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Obama Reaches Out To Governors On Health Care
"A bipartisan group of governors told President Obama yesterday that they share his urgent desire to restructure the nation"s health-care system but warned that any changes should not place more burdens on strained state budgets or eliminate innovative programs they already have in place," The Washington Post reports. "With many state budgets burdened by ballooning... Medicaid costs, the five governors who met with Obama at the White House agreed that changes are needed to expand health-care coverage and contain its costs." But they were also "adamant that the restructuring of the health-care system not push new costs on states. "If we"re going to add more population onto the Medicaid rolls, there has to be a way to pay for that," said Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm, D-Mich., adding that it is a position Obama supported." Republican governors Jim Douglas of Vermont and Mike Rounds of South Dakota, and Democrats Granholm, Jim Doyle of Wisconsin and Chris Gregoire of Washington, attended the meeting (Fletcher, 6/25).
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Virus Filters For Medical Diagnosis
Providing reliable evidence of viruses in human blood presently requires time- and labor-intensive molecular-biological procedures. Established methods are particularly hard pushed to produce evidence when the viral burden is very low, for example during a phase of therapy. This could soon change. While developing new types of micro-pumps without movable parts, scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT came across an unexpected phenomenon: stable turbulence structures formed in the microscale pump channels. The nano- and microparticles actually intended to verify the pump effect accumulated in large quantities in the channels. The vortex patterns completely filled the whole microchannel, creating a virtually 100% trap for the particles that followed the generated flow profile, although there is a very large cross-section to flow through. "The development of flow vortices is nothing unusual on the macroscopic scale. However, in microchannels the flow lines almost run in parallel," explains Richard Stein from the IBMT. "The question, therefore, was, how is it possible for vortices to be formed from this which were sufficiently stable and effective for the concentration of nanoparticles?"
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New Jersey Senate Passes Bill Requiring Pharmacists To Tell Consumers If Generic Drugs Can Replace Brand-Name Prescriptions
The New Jersey Senate on Thursday unanimously passed legislation (A 2030) that would require pharmacists to inform consumers when they have substituted generic drugs for brand-name prescriptions, the Newark Star-Ledger reports. The General Assembly approved the legislation in February and it now moves to Gov. Jon Corzine (D).If Corzine signs the bill, the law would take effect within 180 days, making New Jersey the first state in the U.S. to have such a requirement. State Sen. Christopher Bateman (R) said, "We"re hoping that other states will follow our lead" (Megerian, Newark Star-Ledger, 5/22).
Cardiovascular

Anadys Pharmaceuticals Receives FDA Clearance Of Phase II Protocol To Study ANA598 In Combination With Interferon-Alpha And Ribavirin In HCV Patients

Anadys Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ANDS) announced finalization of the protocol for the Company"s Phase II trial of ANA598 in combination with pegylated interferon-alpha and ribavirin in hepatitis C patients. Allowance of the protocol has been received from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and patient dosing is expected to commence within the next several weeks. In the Phase II study, naive genotype 1 patients will receive ANA598 or placebo in combination with Pegasys(R) (peginterferon alfa-2a) and Copegus(R) (ribavirin, USP) (a current standard of care, or SOC) for 12 weeks at dose levels of 200 mg or 400 mg twice daily (bid), each with a loading dose of 800 mg bid on day one. After week 12, patients will continue to receive SOC. Patients who achieve undetectable levels of virus at weeks 4 and 12 will be randomized to stop all treatment at week 24 or 48. The primary endpoint of the study is the proportion of patients with undetectable virus at week 12 (defined as complete Early Virological Response, or cEVR). Additional endpoints include safety and tolerability as well as the proportion of patients with undetectable virus at week 4 (defined as Rapid Virological Response, or RVR), weeks 24 and 48, and 24 weeks after stopping all treatment (defined as Sustained Virological Response, or SVR). Ninety patients are planned to be enrolled in this study - thirty patients receiving ANA598 and fifteen receiving placebo at each dose level. The study will be conducted at a number of clinical sites in the United States. Anadys expects to receive 28-day safety and response (RVR) data from the 200 mg dose level by year-end and additional on-treatment safety and response data from both cohorts during the first two quarters of 2010. "ANA598 has demonstrated potent antiviral activity and good tolerability as a single agent in Phase I, as well as preclinical properties indicative of likely synergy when used clinically in combination regimens," said Steve Worland, Ph.D., President and CEO of Anadys. "We are now in a position to demonstrate the value of ANA598 when used in combination in a Phase II trial to treat hepatitis C patients. This trial incorporates several attractive features designed to further enhance the competitive position of ANA598, including twelve weeks of triple combination treatment and a randomized exploration of shortening the overall duration of HCV therapy in conjunction with ANA598 treatment." About ANA598 ANA598 is a non-nucleoside inhibitor of the HCV RNA polymerase. Anadys has completed three Phase I clinical studies of ANA598 that have demonstrated potent antiviral activity and good tolerability. In a monotherapy study in naive genotype 1 patients, treatment with ANA598 for three days led to median declines in viral load ranging from 2.4 to 2.9 log10 in three separate dose groups. No patient at any dose level showed evidence of viral rebound while on ANA598, and there were no serious adverse events. Anadys has completed dosing in two long-term chronic toxicology studies of ANA598 (26 weeks duration in rats and 39 weeks duration in monkeys). At the 13-week interim, the toxicology profile of ANA598 in both species was very favorable. A preliminary assessment of the results from the 26-week study in rats indicates a similar profile to that seen in rats at 13 weeks, in which the only adverse finding was a marginal decrease in the rate of weight gain in females at 1000 mg/kg, the highest dose tested. Complete results from both studies, including 39-week data from the monkey study, are expected at the end of the third quarter 2009. Anadys has presented in vitro data supporting the use of ANA598 in combination with interferon-alpha as well as with direct antivirals currently in development. In particular, data has shown that ANA598 is synergistic in vitro with interferon-alpha as well as representative HCV protease and polymerase inhibitors. Furthermore, ANA598 retains full activity in vitro against mutations conferring resistance to protease inhibitors, nucleoside polymerase inhibitors and non-nucleoside polymerase inhibitors that act at binding sites distinct from that of ANA598, and protease and nucleoside polymerase inhibitors retain full activity against mutations conferring resistance to ANA598. ANA598 has received Fast Track Status from the FDA for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. About Anadys Anadys Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to improving patient care by developing novel medicines for the treatment of hepatitis C. The Company believes hepatitis C represents a large unmet medical need in which meaningful improvements in treatment outcomes may be attainable with the introduction of new medicines. The Company is developing ANA598, a non-nucleoside polymerase inhibitor for the treatment of hepatitis C. The Company has also investigated the potential of ANA773, an oral, small-molecule inducer of endogenous interferons that acts via the Toll-like receptor 7, or TLR7, pathway in hepatitis C. Safe Harbor Statement Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical in nature constitute "forward-looking statements." Such statements include, but are not limited to, references to (i) Anadys" expectation that dosing in the ANA598 Phase II study will commence in the next several weeks; (ii) the ability for patients in the ANA598 Phase II study to achieve undetectable levels of virus at weeks 4 and 12 and to achieve SVR; (iii) Anadys" expectation that it will receive 28-day data from the 200 mg dose level by year end and additional data during the first two quarters of 2010; (iv) the antiviral and tolerability profile of ANA598 seen to date, which may not be duplicated in the Phase II study; (v) preclinical properties indicative of likely synergy when used clinically in combination regimens; and (vi) the belief that certain features of the Phase II protocol have the ability to further enhance the competitive position of ANA598. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause Anadys" actual results to be materially different from historical results or from any results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. For example, the results of preclinical and early clinical studies may not be predictive of future results, and Anadys cannot provide any assurances that ANA598 will not have unforeseen safety issues or will have favorable results in the planned Phase II trial. In addition, Anadys" results may be affected by risks related to competition from other biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, its effectiveness at managing its financial res, its ability to enter into collaborations around its product candidates, its ability to successfully develop and market products, difficulties or delays in its preclinical studies or clinical trials, difficulties or delays in manufacturing its clinical trials materials, the scope and validity of patent protection for its product candidates, regulatory developments involving its product candidates and its ability to obtain additional funding to support its operations. Risk factors that may cause actual results to differ are more fully discussed in Anadys" SEC filings, including Anadys" Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 and Anadys" Current Report on Form 8-K filed on June 4, 2009. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Anadys is providing this information as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this document as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Pegasys(R) and Copegus(R) are registered trademarks of Hoffman-La Roche Inc. Anadys Pharmaceuticals, Inc


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