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Biotech / Medical : Ligand (LGND) Breakout! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Andrew H who wrote (17514)	3/17/1998 7:22:00 AM
From: Henry Niman	Respond to of 32384

Andy, I haven't seen the details, but as I recall there was some early data about an American Indian? population that had problems with leptin signalling. The key question centers on the type of problem and the size of the affected population. There have been reports in animal models showing a variety of defects that lead to obesity, including poor transport across the blood brain barrier which LGND thinks is significant on human populations. The mouse models (ob/ob and db/db) are defects in making leptin or binding leptin and human counterparts exist, but they are rare. Leptin may be more like insulin and diabetes. Resistance (inability to use efficiently) may the an underlying cause of obesity, and increasing the efficiency of leptin signalling may be similar to insulin injections for diabetics. Leptin research has been intense, but its still at a relatively early stage. I haven't talked to SI in several weeks, so I have no news on the leptin deal.

To: Andrew H who wrote (17514)	3/17/1998 7:31:00 AM
From: Henry Niman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32384

Here's more good news on the hormone replacement front: Monday March 16 6:13 PM EST Estrogen Lowers Cholesterol Levels NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Postmenopausal women who use hormone replacement therapy lower their levels of lipoprotein(a) -- a type of "bad" cholesterol that increases the risk of heart attack and stroke, according to the report in the journal Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. "The study confirms that hormone therapy has a broad-scale and sustained impact on cholesterol metabolism," said lead author Dr. Mark A. Espeland in a statement released by the American Heart Association. "And we found that the results were the same, regardless of a woman's age, weight, or prior hormone use," said Espeland, a professor at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In the study, Espeland and colleagues looked at 366 women who were participants in the Postmenopausal Estrogen/Progestin Intervention study, which was intended to evaluate the effect of hormone therapy on risk factors for heart disease and stroke. The women were between the ages of 45 and 65 and were each assigned to one of five groups: placebo alone; estrogen alone (0.625 milligrams/day); estrogen (0.625 mg/day) and progestin (2.5 mg/day); estrogen (0.625 mg/day) and progestin (10 mg/day) for 12 days each month; or estrogen (0.625 mg/day) and 200 mg micronized progesterone for 12 days each month. Most women now take progestin, a synthetic form of the hormone progesterone, in addition to estrogen to lower the risk of uterine cancer. The researchers report that compared with the women who took placebo, those treated in any of the other four groups had "a 17% to 23% average drop" in levels of lipoprotein(a) in their blood. Furthermore, the researchers report, the reductions in lipoprotein(a) levels were maintained during the three years of follow-up. There were no differences in results between the four active treatment arms, according to the article. In addition, the authors say, effectiveness was consistent regardless of age, weight, initial blood-fat level, or use of hormones in the past. SOURCE: Circulation (1998;97:979-986)