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Biotech / Medical : GUMM - Eliminate the Common Cold -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: out_of_the_loop who wrote (2158)	2/1/2000 9:57:00 PM
From: pz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5582

Tuesday February 1 7:22 PM ET Zicam reduces length of common cold dailynews.yahoo.com NEW YORK, Feb 01 (Reuters Health) -- An independent trial has shown that the nasal gel Zicam, a homeopathic remedy sold over-the-counter, significantly shortens the length of the common cold. The trial results confirm the results of an earlier study performed by the company that developed the gel, Gel Tech LLC of Woodland Hills, California. As reported by Reuters Health last November, the results of a small pilot trial performed by Gel Tech had shown that Zicam significantly reduced the length of the common cold from 9.8 days to between 1.5 and 3.3 days, depending on dose. The study was to be published in the February issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, but was withdrawn by the journal due to early release of the results and other issues not in compliance with the journal's policies. The new study of over 100 patients was led by Dr. Michael Hirt of the Center for Integrative Medicine at the Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, and took place there and at three other sites. The study was double-blind, meaning that neither the healthcare providers nor the patients knew which people in the study were using the active form of the therapy, versus using a placebo or ``dummy' gel. Placebos are used in studies for comparison purposes. According to an interview with Hirt, the study showed that patients given Zicam within 24 hours after the onset of cold symptoms had symptoms for about 2 days, compared with 9 days of symptoms in patients given a gel that did not contain active ingredients. These results are in agreement with the company's initial results. Hirt pointed out that Zicam was about twice as effective as zinc lozenges. Although the active ingredient in Zicam is also zinc, delivering the zinc directly to the lining of the nose in the form of a gel prevents rhinovirus, the virus responsible for most cases of the common cold, from attaching to the nasal lining and causing cold symptoms. ``As a result, when you blow your nose, with the natural flow of mucus, the virus gets washed right out,' he said. Zinc also prevents white blood cells, which use the same receptor as rhinovirus, from attaching to the lining of the nose and recruiting other cells that cause inflammation. ``By blocking that mechanism, and by blocking the viral attachment, you really get to the root cause of what is going on with a cold,' Hirt said. He says he is in the process of preparing a manuscript to publish the results. ``We are obviously pleased that this independent study confirms what we've always felt all along about the product based on our initial internal clinical work,' Brown Russell, chairman of the board of Gum Tech International, the parent company of Gel Tech, told Reuters Health. ``We think it confirms that Zicam can significantly reduce the duration and severity of the cold.' Sales of Zicam totaled over $8 million from November 1 through December 31, 1999. Gel Tech was sued last November by Doylestown, Pennsylvania-based Quigley Corporation for patent infringement. 'We consider that suit to be completely without merit,' Russell said. Their patent covered delivering zinc orally, and specifically excluded applying zinc to the nasal lining, he said. Gel Tech announced on January 12 that the US Patent and Trade Office has agreed to issue them a patent for Zicam.