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Biotech / Medical : Harvard Scientific (HVSF)Hot$$- male impotency medicine -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Michael Murphree who wrote (3848)	11/19/1998 10:12:00 PM
From: Emec	Respond to of 3906

Testing sought on drug for women Marie Sanchez, Globe Correspondent 10/25/98 The Boston Globe City Edition Page A14 BURLINGTON -- Researchers for the Boston University School of Medicine are seeking FDA approval to conduct human trials on the most promising of several recently developed therapies aimed at improving female sexual response. Prompted by women asking for Viagra and by pharmaceutical companies searching for profitable new products, scientists have developed a gel and spray for the vaginal area that increases blood flow locally without the side effects that have been linked to Viagra, such as complications for people on heart medications. "Viagra opened the door," said lead researcher Irwin Goldstein, professor of urology at BU who specializes in men's and women's sexual disorders. "We're being forced to address women's problems." Tiny capsules, or liposomes, that carry a powerful drug to dilate blood vessels have been tested on men. When Goldstein tested the therapy on female rabbits, they absorbed the drug via the vaginal lining, increasing blood flow by up to 60 percent, he will announce in Burlington today at the inaugural symposium on New Perspectives in the Management of Female Sexual Dysfunction. Circulatory and nerve problems are major physical causes of female sexual disorders. Data on how many women are affected by such disorders are scarce, but the 1994 National Health and Social Life Survey showed that out of 1,500 women ages 18 through 60, sexual problems were reported by half, spanning socioeconomic and age groups. Up to 40 million American women will be afflicted by 2000, according to statistics by the Women's Center for Reproductive Health. Female sexual disorders have strong emotional and social components. Women most commonly complain of a lack of sexual desire or orgasm, and difficulties with lubrication or penetration. These problems have a strong impact on women's perceived quality of life, said Sandra Leiblum, professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey. Today, professionals are helping women with counseling, limited hormone treatments, and artificial lubricants. But as more women ask for help, they spur further research, which in turn drives new therapies, Goldstein said. Darryl See, clinical director for Harvard Scientific , a Florida- based biopharmaceutical company that financed the BU research, said the market for these new therapies could reach $2 billion to $10 billion a year, if figures for men's products are any indication. (About 30 million men suffer from erectile disorders.) For years, prostaglandin E1 has been used to open heart vessels. Now the patented liposome system offers a new use, and human trials could start late November, See said. Competing firms are trying to develop treatments that deliver the drugs through the skin, as with vaginal suppositories. Still others are using phentolamine in pill form to increase blood flow. And pills using a Viagra-like agent are now in first-phase human trials. See estimates that it will probably take 18 to 24 months for the first therapies to hit the drugstores. Harvard Scientific 's gels and sprays would be priced at $12 for a small bottle, See said, and each would hold four applications, lasting about an hour per dose. They could be safely reapplied immediately. Emotional and psychological considerations notwithstanding, See said that if the new therapies live up to their potential, they could usher in a "new moment in the sexual revolution" by giving women greater confidence in social and sexual situations. "There was the {birth control} pill in the '60s," he said. "The 'new pill' in sexual arousal could improve the quality of that encounter."

To: Michael Murphree who wrote (3848)	11/19/1998 10:15:00 PM
From: Emec	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3906

Health Healthwise A female Viagra in the making 11/10/98 The New Straits Times The New Straits Times Press Life And Times; 2* Page 06 THE GOOD NEWS AN experimental compound called prostaglandin E-1 may be useful in treating female sexual arousal disorder, according to researchers. In a study of 10 female rabbits, Dr Darryl See and colleagues at the Harvard Scientific Corporation of Burlington, Massachusetts, found that a gel containing the compound increased vaginal blood flow by about 50 per cent and had no adverse effects on the animals. The drug will be tested in clinical trials starting next month, in which it will be compared with a placebo in 10 healthy postmenopausal women. (Currently, there are no drugs on the market to treat female sexual disorders.) "Postmenopausal women are more prone to sexual dysfunction because of estrogen deficiencies and a higher incidence of coronary artery disease," said Dr See, "and studies have shown a direct correlation between decreased blood flow to the vaginal area and sexual dysfunction." According to Harvard Scientific , if clinical trials of the prostaglandin gel give positive results, and the Food and Drug Administration approves the product, it could be on the market in the year 2000. * A BRIEF few months of psychotherapy may help teenagers with minor depression, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. "Milder forms of depression may benefit from initial supportive therapy or short trials of more specialised psychotherapy," say psychiatric researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The researchers compared the emotional health of 100 adolescents, aged 13 to 18, before, during, and after three to four months of depression therapy. They conclude that brief supportive psychotherapy "may be sufficient for milder forms of adolescent depression." On the other hand, they say, children with "more severe depression may require more specialised psychotherapy for longer periods." THE BAD NEWS WOMEN are at increased risk of malaria during pregnancy, with the greatest risk in the first pregnancy. In a report published in the journal Nature, researchers suggest a reason for this: antibodies found in the blood of women who have previously been pregnant appear to offer protection against malaria, but women who have not been pregnant before lack these antibodies. A vaccine based on the antibodies, called anti-adhesion antibodies, "would benefit millions of pregnant women and infants in the tropics," according to the report. Malaria is caused by infection with a microscopic parasite, transmitted to humans via the bite of mosquitoes. The international team of researchers led by Dr Michael Fried of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research studied the infection rates of pregnant women in malaria-endemic areas of Africa and Asia. They found that less than two per cent of women in a second or subsequent pregnancy became infected with the malaria parasite, compared to over seven per cent of women in their first pregnancy. Closer investigation revealed that women in subsequent pregnancies develop what the authors describe as "anti-adhesion antibodies, which limit the accumulation of parasites in the placenta." * REPORTS of latex allergy, which can be life-threatening, have grown with the increased use of latex gloves and condoms, according to a report presented by the American Academy of Dermatology. And the popularity of body piercing is sending more perforated patients to their dermatologists complaining of skin problems, mostly due to sensitivity to the nickel in jewellery. Skin redness, itching and swelling followed by a thick, crusted patch are symptoms of irritant contact dermatitis, caused by direct contact with chemicals in latex or other glove components. Allergic contact dermatitis, however, affects the immune system and has caused deaths. People with spina bifida are 500 times more likely to become allergic to latex. Those with a history of eczema, hay fever and asthma, and people who have undergone multiple surgical procedures, are also at higher-than- average risk of latex allergy. "Nickel is the leading cause of contact allergy in America," the dermatologists said. The rise of nickel allergies has coincided with the popularity of body piercing. Redness, itching, swelling and crusting may mimic infections, but are probably an indication to avoid nickel products, they said.