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GenoMed, Inc. Announces Drug Therapy that Delays Kidney Disease
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ST. LOUIS, Feb. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- GenoMed, Inc. (OTC Pink Sheets: GMED) ("the Company" or "GenoMed"), a St. Louis, Missouri-based medical genomics biotechnology company, announced today a new drug treatment that delays the progression of kidney disease caused by type 2 diabetes (adult-onset diabetes).
Based on pilot data over three years conducted by Dr. David Moskowitz, GenoMed's Chairman and Chief Medical Officer, the drug regimen slowed the rate of progression of renal disease due to type 2 diabetes by 200 percent in African-American men and 50 percent in Caucasian men. The disease was reversed altogether when patients were treated early in the course of the disease -- before their serum creatinine, a standard measurement of kidney function, reached 2 milligrams per deciliter.
Moskowitz gave the patients a high dose of a specific ACE inhibitor. Beginning in 1993, he discovered that ACE -- angiotensin I-converting enzyme -- is a "master" disease gene that is associated with approximately 40 common, serious diseases such as kidney disease and other complications of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and its complications, emphysema, congestive heart failure and even some psychiatric diseases and common types of cancer such as colon, prostate, and lung. Drugs used against this enzyme are called ACE inhibitors. "We've identified a correlation between the ACE gene and many common diseases," Moskowitz said. "What makes the association so powerful is our clinical outcomes data."
With the new treatment, the time to kidney dialysis for African-American men increased from 3.3 years to an average of 9.3 years; treatment for Caucasian men extended the time to dialysis from 2.7 years to 4.0 years. The data suggests that if this new treatment were started early enough, both African-American and Caucasian patients with diabetes would never need dialysis.
According to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine (9/20/01), the annual cost of care for patients in the United States with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) is more than $18 billion, and accounts for six percent of the Medicare budget. The leading causes of ESRD are diabetes and hypertension. ESRD is a chronic, incurable condition; the 10-year survival rate is approximately 13 percent.
Moskowitz says that using existing drugs for new clinical indications is, in many cases, the quickest and least expensive way to improve a patient's condition. "It usually takes 10-15 years and hundreds of millions of dollars to develop a new drug before it meets FDA approval," Moskowitz said. "Using this new regimen with an existing ACE inhibitor can delay a patient's renal failure and need for dialysis. This regimen should reduce the high cost of treating ESRD."
Moskowitz, a nephrologist trained at Harvard, Oxford and Washington University in St. Louis, left a career as a staff physician at the St. Louis VA Medical Center and assistant professor at Saint Louis University School of Medicine to start GenoMed, a biotech genomics company. "The promise of GenoMed is to improve patients' quality of life and to save money by identifying genes which cause disease," Moskowitz said. "We have compelling data that is immediately valuable to patients, their physicians, and their health care payors, and offers immediate cost savings."
Dr. George Griffing, director of the division of general internal medicine at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, said, "GenoMed's findings offer great hope to patients with certain devastating diseases, and dramatic opportunity for cost savings."
Type 2 diabetes is nearing epidemic proportions, due to increasing numbers of older Americans and more obesity and sedentary lifestyles, according to the American Diabetes Association. Almost six percent of the American population has diabetes, and type 2 diabetes accounts for 90 to 95 percent of those suffering from the disease.
"I'm excited because our initial data is so promising. The challenge now is to reach health care companies and large employers who can capitalize on the clinical and financial outcomes for patients," Moskowitz said.
The science of genomics promises to extend and improve life by identifying genes which cause disease, and then developing drugs to counteract the effects of these disease-causing genes.
About GenoMed
GenoMed is a biotech genomics company based in St. Louis, Missouri, that is working to translate knowledge of disease genes into better patient outcomes as rapidly and safely as possible. The company's primary work is genotyping disease specimens, and GenoMed expects to complete four million genotypes in 2002. Building on its initial discoveries and success, GenoMed is dedicated to (1) identifying additional disease-associated genes; (2) working on new treatments using existing drugs; and, (3) developing new drugs specifically designed against disease-causing genes. GenoMed's stock ticker symbol is GMED.
For additional information specific to the new treatment, please visit www.genomedics.com and contact Craig Hall at 941.366.6677 or e-mail at chall@floridafunds.com for a GenoMed investor package.
This press release contains forward looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including those statements pertaining to the beneficial nature of the drug therapy that slows kidney disease. The words or phrases "would be," "will allow," "intends to," "will likely result," "are expected to," "will continue," "is anticipated," "estimate," "project," or similar expressions are intended to identify "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward looking statements as a result of a number of risks and uncertainties. Among other things, competition from existing or new competitors will impact our business; our research and development is subject to economic, regulatory, governmental, and technological factors. Statements made herein are as of the date of this press release and should not be relied upon as of any subsequent date. Unless otherwise required by applicable law, we do not undertake, and specifically disclaims any obligation, to update any forward-looking statements to reflect occurrences, developments, unanticipated events or circumstances after the date of such statement.
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SOURCE GenoMed, Inc.
/CONTACT: Craig Hall of GenoMed, +1-941-366-6677, or
chall@floridafunds.com/
/Web site: genomedics.com /
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