The Life Sciences in New York State

links for 2005-09-30

• Emily Chang - eHub
  Can't keep up with Web 2.0? Use this blog...
  (tags: blog development Internet media service cooperation)

Stick with the oldies that work

Somebody once told me never to update/upgrade your software unless the update contains critical new features that you can't live without, or the update solves a problem that you are having.

Well, I did not follow that advice, and am now paying the price. I updated FireFox to the latest version, and now I'm having all sorts of problems. My icons don't work, for example. When I click on the icon, FireFox is listed in the Task Manager, but there is no browser window. If I close it from the Task Manager, then restart it, then FireFox works. Also, my TypePad pop ups don't work, e.g., for picking multiple categories. I suppose I can uninstall and reinstall FireFox, but then I would lose all the cool (19 of them) Extensions that I have. Who wants to re-download and re-install all that? Not me...

I'm posting this with Explorer, meaning that I have two different browsers on right now.

That's silly.

Last week, I upgraded my BIOS because IBM told me to. But, the computer crashed during the installation, requiring a call to IBM Customer Service. They walked me through the process for setting my BIOS back to the older (functional) version. Kudos for being very nice and patient with me on a Saturday afternoon.

With great hesitation, I updated Skype this morning...no problems noted so far.

Rant over...back to work...

Florida getting into stem cells

To the tune of $200 million over 10 years, via ballot initiative, over the objections of Governor Bush. Link. Quote:

A proposed ballot initiative would funnel $200 million in state funds to embryonic stem cell research, adding Florida to the growing list of states supporting the controversial field.

The initiative is the brainchild of Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson, who founded the nonprofit Floridians for Stem Cell Research and Cures earlier this year after Gov. Bush publicly opposed embryonic stem cell research at a biotechnology conference.

''When the governor says that he will not support it, there's only one way to do it -- get it in the constitution'' Aaronson said. Under Florida law, the state constitution can be amended by ballot initiative.

Scientists say embryonic stem cells, which can morph into any type of cell in the body, could be the key to new treatments for a wide range of maladies, including diabetes, paralysis and parkinson's. But some activists and public officials oppose the research because tiny embryos known as blastocysts must be destroyed to harvest the cells.

Gene Logic and Pfizer in Repurposing deal

Pfizer and Gene Logic announced today an initiative whereby Gene Logic will analyze Pfizer candidates which have been dropped from development. The analysis will hopefully surface new indications for candidates which would otherwise never see the light of day. Quote:

"We will be putting Pfizer's selected drug candidates through a diverse battery of technologies specifically designed for drug repositioning," said Dr Louis Tartaglia, general manager and senior vice president of Drug Repositioning for Gene Logic. "Data analysis from those studies will provide a comprehensive picture of the drug candidates' biological activities and determine possible new therapeutic uses for these potential medicines."

This concept of drug "repositioning" or "repurposing" has been batted around for around 5 years. There are a few companies with the capability to do this. One of my favorites is KineMed. This is an important deal and area to monitor.

What is this "Web 2.0" gibberish?

I've seen the term "Web 2.0" bounced around a lot lately. Frankly, I thought it was a lot of hooey. Isn't "Web 2.0" simply technological evolution? "2.0" implies some radical change which results in enablement. What is so radical about what we're seeing today?

Well, I finally found an explanation which makes sense. Hat tip to Ed Sim, who explains it very well on his blog here. Critically, from an enterprise/business perspective,

Everything we did in Windows and Office and other enterprise apps 5 years ago can be done through a browser/web with Salesforce.com, Skype, and web-based email and calendaring.  We are clearly not there yet, but this will happen.  In addition, as enterprises move to a world where they must support multiple users and devices on-demand, they will need to buy new software and infrastructure to manage this new complexity.

OK, now I get it...

links for 2005-09-28

• New York wine regions booming
  The secret is coming out...
  (tags: NY wine)

Pez Lipitor

I had a doctor tell me late last year that once these results start coming out, doctors will start prescribing statins "as if they are candy". And why not? Look at this claim:

The company [Pfizer] said the FDA expanded the drug's indication to include reducing the risk of stroke and heart attack in Type 2 diabetics without evidence of heart disease but with other risk factors [my emphasis]

Other risk factors could be any one of many common factors such as high blood pressure, family history, smoking, being over 55, obesity, etc. How many people with high LDL have one of these factors? Let's be conservative and say at least half, especially if you have a strict definition of obesity. Even when the LDL counts come down, it is in the patient's interest to continue these drugs, perhaps at a lower dose, to capture the benefit of reduced stroke/heart attack risk. The "without evidence of heart disease" language is phenomenal. Who can argue with these results:

The diabetes approval was based on a clinical trial following more than 2,800 patients with Type 2 diabetes and near normal cholesterol and at least one other risk factor for stroke or heart disease....The study showed that the group of patients taking Lipitor rather than placebo had 50 percent fewer strokes [my emphasis].

And

Another clinical trial of more than 10,300 people with normal cholesterol but with at least three other risk factors found that the Lipitor group had 26 percent fewer strokes compared to the placebo group.

So, you may not see many more patients using statins, but you may see patients taking these drugs for longer periods of time, for the purpose of preventing strokes and/or heart attacks. Lipitor is already a $8+ billion drug. This may push it over $10 billion by 2007.

The question in my mind is whether or not there is still an opportunity to develop statins with a better safety profile. With these data in hand, a physician may not accept marginally better safety profile for a new, unproven statin which does not have this additional stroke/heart attack data (and corresponding claim).

Funny...

Cafepress.com has a line of mildly amusing coffee mugs here.

links for 2005-09-27

• Vaccines are an emerging growth area for big phama
  (tags: pharmaceuticals pharmacoeconomics bioscience biotech vaccines)
• Emisphere Technologies Announces $15 Million Financing with Largest Shareholder
  (tags: NY companies drug delivery)

So what is AJAX?

Question posed previously here. Gotta love Wikipedia...