News

Food for Thought: Weekly Wrap-Up

Volker Stollorz in Frankfurter Allgemein Sonntagszeitung (FAS) this week in detail reports on a paper describing the generation of pluripotent stem cells from adult human testis, which has raised suspicions because as yet no one has been able to reproduce the data or cell lines. The paper published 2008 in Nature raised high hopes about the generation of pluripotent human stem cells for research and therapy without technically or ethically debatable interventions. The research originated in the lab of Thomas Skutella, then at the University of Tuebingen, Germany; lead author was Sabine Conrad. Already, researcher Hans R. Schoeler in the same journal expressed concerns that the cells used by Conrad et al. are not pluripotent as described. The article by Stollorz is not yet available online.

Stephan Sahm in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) introduces the new medical discipline of neurogastroenterology which deals with the nerve cells lining the human digestive tract. Already it is known that impairments of these nerve cells lead to motility disturbances of the colon – often seen in diabetics – and to dysfunctions of the immune system.

In the same paper, Hildegard Kaulen describes attempts to understand and cure chronic fatigue in cancer patients. The syndrome often appears after successful tumor eradication by chemo- or radiation therapy and has been neglected by clinicians and doctors in the past.

In Die Welt, Joerg Zittlau introduces a new silicon-based coating developed by Nanopool GmbH. The liquid glass coating is non-toxic, heat- and scratch-resistant and extremely thin and flexible. It is made by extracting nano-sized silica crystals from sand which are subsequently mixed with water and alcohol and applied either manually or by spraying. Once the solvent has evaporated, the glass coating is ready. As it is extremely smooth it is not only suited as protectant but also stain-resistant and self cleaning.

Wolfgang S. Merkel, also in Die Welt, explains why certain materials such as asbestos or nanotubes are dangerous for cells. If particles have a rounded tip they are mistaken by the cells for a small spheric particle and taken up. As the process cannot be terminated for the length of the particle, the cell eventually dies and, if many cells are affected, inflammation and cancer may arise.

Christina Berndt in Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) deals with the latest conspiracy theory spread by ecological fundamentalists: milk is dangerous for toddlers as it blocks the mucosa with phlegm so that it cannot ward off infections. In the same paper, Berndt reports on fundamentalist Taliban in Pakistan opposing vaccination. As a result, polio cases have risen dramatically in the areas controlled by the Taliban.

Hartmut Wewetzer in Der Tagesspiegel introduces latest findings demonstrating that neither resveratrol, the highly acclaimed ingredient of grapes, nor sirtuin proteins guarantee longer, healthier life. Previously, researchers from the US had claimed that sirtuin proteins, which are activated by resveratrol, mediate longer life. In contrast, Nicholas Wade in The New York Times reports on the same study and points out that there is a trans-atlantic rift in reporting: while British scientists say sirtuins are not involved in longevity, the US colleagues under attack say they adhere to their claim. The controversy is around the genetic uniformity or diversity of the animal strains used in the experiments.

Larry Husten in Forbes is commenting on the decline of cardiovascular procedures observed in US hospitals, speculating that four factors may contribute to it: concerns about stent overuse, the payoff of preventive drug treatments, the larger economic climate and recent investigations into implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) by the US Department of Justice. Recently, doctors and hospitals in the US were accused to implant ICDs without proper evidence base in more than 1 in 5 cases.

Also in Forbes, David Shaywitz and Dennis Ausiello in a commentary demand that doctors translate research results into clinical progress much better than today. The authors do not focus on the “translational science” buzzword but propose simple things: improvements in measurements, a less intrusive medicine and better participation of patients, e.g. by involving Facebook- or smartphone-based information transfer for better compliance and health status surveillance.

In the New Scientist, Debora MacKenzie reports on Sanofi-Pasteur signing a contract with the University of San Diego, Calif. to develop a vaccine for the prevention and treatment of acne, a disease affecting 85% of teens. The challenge: killing the disease-causing bacterium (which is benign under normal circumstances and turns nasty only in clogged sebaceous glands in the skin) is likely to disturb the important, delicate balance of the skin’s normal bacterial community. The solution may be to use an antibody directed specifically against a protein released by the acne-causing bacteria, if  oxygen levels fall below normal in the clogged glands. This approach may neutralize the acne factors and prevent inflammation while leaving the normal bacterial community on the skin undisturbed.

Last not least, physics nerds make a laughing matter of CERN’s latest discovery that neutrinos may travel faster than light, reports Holger Dambeck in Der Spiegel. Our favorite one (true Monty Python style) is as follows: “To reach the other side. Why do neutrinos cross the road?”

Food for Thought: Germany’s Emerging Pirate Party Pillories the Life Sciences Industry

The recent election in Germany’s federal state of Berlin ended with a surprise: a previously almost unknown party, the Pirate Party (Piratenpartei) won 15 of the 152 state parliament seats; nearly every one in ten voters in Berlin casted his ballot for this group, which was founded in 2006 by mostly male young academics and internet-affiliate people.

The program of the party is not very detailed and focuses almost entirely on freedom of information, free access to the internet, free rides on public transport, legalization of drugs and a free basic income for everyone living permanently in Germany.

While the program does not say anything about economic policy (nor on defense or international policy), it includes several statements on the life sciences and pharma industry.

For one, the party opposes patents on genes and living beings (as it opposes software patents and patents on business ideas), and in the long run aims to abolish the entire patent system. The program also states that “patenting of findings from genetic research and biotechnology … poses a great danger to tomorrow’s society.” Such patents should be forbidden by law. Moreover, the program adds that patents on pharmaceuticals, too, should be abandoned as they have “ethically highly objectionable” consequences.

Second, the “Pirates” want to “reorganize” the pharmaceutical sector as it is “characterized by monopoly blocking innovation”. They criticize that the pharma industry is making profit from publicly funded basic research and that public institutions should conduct R&D of novel therapeutics. As a result, society would spend less money on buying drugs but more on developing better ones.

Certainly, it remains to be seen whether the party will have any political influence and whether the success will be sustainable. However, the fact that the few paragraphs on industry and economics in the program almost exclusively deal with the life sciences sector once again demonstrates that the pharma and biotech sector in Germany still has massive reputation problems: one of the most innovative industries is viewed as a stumbling block for a better life.

Company News: Probiodrug’s Hypothesis on Alzheimer’s Disease Onset Featured in German Radio

During the upcoming World Alzheimer Day, the German MDR radio will feature the efforts by German biotechnology company Probiodrug to develop novel strategies for the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). MDR’s FIGARO am Vormittag morning magazine will introduce the company’s hypothesis on the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and highlight the latest research results published by Probiodrug and co-workers from German and US research institutions in the recent  Journal of Neuroscience.

It is well known that the presence of so-called beta-amyloid (A beta) plaques in the brain is not necessarily correlated with the occurrence of AD. Probiodrug discovered that in AD patients, the core of the plaques is made form a certain variant of the A beta peptide which is more neurotoxic, less soluble and able to rapidly aggregate with modified and unmodified A beta. Further investigations revealed that this toxic variant is generated by an enzyme called QC (glutaminyl cyclase). QC is responsible for activating certain hormones and enzymes in the brain by modifying a certain chemical group in these molecules. If it starts acting on A beta, it produces the toxic variant. Probiodrug also has demonstrated in various experiments that it is possible to prevent the formation or spread of toxic A beta plaques by switching off the QC enzyme. The company therefore is developing drugs to inhibit the enzyme as a potential treatment strategy to either prevent the onset of AD or slow down the progression of the disease.

Food for Thought: IQWiG Says Benefit Of Ezetimibe Not Proven

Various studies have demonstrated that lowering cholesterol levels with statins is preventing heart attacks and other cardiovascular complications. However, some patients do not tolerate statins or do not achieve recommended cholesterol levels with statins alone. These patients often are prescribed ezetimibe (sold as Ezetrol by MSD Sharp & Dohme in Germany), an oral cholesterol-absorption inhibitor, either alone or in combination with statins. A fixed combination of ezetimibe with statin simvastatin is sold as Inegy.

Last year, Germany’s Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) which is deciding about drug reimbursements for the country’s statutory healthcare system, commissioned Germany’s cost-benefit watchdog IQWiG to assess the benefit of ezetimibe either alone or as combination therapy.

IQWiG published its report earlier this month. While it not disputes that ezetimibe is lowering cholesterol levels, the institute states in its report that it has been unable to identify any review or study demonstrating that the prescription of ezetimibe alone or in combination does provide patient-related benefits in terms of reducing “all-cause” or “vascular” mortality.

However, new data and findings supporting the benefit of ezetimibe will be available soon.  Pulse Magazine, a leading medical weekly in the UK, reported Sept. 2 that researchers looked into the effectiveness of ezetimibe in combination with statins on all-cause mortality over a period of 4.3 years. They concluded that the combination treatment – if used after a myocardial infarction – resulted in a 55% decrease in all-cause mortality compared to patients taking simvastatin alone. The trial was a retrospective study on a cohort of nearly 15,000 patients from the UK’s General Practice Research Database. The researchers already had announced a presentation of the results at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Paris end of August, but cancelled the presentation to perform a more complex analysis of the data.

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