Diabetes and Health News for 01/03/99

Progress In Nerve Treatments

One of the world's foremost nerve researchers is Dr. Aaron I. Vinik, who heads the nerve research team at the Strelitz Diabetes Institutes at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, VA.. In 1995, Strelitz researchers first reported success in treating diabetic neuropathy with a drug called Nerve Growth Factor (NGF). This drug helps small peripheral nerves, which are involved in sensing touch and temperature, to regrow. Patients have reported significant improvement in sensation and fewer painful symptoms on this drug. NGF under the trade name Neuleze is manufactured by Genentech and has received fast-track approval by the FDA. FDA approval could occur by the end of 1999. Other companies have made similar compounds which are now in clinical testing.

Diabetic neuropathy was believed to be irreversible until recently. Damaged nerve cells often don't grow back, or they regrow so slowly that the repair process is unable to keep up with ongoing damage caused by high blood sugars. NGF speeds the growth process so that recovery can outpace destruction. Good blood sugar control is expected to speed this repair process as well.

Dr. Vinik is also looking at drugs to repair motor nerves, the so-called large nerve fibers, which NGF does not repair. His team is testing NT3 for this purpose. It is made by Amgen, another California company. NT3 appears to increase reflexes, aid balance and improve hand grip. Unfortunately both NT3 and NGF must be injected because they are largely protein structures like insulin.

Three Drug Companies Compete For Nerve Drug Market

Three major pharmaceutical companies have new drugs on the horizon that are designed to treat neuropathy: Genentech, Pfizer and Warner Lambert. All three companies are in final stages of human testing drugs to reverse nerve damage. With drug sales that could reach $1 billion a year, interest by investors is keen. Nerve damage in diabetes is largely caused by loss of the insulating myelin sheath around nerves with this loss causing message transmission to be erratic and painful, or non-existent.

Two of the new drugs block the enzyme, aldose reductase, which makes a sugar called sorbitol, that leads to some of the damage. Previous research attempts with aldose reductase inhibitors largely failed because of poor absorption and excess liver toxicity. But Pfizer's new drug called Alond, and Warner-Lambert's Zenarestat have been better designed to inhibit the production of aldose reductase.

Genentech's Neuleze, mentioned above, is thought to be farther along the approval path. Although it has to be injected, this genetically engineered hormone stimulates nerve growth. Research studies on Neuleze show 75 percent of the 250 patients who received three injections a week for six months had fewer symptoms, compared to 49 percent of patients given a placebo.

Forbes Names Pfizer "Company Of The Year"

Forbes magazine named Pfizer Inc. Company of the Year, saying "the people who brought us Viagra have more blockbusters on the way." Besides Viagra's expected sales of $1.4 billion in 1999, Pfizer has several other new drugs that are expected to boost its sales in the next few years: Alond for Type 2 diabetes, inhaled insulin for those taking injections, Relpax for migraines, Zeldox for schizophrenia, and Droloxifene for osteoporosis. Pfizer is anticipated to earn $2.6 billion on revenues of $13.3 billion in 1998 according to Forbes. Pfizer's sales force of 5,400 makes it the largest in the drug industry. Forbes said Pfizer Chief Executive William Steere had more than tripled research spending over eight years to $2.2 billion, almost one fifth of its pharmaceuticals sales, much higher than rivals like Merck & Co., whose R&D budget amounted to 10 percent of its drug sales. Following the Forbes announcement, Pfizer shares jumped $4.94 to $124.31 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Leptin Update

At the annual American Diabetes Association meeting in June, researchers from Yale and Imperial College London reported that they had discovered receptors for leptin in two unexpected places: in newly sprouting capillaries and in T cells of the immune system. This has begun to change scientists' perceptions of leptin, once thought to be linked to obesity. They now believe leptin may be involved in conditions as diverse as immune system problems and cancer, and it is proving to be a more interesting hormone than its role in weight regulation originally suggested. It is now believed to play a role in regulating specific immune responses, and may provide an explanation for why the immune system is less effective during periods of starvation. On the weight loss front, one early report found that eight moderately obese people who took the highest dose of leptin lost an average of 7.2kg (16lb) during a six-month period, compared to 37 others who took lower doses and lost only 0.75kg (1 lb).

Booklet Helps Tropical Travelers

Want advice for traveling to the tropics with diabetes or heart disease? Wary of malaria, hepatitis A or yellow fever? The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene has a new 50-page booklet called "Health Hints for the Tropics" that can help sweaty travelers. The booklet identifies diseases to which Americans may be prone while traveling in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Central and South America and the Caribbean. It also gives advice on what vaccines and treatments are effective against them. To get your copy, send a check or money order for $5 to the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 60 Revere Drive, Suite 500, Northbrook, IL 60062 (U.S. delivery only).

Mary Tyler Moore Honored

Actress Mary Tyler Moore was named as one of the top 10 most influential women who have been boosters of women's health issues during 1998 by the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women's Health Education & Resource Center. She was granted this honor for her involvement in juvenile diabetes.

Healthy Meals Delivers

Everyone has plans to shape up after the holidays but where do you begin? Now a new company offers diet precision and doorstep delivery.  Healthy Meal Express offers nutritious, fresh-cooked meals prepared according to American Heart Association guidelines for people who want to lose weight or who simply don't have the time to prepare healthy, well-balanced meals. Their toll-free phone line is 1-888-344-3438. Healthy Meal Express meals are fresh-cooked, then vacuum-sealed using custom packaging technology that keeps them fresh. They're delivered weekly to customers' homes by overnight courier.

Meals are available in 1,000 or 1,800 calories per day plans, ordered for a five- or seven-day week, charged to a credit card, and delivered every Thursday by Federal Express. When it's time to eat, just remove the microwave-safe container from the vacuum-sealed package and heat. For three meals per day, seven days per week, the 1,000 calories per day plan is priced at $129.95 or $6.19 per meal. The 1,800 calories per day plan is $159.95 or $7.62 per meal. Healthy Meal Express was founded by a pharmacist, who, when diagnosed with diabetes, discovercalories per day plan is priced at $129.95 or $6.19 per meal. The 1,800 calories per day plan is $159.95 or $7.62 per meal. Healthy Meal Express was founded by a pharmacist, who, when diagnosed with diabetes, discovered how difficult it was to prepare or find good-tasting meals that were low in fat and sugar.

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