Archive for April, 2012

SAN MARINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Viral Genetics (Pinksheets: VRAL.PK - News) today published its April 2012 Letter to Shareholders. Providing updates on the companys progress, the letter discusses the expanded product development pipeline for the Targeted Peptide and the Metabolic Disruption Technology platforms, as well as developments at the VG Energy subsidiary, and moves being made to manage this new growth.

The letter is available on the companys website at http://www.viralgenetics.com/shareholder-letters/Letter-to-Shareholders-Apr-2012.PDF.

About Viral Genetics, Inc.

San Marino, California-based Viral Genetics discovers drug therapies from two platform technologies based on over 60 patents: Metabolic Disruption (MDT) and Targeted Peptides (TPT). Founded in 1994, the biotech company is researching treatments for HIV/AIDS, Lyme Disease, Strep, Staph and drug resistant cancer. A majority-owned subsidiary, VG Energy (www.vgenergy.net), is dedicated to exploring biofuel and agricultural applications for the MDT platform. For more information, visit http://www.viralgenetics.com.

About VG Energy

VG Energy Inc. is an alternative energy and agricultural biotech company that is a majority-owned subsidiary of Viral Genetics Inc. Using its Metabolic Disruption Technology (MDT), Viral Genetics' cancer research led to discoveries with major consequences in a wide variety of other industries, including production of biofuel and vegetable oils. VG Energy holds the exclusive worldwide license to the MDT patent rights for use in the increase of production of various plant-derived oils from algae and seeds. Application of MDT technology to the biofuel industry could potentially allow it to overcome its major obstacle in the area of production efficiency: namely, an increase in production yields leading to feasible economic returns on investment, allowing renewable biodiesel to be competitive with fossil fuels. For more information, please visit http://www.vgenergy.net.

SAFE HARBOR FOR FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties associated with financial projections, budgets, milestone timelines, clinical trials, regulatory approvals, and other risks described by Viral Genetics, Inc. from time to time in its periodic reports, including statements about its VG Energy, Inc. subsidiary. None of Viral Genetics' drug compounds are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration or by any comparable regulatory agencies elsewhere in the world, nor are any non-pharmaceutical products of VG Energy, Inc. commercialized. While Viral Genetics believes that the forward-looking statements and underlying assumptions reasonable, any of the assumptions could be inaccurate, including, but not limited to, the ability of Viral Genetics to establish the efficacy of any of its drug therapies in the treatment of any disease or health condition, the development of studies and strategies leading to commercialization of those drug compounds in the United States, the obtaining of funding required to carry out the development plan, the completion of studies and tests including clinical trials on time or at all, the successful outcome of such studies or tests, or the successful commercialization of VG Energy, Inc.s non-pharmaceutical products. Therefore, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements included in this release will prove to be accurate. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking statements included herein, the forward-looking statements should not be regarded as a representation by Viral Genetics or any other person that the objectives and plans of Viral Genetics will be achieved.

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Viral Genetics April 2012 Shareholder Update Alerts Investors to Product Pipeline Expansion and Developments at Algal ...

NEW YORK, April 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --N-Gene Research Laboratories, Inc. ("N-Gene"), today announces that Australian scientists in close cooperation with N-Gene have shown that BGP-15, a heat shock protein inducer, may be a novel therapy for treating the deadly, rare disease, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), as recently reported in the journal Nature.

Currently there is no cure and no adequate therapy for DMD. BGP-15 was not only able to make a key protein functional again, thereby reducing muscle damage, but also increase the strength and endurance, and ultimately the lifespan, of DMD animals.

"This pioneering work strengthens N-Gene's roleat the forefront of heat shock protein science," said Gabor K. Kalman, chief executive officer of N-Gene.

Peter Literati, Ph.D., co-founder and chief scientific officer of N-Gene said, "We believe this publication reinforces the expectation that N-Gene's platform technology, based on stress-response regulation, will eventually result in the emergence of a novel drug class with diverse therapeutic directions. We are remaining focused on advancing BGP-15 for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, but we look forward to seeking partners with which to advance this technology and realize its potential in the treatment of DMD as well as many other disease indications."

Dr. Literati will be speaking at a news event today in Budapest, Hungary, to discuss the data described above, the publication and the potential for N-Gene compounds to treat DMD and many other diseases.

About N-Gene Research Laboratories

N-Gene Research Laboratories, Inc. ("N-Gene"), is a biopharmaceutical research company with a pipeline of proprietary drugs to treat insulin-resistance syndrome, improve cancer chemotherapy and target other major disease classes. BGP-15, N-Gene's lead compound, is a co-inducer of HSP-72 that increases insulin sensitivity via blocking JNK phosphorylation. Results from a defining international Phase 2b study of BGP-15 in patients with type 2 diabetes are expected by the end of 2012.

For more information please visit http://www.ngene.us.

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Nature Publishes Work Utilizing N-Gene's Core Technology to Advance the Treatment of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

ANN ARBOR, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

RetroSense Therapeutics, a biotechnology company dedicated to developing gene therapy approaches to vision restoration welcomes Peter Francis, MD, PhD to its senior management team as Clinical Director.

Dr. Francis brings extensive clinical experience in retinal degenerative conditions to the team. As we progress toward the clinic with our treatment, Dr. Francis experience in ocular gene therapy will be instrumental, stated Sean Ainsworth, CEO and founder of RetroSense Therapeutics. His passion and enthusiasm for helping patients will be well-placed at RetroSense.

Dr. Francis has been influential in the early clinical development of several novel therapeutic approaches, including gene therapies. For his outstanding work, throughout his career, he has received numerous awards including "best up-and-coming medical researcher in the United Kingdom 2002" and the Foulds Trophy best-research prize at the UK National Ophthalmology Conference. Dr. Francis recently directed a translational research center specializing in human clinical trials for orphan and inherited diseases of the retina, and has participated in preparation and submission of multiple INDs to the FDA.

I am very excited to join the RetroSense team. We are working to swiftly and safely bring our optogenetic therapy for the eye to the clinic. This treatment is exciting because it has great promise for vision restoration in patients with currently blinding diseases of the retina.

Dr. Francis graduated from medical school in the UK and undertook residency in London, UK. He is fellowship trained in retina and genetics (Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, and Casey Eye Institute, USA). Dr Francis has held academic faculty positions at St Thomas Hospital, London and most recently, Casey Eye Institute, Portland, OR.

About RetroSense Therapeutics:

RetroSense Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing a game-changing gene therapy to restore vision in patients suffering from blindness due to retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and advanced dry age-related macular degeneration (advanced dry-AMD). There are currently no FDA approved therapies to improve or restore vision in patients with these retinal degenerative conditions. RetroSense is led by a team of seasoned veterans with deep experience in taking products from the discovery stage through to the clinic. For more information about RetroSense, visit http://www.retro-sense.com/.

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RetroSense Welcomes Dr. Peter Francis as Clinical Director

Editor's Choice Main Category: Stem Cell Research Also Included In: Heart Disease Article Date: 14 Apr 2012 - 8:00 PDT

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The ORMC's leading researcher for the clinical trial, Vijaykumar S. Kasi, MD, PhD, an interventional cardiologist, director, Cardiovascular Research, explains:

The PreSERVE-AMI Study assesses the efficacy and safety of infusing stem cells obtained from a patient's bone marrow into the artery in the heart, which may have caused the heart attack in patients who received a stent to open the blocked artery after a specific heart attack history, such as STEMI.

A ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) is a critical type of heart attack that occurs due to the blood supply to the heart being blocked for a prolonged period of time, which affects a large area of the heart muscle and causes changes in the blood levels of key chemical markers.

The national, randomized, double blinded and placebo controlled study will involve approximately 160 patients, at about 34 sites, to evaluate the efficacy and safety of infusing stem cells obtained from a patient's bone marrow into the artery in the heart that may have caused the heart attack.

The surgeons will first insert a catheter into an incision in the patient's groin. Guided by an x-ray camera, the doctors will then position the catheter in the location of the heart artery where the stent was placed, before inflating a balloon within the stent and infusing either AMR-001, a cell therapy product comprised of stem cells taken from the patient's own bone marrow, or a placebo into the affected area.

Before the infusion is made, the patients undergo various tests, including an electrocardiogram, a cardiac MRI and a cardiac nuclear test. After the patient has received all screenings required, the doctors will perform a mini-bone marrow procedure, in which they remove stem cells from the bone marrow of the patient's pelvic bone with a special needle. The stem cells are subsequently processed in preparation for infusion. The bone marrow of patients randomized to receive placebo will be frozen and stored in case they require bone marrow for any reason.

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Restoring Heart Muscle Function With Pelvic Bone Stem Cells

Public release date: 1-Apr-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Bonnie Prescott bprescot@bidmc.harvard.edu 617-667-7306 Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

BOSTON -- In a finding that may challenge popular notions of body fat and health, researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have shown how fat cells can protect the body against diabetes. The results may lead to a new therapeutic strategy for preventing and treating type 2 diabetes and obesity-related metabolic diseases, the authors say.

In the last decade, several research groups have shown that fat cells in people play a major role in controlling healthy blood sugar and insulin levels throughout the body. To do this crucial job, fat cells need a small portion of the sugars derived from food. Obesity often reduces the dedicated sugar transport molecules on fat cells, blocking the glucose from entering fat cells. As a result, the whole body becomes insulin resistant, and blood sugar rises, leading to diabetes.

The new study shows why glucose is so important to fat cells. The team discovered a new version of a gene inside fat cells that responds to sugar with a powerful systemic effect.

"If we change that one gene, that makes the animal more prone to or more protected from diabetes," said senior author Barbara Kahn MD, the George R. Minot Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Vice Chair of the Department of Medicine at BIDMC. "Many foods get converted into sugar, so there is no need to eat more sugar."

The paper is published online April 1 in the journal Nature. In the study, the BIDMC researchers pinpointed the fat gene and its effect in mouse models of human obesity and insulin resistance and reported supporting evidence from fat tissue samples from both lean and obese people.

"Two things were surprising first, that a lone gene could shift the metabolism of the fat cell so dramatically and then, that turning on this master switch selectively in adipose tissue is beneficial to the whole body," Kahn said. Twelve years ago, Kahn first demonstrated that fat cells are a master regulator of healthy levels of glucose and insulin in mice and require sugar to do the job.

"The general concept of fat as all bad is not true," said first author Mark Herman MD, an investigator in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at BIDMC and Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS). "Obesity is commonly associated with metabolic dysfunction that puts people at higher risk for diabetes, stroke and heart disease, but there is a large percentage of obese people who are metabolically healthy. We started with a mouse model that disassociates obesity from its adverse effects."

In the latest study, evidence suggests the newfound gene also may account for the protective effect of glucose uptake in human fat. German collaborators found more gene activity in people with greater insulin sensitivity, based on 123 adipose tissue samples from non-diabetic, glucose tolerant people. The fat gene activity also correlated highly with insulin sensitivity in obese, non-diabetic people, as measured in 38 fat samples by another pair of co-authors based in St. Louis.

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Study finds protective gene in fat cells

Public release date: 1-Apr-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Les Lang llang@med.unc.edu 919-966-9366 University of North Carolina School of Medicine

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers working as part of the International Cystic Fibrosis Consortium have discovered several regions of the genome that may predispose cystic fibrosis (CF) patients to develop an intestinal blockage while still in the uterus.

A report of this international study appears online April 1, 2012 in the journal Nature Genetics. It was the work of the North America CF Gene Modifier Consortium, which brought together dozens of investigators from the United States, Canada, and from France, to identify genetic variations that could be linked with meconium ileus (MI), an intestinal obstruction that usually requires emergency surgery for treatment, and can result in a substantially increased rate of serious health problems.

MI affects roughly 15-20 percent of all patients with CF, a genetic condition that causes scarring throughout the body, especially the lungs and pancreas. Though every CF patient carries mutations in both copies of the same gene coding for a protein called cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, or CFTR symptoms can vary widely from patient to patient.

The genome-wide association study (GWAS) of more than 3,700 CF patients identified non-CFTR genetic variants in the cell membrane that separates the interior of cells from the outside environment. More specifically, the variants involved genes responsible for ion transport in the lower end of the small intestine.

"These variants involve cells in the small intestine that predispose CF patients to develop MI while still in the womb," said one of the senior study authors Michael Knowles, MD, professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at UNC and a member of UNC's Cystic Fibrosis-Pulmonary Research and Treatment Center.

"The discovery provides new understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms underlying MI. In addition, it offers the possibility of developing therapies to intervene in utero," Knowles said. "Further, it provides molecular insight into the role of genetic variation in ion transporters in CF, which may be applicable to more commonly, and severely, involved organs such as the lungs."

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Other UNC study coauthors are Wanda K. O'Neal, Rhonda G. Pace, Jaclyn R. Stonebraker, Sally D. Wood, and Fred A. Wright. In the U.S., the study was funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and the U.S. Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

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Gene variations linked to intestinal blockage in newborns with cystic fibrosis

Public release date: 1-Apr-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Caroline Arbanas arbanasc@wustl.edu 314-286-0109 Washington University School of Medicine

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are using powerful DNA sequencing technology not only to identify mutations at the root of a patient's tumor considered key to personalizing cancer treatment but to map the genetic evolution of disease and monitor response to treatment.

"We're finding clinically relevant information in the tumor samples we're sequencing for discovery-oriented research studies," says Elaine Mardis, PhD, co-director of The Genome Institute at the School of Medicine. "Genome analysis can play a role at multiple time points during a patient's treatment, to identify 'driver' mutations in the tumor genome and to determine whether cells carrying those mutations have been eliminated by treatment."

This work is helping to guide the design of future cancer clinical trials in which treatment decisions are based on results of sequencing, says Mardis, who is speaking April 1 at the opening plenary session of the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting in Chicago. She also is affiliated with the Siteman Cancer Center at the School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

To date, Mardis and her colleagues have sequenced all the DNA the genome of tumor cells from more than 700 cancer patients. By comparing the genetic sequences in the tumor cells to healthy cells from the same patient, they can identify mutations underlying each patient's cancer.

Already, information gleaned through whole-genome sequencing is pushing researchers to reclassify tumors based on their genetic makeup rather than their location in the body. In patients with breast cancer, for example, Mardis and her colleagues have found numerous driver mutations in genes that have not previously been associated with breast tumors.

A number of these genes have been identified in prostate, colorectal, lung or skin cancer, as well as leukemia and other cancers. Drugs that target mutations in these genes, including imatinib, ruxolitinib and sunitinib, while not approved for breast cancer, are already on the market for other cancers.

"We are finding genetic mutations in multiple tumor types that could potentially be targeted with drugs that are already available," Mardis says.

She predicts, however, that it may require a paradigm change for oncologists to evaluate the potential benefits of individualized cancer therapy. While clinical trials typically involve randomly assigning patients to a particular treatment regimen, a personalized medicine approach calls for choosing drugs based on the underlying mutations in each patient's tumor.

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DNA sequencing lays foundation for personalized cancer treatment

California's $3 billion stem cell agency, now more than 7 years old, has joined research partnerships with science and health agencies in eight foreign countries, the San Francisco institute announced.

The agreements call for collaboration in efforts aimed at speeding stem cell research from the laboratory to the hospital, where researchers hope that basic human cells will be programmed to treat scores of human degenerative diseases.

Research partnerships between American and foreign stem cell scientists are encouraged, but the California institute's funds would only be spent within the state, institute officials said.

Alan Trounson, president of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, signed agreements with stem cell funding agencies in Brazil and Argentina last week, he said Thursday.

"Both Brazil and Argentina have strong and robust stem cell research communities in basic science and transitional clinical science, which should create exciting synergies with many scientists in California," Trounson said in a statement.

He has signed similar pacts with stem cell agencies in Canada, Britain, France, Spain, Australia, Japan, China and Indiana.

The California institute was created in 2004 after Proposition 71, a $3 billion bond issue, was approved by California voters at a time when use of federal funds was barred for research into the promising field of embryonic stem cells.

So far the state agency has committed $1.2 billion to scientists and training centers at 56 California institutions, and the rest of the bond money should last until 2020, a spokesman said.

This article appeared on page C - 9 of the SanFranciscoChronicle

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Stem cell institute to work with foreign agencies

Paulina Porizkova is the face of Avon Cosmetics latest breakthrough anti-aging miracle, Anew Genics.

Paulina who? To a generation more familiar with the likes of Gisele, Kate and Heidi, the name might not ring the loudest of bells. Ask any true-blue beauty and fashion hound, however, and she (or hegays will kill for their mastery of supermodel lore) will tell you that some two decades ago, even before Linda, Naomi, Elle and Christy became global first-name icons who hogged the same headlines as Hollywood stars, the Czech-born Porizkova was the fashion worlds model du jour, her Alpine cheekbones adorning every magazine cover from Vogue to Sports Illustrated and her $6-million dollar modeling contract with Este Lauder then the highest ever paid to a mannequin.

Porizkova is now 46, ancient by modelling standards, but in Avons recently rolled out Anew Genics ad campaign, she looks as stunning as ever. The beauty brand is not caught up in some trendy retro mode in hiring Porizkova for its latest product. Here, the medium is unmistakably the message, for the seemingly ageless Porizkova is hawking what Avon says is a skincare breakthrough serum that helps you look up to 10 years younger.

One look at its spectacular-looking poster girl, just four years shy of 50, and the product makes it point.

Pioneer status

The Anew Genics line, beginning with the Treatment Concentrate that is now available in the Philippines exclusively through Avon representatives (at P1,799), is the latest iteration of the beauty companys flagship anti-aging brand, Anew, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Launched in 1992, the brand has become a worldwide $1-billion bestseller, with some 11,000 units of Anew reportedly sold every hour.

Avon claims pioneer status in the skincare industry as the first to mass-market alpha hydroxy acidnow a standard part of many anti-aging productsas the main ingredient of its Anew line. The brand has regularly introduced variants through the yearsamong them Anew Clinical, Anew Rejuvenate, Anew Reversalist, Anew Ultimate, Anew Platinum and Anew Solar Advanceto incorporate the latest skincare innovations its scientists and researchers have come up with.

Anew Genics, says Dr. Xiaochun Luo, chief scientific officer and group vice president for Avons global research and development, is another groundbreaking product that women will definitely be excited to try. Our international team of researchers and product developers invested 10 years in developing this product to make younger and reenergized skin accessible to women.

Come-on

Look up to 10 years younger! is Anew Genics come-onmade possible, says Xiaochun, by a patented YouthGen technology thats supposed to stimulate the activity of a youth gene in the body, which in turn leads to younger-looking skin.

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Harnessing the youth gene to fight skin aging

Rice University and IBM today have announced a partnership to build the first award-winning IBM Blue Gene supercomputer in Texas. Rice also announced a related collaboration agreement with the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil to initiate the shared administration and use of the Blue Gene supercomputer, which allows both institutions to share the benefits of the new computing resource.

Rice faculty will use the Blue Gene to further their own research and to collaborate with academic and industry partners on a broad range of science and engineering questions related to energy, geophysics, basic life sciences, cancer research, personalized medicine and more.

The collaborative agreement securing Brazil's share of time on Rice's Blue Gene was signed in Sao Paulo March 27 by a delegation that included Rice President David Leebron and USP President Joo Grandino Rodas. Leebron is traveling with a delegation led by Houston Mayor Annise Parker. The delegation includes Rice Provost George McLendon, Greater Houston Partnership (GHP) President and CEO Jeff Moseley and other GHP members.

"Collaboration and partnership have a unique place in Rice's history as a pre-eminent research university, and it is fitting that Rice begins its second century with two innovative partnerships that highlight the university's commitments to expanding our international reach, strengthening our research and building stronger ties with our home city," Leebron said.

USP is Brazil's largest institution of higher education and research, and Rodas said the agreement represents an important bond between Rice and USP. "The joint utilization of the supercomputer by Rice University and USP, much more than a simple sharing of high-tech equipment, means the strength of an effective partnership between both universities," he said.

Mayor Parker, a 1978 Rice alumna, said, "When I was at Rice, it looked inward. Today it looks outward through this agreement. It strengthens not only Rice University but also the city of Houston."

Rice's new P series Blue Gene supercomputer, which has yet to be named, is slated to become operational in May. It is based on IBM's POWER processor technology, which was developed in part at the company's Austin, Texas labs. Rice and IBM shared the cost of the system.

"High-performance computers like the IBM Blue Gene/P are critical in virtually every discipline of science and engineering, and we are grateful for IBM's help in bringing this resource to Rice," McLendon said. "For individual faculty, the supercomputer will open the door to new areas of research. The Blue Gene also opens doors for Rice as the university seeks to establish institutional relationships both in our home city and with critical international partners like USP."

Unlike the typical desktop or laptop computer, which have a single microprocessor, supercomputers typically contain thousands of processors. This makes them ideal for scientists who study complex problems, because jobs can be divided among all the processors and run in a matter of seconds rather than weeks or months. Supercomputers are used to simulate things that cannot be reproduced in a laboratory -- like Earth's climate or the collision of galaxies -- and to examine vast databases like those used to map underground oil reservoirs or to develop personalized medical treatments.

USP officials said they expect their faculty to use the supercomputer for research ranging from astronomy and weather prediction to particle physics and biotechnology.

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Rice, IBM partner to build Texas’ first Blue Gene supercomputer