We need one, as the capitalizations as companies come to market are going to be obscene. Again, that was a theme of one luncheon at H&Q this year, the morphing of bioinvestors into venture investors.
Speaking of which, I have a (unfortunately, very, very, very, very small) private placement in Medinox.....
Monday January 24, 7:01 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Sepsis Blocked by Experimental Drug from Medinox
Results of Blood Infection Study Are Published in The American
Journal of Physiology
SAN DIEGO--(BW HealthWire)--Jan. 24, 2000--Preclinical studies by researchers at the
Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh showed that NOX-100 -- an experimental drug being developed by Medinox, Inc. --
blocked a key event that can lead in a ''chain reaction'' to sepsis, a potentially lethal blood infection.
Millions of people are at risk for sepsis. Each year in the United States alone, it causes the hospitalization of over 500,000
people, and the death of 100,000.
Study findings, reported in The American Journal of Physiology (December 1999), demonstrated that NOX-100 checked
bacterial translocation (BT), the passage of microbes from the intestines into the blood stream. These microbes normally live in
the intestines and coexist harmlessly with the body. But when they enter the blood, as in BT, they can grow, multiply and
produce sepsis.
The study focused on the role of nitric oxide (NO) in this ''chain reaction.''
Nitric oxide is used by the body in small amounts to perform many vital functions. But when produced in excess, it can cause
damage which contributes to several diseases and disorders.
A variety of conditions -- including trauma, post-surgical infections, intestinal blockage, shock, and general anesthesia -- can
lead to the inflammatory response in the intestinal wall that triggers excess production of nitric oxide.
Excess nitric oxide can cause BT. And BT can cause sepsis.
By neutralizing excess nitric oxide in the study, NOX-100 stopped this potentially lethal ''chain reaction'' sequence before it
started.
The Pittsburgh team, led by Dr. Henri R. Ford, assistant professor of Pediatric Surgery, had prior evidence that increased nitric
oxide can damage the intestinal barrier, permitting bacteria to move or translocate from the intestines into the circulation.
The new study, employing a rat model of sepsis, demonstrated that neutralizing excess nitric oxide with NOX-100 blocked the
appearance of bacteria in the blood. NOX-100 also protected the integrity of the intestinal wall from nitric oxide-mediated
damage.
''By neutralizing excessive nitric oxide and blocking bacterial translocation, a key event in the pathogenesis of sepsis,'' Dr. Ford
said, ''NOX-100 may prove to have major applications in the treatment of septic shock and other diseases characterized by
the sustained over-production of nitric oxide.''
It is possible, for example, that early administration of NOX-100 before the build up of excess nitric oxide begins may prove to
be a potentially useful preemptive move.
NOX-100 is part of the broad nitric oxide neutralizer platform technology being developed by Medinox to deal with
inflammatory conditions that involve excessive NO production. Their proprietary NOX compounds bind nitric oxide very tightly
and with great specificity, preventing it from participating in processes that lead to disease pathology.
The key to Medinox's unique neutralizing technology is that it removes excess nitric oxide while preserving the low level of
production needed to maintain normal body functions. Their ''neutralizer'' approach for eliminating excess nitric oxide is
potentially more effective as a therapeutic than enzyme inhibitors, which block its synthesis entirely, and may reduce NO to
dangerously low levels.
NOX-100 is already in human clinical trials for other indications, including intradialytic hypotension (IH) -- the episode of low
blood pressure that is the most frequent side effect of routine hemodialysis. IH, which occurs in about one-quarter of all
hemodialysis treatments, is associated with excessive nitric oxide production. In the United States, IH affects approximately
50,000 hemodialysis patients.
An on-going Phase I/II clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of NOX-100 for treating IH was initiated at the University of
California, San Diego Medical Center, in September, 1999.
As the leader in nitric oxide neutralizing therapeutics, Medinox is developing a broad technology platform for the unmet
treatment needs of a range of human diseases and disorders which involve excess nitric oxide production -- including
neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer's, Parkinson's diseases; multiple sclerosis), chronic inflammatory diseases (arthritis,
psoriasis), diabetes, nephritis, migraine, and ischemia/reperfusion injury.
Medinox, a privately-held pharmaceutical company headquartered in San Diego, was founded in 1995. The company currently
has 21 employees (10 Ph.D.s).
Contact:
Medinox Inc.
Monte Lai, Ph.D., 858/793-4820
cslai@medinox.com
or
Friestedt International
Susanne Friestedt, 858/581-1199
friestintl@aol.com |
