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Biotech / Medical : Pharma News Only (pfe,mrk,wla, sgp, ahp, bmy, lly) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (842)	9/25/1998 6:37:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1722

Pfizer Antibiotic [Zithromax] Seen Reducing Heart Disease in Rabbit Study Bloomberg News September 25, 1998, 5:49 p.m. ET Pfizer Antibiotic Seen Reducing Heart Disease in Rabbit Study San Diego, California, Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Inc.'s antibiotic Zithromax seemed to prevent hardening of the arteries in a study of about 60 rabbits, an early indication that fighting bacterial infection may fight off some heart disease. Hardening of the arteries can lead to heart attacks and strokes, two of the leading causes of death in the U.S. The research was presented at the 38th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, held in San Diego. Previous studies in animals had suggested a link between hardening of the arteries, also known as atherosclerosis, and bacterial infection. More research will be needed to prove a link between bacterial infection and the disease in man. ''We think the animal studies may help develop better guidelines'' for possible human studies, said Ignatius Fong, professor of medicine at the University of Toronto. In studies conducted at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, investigators infected three groups of rabbits with chlamydia pneumonaie to produce respiratory infections. A group of 24 rabbits was treated with Zithromax five days later and another group of 24 was given the antibiotic after six weeks. The third group, which had 23 rabbits, was untreated to serve as a control for the experiment. Eight of these rabbits developed early-stage atherosclerosis in the heart's main artery, the aorta. In the 24 rabbits given Zithromax after six weeks, eight animals also developed some kind of aortic damage. Only one rabbit of 24 treated earlier with Zithromax developed atherosclerosis. Research previously published in two medical journals indicated use of some antibiotics might play a role in reducing heart disease, Fong said. Pfizer, the world's sixth biggest drugmaker by sales, also introduced a new antibiotic Trovan earlier this year. Considered a success among antibiotics, which have about $8 billion in annual U.S. sales, Trovan's success has been overshadowed by another product Pfizer introduced this year, the impotence pill Viagra. --Kerry Dooley in San Diego through the Washington newsroom (202)

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (842)	9/25/1998 6:50:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1722

[GILD, Hoffman-LaRoche] New Pill Reduces Bout With Flu SEPTEMBER 25, 01:21 EDT By DANIEL Q. HANEY AP Medical Editor SAN DIEGO (AP) — An experimental new pill appears to reduce a typical four-day bout of the flu by about a day and a half while making you feel better, too. It is one of two closely related drugs in development — one given as a pill, the other as a nasal spray — that could offer important new weapons against the ubiquitous wintertime misery. Two other flu medicines are already on the market, but they are ineffective against one of the two major varieties of the flu virus. The two medicines in development appear to work against both kinds. If they eventually win approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, they could serve as a kind of backup to the flu vaccine, which will remain the most important defense against the disease. Researchers were to outline the results today of the first large-scale human testing of a medicine code named GS4104, being developed by Gilead Sciences Inc. and Hoffman-LaRoche. The studies suggest that if taken within a day or so after symptoms start, GS4104 reduces flu's severity by 40 percent and its duration by 33 percent. ''This will get people back on their feet more quickly,'' said Dr. Frederick G. Hayden of the University of Virginia, one of the researchers. Hayden said the medicine's pill form makes it easy to take. He said this could give it an edge over a chemically similar competitor, called zanamivir, which is a nasal spray. Since neither drug is on the market yet and they have not been compared head to head, no one knows which will be more effective. However, the two drugs attack the cold virus the same way; in the test tube, they appear to be of similar potency. The drugs already on the market are Symmetrel, known generically as amantadine, and Flumadine, known generically as rimantadine. Both are effective against influenza A, which causes about two-thirds of the estimated 20 million flu cases in the United States each year. But they are useless against influenza B, the viral strain that causes the rest. In studies financed by the drug's developers, doctors tested GS4104 on 629 patients in the United States. All were seen within 1 1/2 days of the start of symptoms and were randomly given the medicine or dummy pills. GS4104 appeared to reduce the duration of symptoms from an average of 4.3 days to 2.9 days while also making people feel less miserable. ''It's an exciting step forward,'' said Dr. John J. Treanor of the University of Rochester, another researcher involved in the study. Besides cutting short a bout of flu, the researchers also found that a once-a-day dose could keep people from catching the illness at all. In a separate study on about 1,600 volunteers, they showed that only 1 percent of people taking the pills came down with the flu, compared with nearly 5 percent in an untreated comparison group. The doctors emphasized that the pills would be not be a substitute for a flu shot. Instead, they might be useful for warding off the flu in those who fail to get the shot and for those who fail to respond properly to the shot. They also could be helpful in years when flu shots aren't highly effective against whatever strain of flu is circulating. ''These data are relatively impressive,'' said Dr. William Craig of the University of Wisconsin, who headed the meeting's program committee. Charles Alfaro, a Hoffman-LaRoche spokesman, said GS4104 will probably be submitted to the FDA for approval next year. No decision has been made about how much it will cost.