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Biotech / Medical : Pharmos (PARS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ariella who wrote (180)	11/11/1998 5:13:00 AM
From: Merav	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1386

The Lancet gives dexanabinol an impressive review. This prestigious publication is widely-read in medical circles. The Lancet, News Volume 352, Number 9139 7 November 1998 Cannabinoid is neuroprotective in head trauma The leading cause of death among young men in the western world--sequelae of severe head trauma--has no approved treatment. But clinical results from Israel indicate that dexanabinol (HU-211), a non-psychotropic cannabinoid analogue, may be "the most promising neuroprotective agent seen to date",says Lawrence Marshall (University of California, San Diego, CA, USA), an authority on head trauma. Phase II clinical trials provide strong evidence that the analogue can reduce intracranial pressure and significantly improve outcome in severe head injury, he adds. Other treatments, in phase III clinical trials, are yet to show definitive human benefit. Dexanabinol is "distinguished from earlier failed drugs by its triple mechanism of action", explains neuropharmcologist Anat Biegon (Pharmos,Rehovot, Israel). Dexanabinol's neuroinhibitory effect on NMDA receptors was discovered 10 years ago by Tel Aviv University biochemists Mordechai Sokolovsky and Yoel Kloog. Pharmos licensed dexanabinol in 1991 for development as a drug. Biegon then directed work in Israel and the USA that revealed dexanabinol's potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. 2 years ago, Pharmos began phase II double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trials in six Israeli trauma centres (Lancet 1996, 348: 1436 ). Of 67 unconscious patients, mostly young men injured in road accidents, 30 were given dexanabinol and 37 received placebo intravenously within 6 hours of injury (mean time 5 hours). "The significant reduction in intracranial pressure below the 'damage threshold' of 25 mm Hg--a key predictor of neurological outcome--without jeopardising blood pressure was quite impressive", says Marshall. Mortality was reduced by 26% and neurological outcome was improved. "Recovery was accelerated in the treated group" and "return to normal life among most severely injured patients was outstanding", says lead investigator Nachshon Knoller (Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel), who reported the results at the National Neurotrauma Society in Los Angeles, CA, USA on Nov 5. Phase III trials on dexanabinol are due to start in 1999. Rachelle H B Fishman