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Nox(4)ious Requirement In Common Infant Tumor
Hemangiomas are the most common tumor of infancy. They are benign tumors derived from cells that line blood vessels (endothelial cells) and spontaneously regress as a child gets older. Jack Arbiser and colleagues, at Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, have now provided new insight into the molecules that control hemangioma growth and found that inhibiting a key molecule substantially inhibits hemangioma growth in a mouse model. Specifically, the protein Nox4 was found to be crucial for hemangioma growth in a mouse model and the drug fulvene 5 was found to be a potent in vitro inhibitor of Nox4 and to substantially inhibit in vivo hemangioma growth. The authors therefore suggest that targeting Nox4, potentially using fulvene derivatives, might provide a way to attenuate hemangioma growth.

Foresight Biotherapeutics Announces Initiation Of Viral Conjunctivitis Clinical Trial
Foresight Biotherapeutics announced that the first patient has been dosed in a viral conjunctivitis clinical trial. Foresight"s proprietary lead compound, FST-100, will be tested in a placebo-controlled, masked, and randomized multicenter clinical study throughout the United States. The primary endpoint of the study is the resolution of clinical signs and symptoms of acute conjunctivitis. Secondary endpoints include a reduction in quantitative PCR (qPCR) viral titers, eradication of infectious virus determined by cell culture immunofluorescence assay (CC-IFA), and safety. The company anticipates enrolling up to 100 patients.
News of the day
Notre Dame Controversy, Supreme Court Selection Test Obama's 'Balancing Act,' NYT Reports
The New York Times on Friday examined how two events -- controversy surrounding President Obama"s upcoming commencement speech at University of Notre Dame on Sunday and the selection of a replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter -- are testing the "delicate balancing act" the president has pursued on abortion rights. Notre Dame"s invitation to Obama to deliver the commencement speech and receive an honorary degree has sparked ongoing protests from abortion-rights opponents, and Obama is now forced to decide whether he will recognize this opposition in his address on Sunday. According to Anita Dunn, the president"s communication adviser, Obama likely will "make reference to the controversy" in his speech but will not "allow it to become the focus of a day that"s actually supposed to be about the graduates." Meanwhile, the pending Supreme Court vacancy has "galvanized backers of abortion rights," according to the Times. Although both sides expect that Obama will select a nominee who supports abortion rights, advocates "are taking no chances," the Times reports.Obama has attempted to present a nuanced approach to abortion-rights issues and expressed that he intends to form consensus around reducing unintended pregnancies and promoting adoption. In addition, his policy moves to date have attempted "to straddle the abortion divide" by creating a dialogue with religious conservatives, avoiding contentious legislative fights and taking a gradual approach to reversing the policies of former President George W. Bush, the Times reports. Obama has named abortion-rights supporters to head jobs, such as his nomination of Dawn Johnsen, a former legal director of NARAL Pro-Choice America, to lead the Justice Department"s Office of Legal Counsel. He also repealed the "Mexico City" policy, which prohibited federal funding for international groups that provide abortion services or information; lifted some limits on embryonic stem cell research; proposed decreasing funding for abstinence-only sex education; and took action to rescind the Bush administration"s HHS provider "conscience" rule allowing health care workers to refuse to provide services they find morally or religiously objectionable. However, the president has stepped away from some abortion-related issues, including the Freedom of Choice Act, which would effectively codify Roe v. Wade. Although Obama said in a 2007 speech to Planned Parenthood that he would sign the bill if elected president, he said in a press conference last month that it is not his "highest legislative priority."Meanwhile, Obama"s top domestic policy adviser, Melody Barnes, is convening a series of meetings with leaders from both sides of the abortion rights debate to discuss policy ideas, with an aim of drafting recommendations by late summer. David Gushee, a Christian ethics professor at Mercer University who has participated in the talks, said the president is signaling to moderate Catholics and evangelicals that "he clearly knows what the bright red lines are and is trying to avoid stepping over them." However, some religious conservatives and abortion-rights opponents who have not been included in the discussions contend that "Obama is trying to have it both ways," according to the Times. Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, said coming to a consensus would entail the president advocating for restrictions such as parental consent requirements for minors and bans on certain abortion procedures. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), who opposes abortion rights, called Obama"s strategy "[m]oderate rhetoric, hard-left policies."Polls show that U.S. residents remain "deeply conflicted" over abortion rights, with support declining over the years, the Times reports. About 60% of U.S. residents believed abortion should be legal in all or most cases in a 1995 poll; a recent Pew Research Center poll showed the number declined to 46% (Stolberg, New York Times, 5/15).
Medical Devices

Inovio Biomedical, National Microbiology Laboratory, And University Of Pennsylvania To Evaluate Candidate DNA Vaccines Against "Swine" Influenza A

Inovio Biomedical Corporation (NYSE Amex: INO), a leader in DNA vaccine design, development and delivery, announced today it has established a new collaboration with the National Microbiology Laboratory of the Public Health Agency of Canada and the University of Pennsylvania to further evaluate Inovio DNA vaccine candidates against swine influenza A (H1N1) virus. As a part of its universal influenza vaccine program, Inovio has designed and manufactured consensus DNA vaccines for H1N1 influenza strains. These consensus vaccines, delivered using Inovio"s proprietary electroporation technology, have the potential to provide protection against a broad scope of existing as well as currently unknown, unmatched influenza strains that could emerge -- one of the perpetual challenges in trying to protect against influenza. The purpose of this collaboration is to test these vaccine candidates against pandemic and seasonal influenza strains in animal models and will include testing against a recently identified swine H1N1 strain. The World Health Organization"s (WHO) upgrade on June 11, 2009, of the "swine flu" to a full pandemic status acknowledged the detection of the virus in 74 countries. This first declaration of a global pandemic since 1968 reflected more the rate and ease of spread rather than virulence of the virus. Significantly, by early June scientists had characterized over 60 different gene sequences of the swine influenza A (H1N1) virus amongst the first 259 samples isolated from humans. The rapid spread and evolution of this virus highlights the great potential risk should a more virulent strain of the virus emerge. While strain-specific vaccines may provide some protective immunity against a known influenza strain, they do not resolve the fundamental challenge to protecting against influenza, which is the virus" constant evolution beyond the protective capabilities of strain-specific vaccines. Unfortunately, even the relatively short period of six to nine months to launch a new strain-specific vaccine could allow a more virulent influenza strain to rapidly spread and potentially wreak significant havoc. "We believe a consensus vaccine approach is imperative and look forward to continuing our collaborative evaluation of Inovio"s novel DNA vaccines with their ability to provide protection against evolving, unmatched influenza strains," said Dr. David B. Weiner, Professor, Dept. of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania and Chairman of Inovio"s Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. J. Joseph Kim, Inovio"s CEO, stated, "The current swine flu outbreak highlights the fact that the world cannot rely solely on the `catch-up" strategy of influenza vaccine design. We need vaccines that provide at least some broad protective capability against evolving seasonal influenza strains and those with pandemic potential. We have already achieved significant validating data in large animal models regarding the ability of Inovio"s consensus vaccines to protect against unmatched strains of different influenza sub-types and look forward to the data resulting from this collaboration of vaccine experts." Work completed by Dr. Gary Kobinger, Head, Vector Design and Immunotherapy, Special Pathogens, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, and his colleagues recently resulted in the characterization of several currently-circulating clinical isolates of the swine-like H1N1 virus. Inovio, the National Microbiology Laboratory of the Public Health Agency of Canada, and the University of Pennsylvania have previously collaborated and published on studies involving Inovio"s consensus DNA vaccines. In a study of Inovio"s VGX-3400, ferrets vaccinated with this H5N1 avian flu vaccine candidate, when challenged with the unmatched "bird flu" A/Vietnam/1203/04 strain, showed 100% protection. In another study, mice immunized with an Inovio H1N1 consensus DNA vaccine were then challenged with a lethal dose of the unmatched H1N1 virus that caused the 1918 Spanish flu, which killed over 40 million people. All the immunized mice survived the challenge (100% protection) to the end of the experiment and displayed significant protection from infection-associated morbidity. All the control mice died by day 8 after being challenged with the virus. Inovio"s influenza vaccine constructs were designed using the company"s novel SynCon™ technology, which facilitates the design of DNA-based vaccines capable of protecting against unmatched sub-types and strains of pathogens. Inovio scientists have created DNA vaccine candidates broadly targeting the H1N1, H2N2, H3N2, and H5N1 influenza sub-types, which make up the majority of seasonal and pandemic influenza. By formulating combinations of these individual component vaccines, Inovio can employ this designer approach to rapidly develop universal influenza vaccines potentially capable of targeting multiple influenza sub-types and able to protect against evolving strains of the virus. Inovio Biomedical Corporation


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