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NIH Grant Funds School Of Medicine's Effort To Educate Minority Researchers
Medical schools nationwide struggle to recruit minority physicians, but Temple has met that challenge head on and has the record to prove its success.

Centrist Dems Say Abortion Issues Must Not Delay Health Reform; Conservatives Step Up Criticism
Five centrist House Democrats, led by antiabortion-rights Rep. Tim Ryan (Ohio), on Tuesday issued a proposal that would neither require nor ban private insurers from covering abortion services as long as federal dollars are not used, the Washington Post"s "Capitol Briefing" reports. In a letter sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Ryan and Reps. Dale Kildee (Mich.), James Langevin (R.I.), Artur Davis (Ala.) and Kendrick Meek (Fla.) said that their proposal "maintains the current status quo in the private market" and would not "preempt constitutionally permissible" state restrictions related to abortion, such as parental notification laws. The representatives called their proposal a "common ground solution." Current federal law prohibits the use of federal Medicaid funds for abortion services in nearly all circumstances. The lawmakers said that they are "increasingly concerned about potential roadblocks around the issue of abortion" in the health reform debate in Congress. According to "Capitol Briefing," antiabortion-rights Democrats are concerned that health reform legislation could lead to indirect federal funding of abortion services through private insurers participating in a proposed health insurance exchange (Eggen, "Capitol Briefing," Washington Post, 7/21). In the letter, the representatives said that they would like to include language in the final health reform bill "that makes clear that no insurance company will be required to pay for an abortion except in extraordinary circumstances." In addition, insurance providers would not be prohibited from paying for abortion services "so long as health insurance plans offered in the exchange that choose to provide abortion coverage pay for those services with funds that are separate and distinct from any federal subsidies," the letter said. Ryan said he hopes the proposal will be introduced in committee on Wednesday as an amendment (Smith, Politico, 7/21).House Members Step Up Efforts To Exclude Abortion CoverageMeanwhile, antiabortion-rights House members are intensifying their efforts to exclude abortion coverage from the chamber"s health reform bill (HR 3200), which they said includes a "hidden mandate" that would allow federal money to cover the procedure, the AP/Houston Chronicle reports. Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) said that he plans to join other antiabortion-rights House members at a news conference on Wednesday to criticize the legislation. Stupak helped draft a June 25 letter to Pelosi saying that he and 19 other Democrats would not support any health reform bill "unless it explicitly excludes abortion from the scope of any government-defined or subsidized health insurance plan." The bill does not mention abortion, which supporters say means that the legislation is neutral on the issue (Alonso-Zaldivar, AP/Houston Chronicle, 7/22).Antiabortion-Rights Coalition Launches CampaignA coalition of antiabortion-rights groups this week is launching a three-week campaign aimed at excluding abortion coverage from health reform legislation, Politico reports. The coalition includes James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family; Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council; Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention; David Bereit of 40 Days for Life; and Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life. Yoest said AUL intends to send a letter to President Obama on Thursday citing its "belief that the bills are intended to include abortion."Laurie Rubiner, vice president for public policy and advocacy at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said that abortion is "not mandated any more than any other service or procedure in health reform." She added that excluding abortion coverage could result in women losing the coverage they currently have under private plans. The abortion-rights opponents" demand to exclude abortion coverage "violates the first principle of health care reform, which is: Don"t make people worse off under health care reform than they are today," Rubiner said (Smith, Politico, 7/22).
News of the day
2009 Recipient Of Minority Scholar Award Begins Clinical Research On Leukemia
Alejandro Gutierrez, MD, is the third recipient of the ASH-AMFDP grant, an award designed to help increase the number of underrepresented minority scholars in the field of hematology, and will begin his research into the pathogenesis of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) this month. The award, the result of a partnership between the American Society of Hematology (ASH) and the Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program (AMFDP) of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, provides four years of support, including an annual stipend of up to $75,000 and an annual grant of more than $29,000 for research activities.
Endocrinology

Safety And Cognitive Stability Are Key Findings In Phase IIA Trial Of New Alzheimer's Disease Treatment From Humanetics Corporation

The results of a preliminary clinical trial suggest that a new Alzheimer"s drug from Humanetics Corporation is safe for daily use and that cognitive performance in patients with mild to moderate disease remained stable during the six-week course of the trial. The lack of decline in cognitive performance was an encouraging finding to be further evaluated in a Phase IIB clinical trial. Phase IIA clinical findings were presented in Vienna today at the 2009 Alzheimer"s Association International Conference on Alzheimer"s Disease (ICAD 2009) by investigators from The Mount Sinai School of Medicine (MSSM). The study was conducted at The Mount Sinai Alzheimer"s Disease Research Center in New York, a nationally renowned center of excellence since 1984 offering a comprehensive clinical program and research facility dedicated to the study and treatment of both normal aging and Alzheimer"s disease. Study investigators Giulio Maria Pasinetti, M.D., Ph.D. and Hillel Grossman, M.D., both of Mount Sinai School of Medicine, each made a poster presentation on NIC5-15 at ICAD 2009. Dr. Pasinetti said his findings supported the conclusion that "NIC5-15 is a safe and tolerable natural compound that may alleviate Alzheimer"s disease dementia through multiple mechanisms including Abeta lowering activities. These early findings suggest the need for further investigation of NIC5-15 in the treatment of Alzheimer"s disease." The Phase IIA trial was sponsored by Minneapolis, MN-based Humanetics Corporation which also has exclusive rights to develop and commercialize NIC5-15 to treat Alzheimer"s disease. The Mount Sinai School of Medicine has provided to Humanetics certain intellectual property rights related to these studies from which MSSM and Dr. Pasinetti, as Principal Investigator of the Phase IIA study, would be entitled to receive royalties from the sale of NIC5-15. Humanetics is currently seeking a pharmaceutical partner for FDA approval and commercialization of the product. The double-blind placebo controlled pilot safety and efficacy study was conducted by Mount Sinai investigators on patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer"s disease. Patients, who had an average age of 70 years, were given escalating oral doses of NIC5-15 over a 45-day period. Investigators collected preliminary evidence of treatment efficacy including cognitive and global measures and secondary outcomes including activities of daily living, behavioral disturbances, pharmacokinetic parameters and a number of Alzheimer"s disease biomarkers including Abeta peptide levels. "We are encouraged by these preliminary findings on NIC5-15," said Ronald Zenk, President and CEO of Humanetics Corporation. "The ability to identify new treatments that can modify the progression of Alzheimer"s disease is an important milestone that Humanetics and Mount Sinai are working towards in this research. We believe that intervention with NIC5-15 can make a significant difference in people"s lives, and we are hopeful that these preliminary learnings will be supported in subsequent clinical trials." Phase IIB clinical trials on NIC5-15 will begin later this year under funding support from both the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Alzheimer"s: A Devastating Disease Alzheimer"s disease affects 5.2 million Americans and another 5 million with early-stage disease. Nearly a half million new cases are reported annually. The cost of caring for the current Alzheimer"s population is estimated to be $100 billion per year. There are no FDA-approved Alzheimer"s disease modifying drugs available today. Current drugs approved for use help maintain cognitive function, but only for a limited time. NIC5-15 is part of a new class of drugs known as gamma-secretase inhibitors that are thought to prevent the formation or increase of amyloid plaque in the brain, now recognized as an important biomarker for Alzheimer"s disease. The NIH is providing research support in this area. NIC5-15 is different from many of the gamma-secretase inhibitors in that it is a natural compound, rather than a new chemical entity. Preclinical studies demonstrated that NIC5-15 worked directly to prevent accumulation of amyloid plaque in the brain. Preventing amyloid plaque formation may change the natural course of the disease, allowing Alzheimer"s disease patients to retain their current mental and physical abilities for a longer period of time. Humanetics Corporation


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