GenoMed Launches Clinical Trial Against the Common Cold
ST. LOUIS, Jan 26, 2004 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- GenoMed Inc. ("the
Company" or "GenoMed") (Pink Sheets: GMED) announced today that it has launched
a free clinical trial available to anybody with the common cold.
Symptoms of the common head cold consist of sore throat, runny nose, sinus
drainage, and occasionally fever, muscle aches, weakness, and fatigue. The
common cold causes billions of dollars of lost work. It is caused by a number of
viruses well-known to our species, including human coronaviruses. SARS is caused
by a coronavirus which is new to humans.
GenoMed has genomic epidemiologic evidence that autoimmune diseases such as
allergic sinusitis are associated with overactivity of angiotensin I-converting
enzyme, or ACE. The Company has been accumulating clinical evidence that
blocking the major product of ACE, which is a small eight amino acid hormone
named angiotensin II, can decrease inflammation in a number of diseases,
including viral disease. These diseases so far include alopecia, psoriasis,
fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, and West Nile virus encephalitis.
GenoMed has already launched trials for influenza A, SARS, and avian flu. It now
launches an attack against the most common viral illness of all, the common
cold.
Using angiotensin II blockers to block the symptoms of a viral illness such as
the common cold has enormous clinical appeal, since nobody taking an angiotensin
II blocker or ACE inhibitor in the 25 years of their global use has ever
appeared to be immunocompromised. The same cannot be said for any other
immunomodulator in clinical use, such as steroids, which cause a number of
problems when used chronically. Not so with angiotensin II blockers.
GenoMed has already tested this patent-pending approach against West Nile virus
encephalitis, a viral scourge in which the people who die are the ones with the
most vigorous immune response. GenoMed's patient outcomes for West Nile virus
encephalitis this past September were extremely encouraging: 7 out of 8 patients
had prompt disappearance of their symptoms within 12-48 hours (24 hours on
average). The only patient not to respond had chronic lymphocytic leukemia, in
which the immune response is known to be severely impaired. In leukemia, white
cells don't work properly. But three patients over 70 recovered promptly. This
age group has a 50% mortality from West Nile virus encephalitis. GenoMed's case
series for West Nile virus encephalitis is scheduled to be published in a
special Pharmacogenomics issue of "Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry" later
this year.
Said Dr. David Moskowitz, Chief Medical & Executive Officer for GenoMed, "Our
extremely positive experience with West Nile virus this past September, and with
autoimmune diseases like psoriasis and alopecia for over a year, have shown us
the utility of blocking angiotensin II in diseases with lots of inflammation. We
can't prevent everybody from getting sick with a cold, but our treatment may
make people feel better more quickly compared with doing nothing -- what's
called 'supportive care only.'"
Continued Dr. Moskowitz, "As you can imagine, this will be a hard trial to
perform. We'll be following how many people who enroll in our trial actually
come down with a full-blown head cold, how long they have to miss work or
school, and how bad their cold symptoms are on a scale of 1 to 10. We'll ask
patients to rate their experience this winter against previous winters. We'll
also try to get control information from other people in their household who
didn't enroll in our trial. We're looking for a major, clinically significant
change in their cold pattern, not a 10% difference, which will be undetectable
with this study design."
Dr. Moskowitz went on to say, "The Internet now makes it possible for anybody to
enroll in our free clinical trial at any time of day or night anywhere in the
world, simply by going to our website and clicking on 'cold trial.' They'll have
to enter their email address so that we can follow up with them. We need to do
this in order to be able to publish our case series for the common cold as we're
already doing for West Nile virus. In return for giving us their email address,
people will be able to download the documents they'll need to show their
physician in order to get started immediately on our trial."
Dr. Moskowitz ended by saying, "We believe our approach may be ideal for
combating all viral diseases on a population-wide basis. The drugs we use are
safe in children and adults, so there's virtually no risk if they're used at
appropriate doses."
GenoMed thinks that it would make the most sense to begin using its treatment
when a patient feels a cold coming on, not after the patient feels so miserable
that s/he has to stay home from school or work. The drugs GenoMed uses are safe
enough to allow for their preventive use.
To volunteer for GenoMed's free clinical trial against the common cold, go to
the home page at www.genomedics.com and click on "Common Cold Clinical Trial."
About GenoMed
GenoMed, Inc. is a Next Generation Disease Management(TM) whose mission is to
improve patient outcomes by identifying the molecular pathways that cause
disease. A St. Louis Business Journal article (
stlouis.bizjournals.com )
first reported that the company has applied for patents based on its finding
that the ACE gene is associated with a large number of common diseases including
virtually all autoimmune diseases. The body's immune response to cold viruses
are responsible for the symptoms a cold sufferer gets. They are the result of
cytokines or interleukins acting downstream in the disease pathway from
angiotensin II, which is a very early upstream signal. Blocking angiotensin II
should decrease the body's reaction to the virus, and decrease the degree and
duration of cold symptoms.
For questions, please contact David W. Moskowitz MD, MA(Oxon.), FACP at
314-977-0115, FAX 314-977-0042, email: dwmoskowitz@genomedics.com , or visit
GenoMed at genomedics.com
SOURCE GenoMed Inc.
CONTACT: David W. Moskowitz MD, MA(Oxon.), FACP, +1-314-977-0115, or Fax, +1-314-977-0042, dwmoskowitz@genomedics.com
URL: genomedics.com |
