1-877- 436-6633), FAX 314-977-0042, email: kfischer@genomedics.com or visit GenoMed at www.genomedics.com.
SOURCE GenoMed, Inc.
CONTACT: Krissy Fischer of GenoMed, Inc., +1-877-GENOMED, or
+1-877-436-6633, or fax, +1-314-977-0042, or kfischer@genomedics.com
Web site: genomedics.com
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