Chris Behling, an Albion native, shed a new light on the old struggle between science and the humanities Tuesday. In his hour-long presentation given before administrators, faculty, staff and students, Behling’s thesis was that a liberal arts education is the silver bullet of modern medical science.

Behling, president of Mollen Immunization Clinics, claims that the future of healthcare resides outside of medical schools alone. According to Behling this future playing field has nothing to do with government regulations, but pure economics and common sense

“The focus is on primary care physicians,” Behling told the group.  This shift in focus simultaneously lowers overall healthcare costs and maximizes more “healthy years.”

But how does this link- up to liberal arts?

In his presentation, Behling showed that more intensive primary care requires more personnel with a wide range of skills. Behling listed statisticians and psychologists to better analyze lifestyle behavior and to provide patients with customized, at-home care.

“A student may be interested in medicine, but not in organic chemistry,” Behling said, and Albion needs to sponsor that kind of student. Albion has plenty of advising resources, but they need to be organized in a more cohesive and logical manner that connects the dots between disciplines,” said Behling.

“I do feel that his (Behling’s) ideas are a good model for Albion College and what we stand for as a liberal arts institute,” said Colleen Ouendag, Fennville senior.

Those in attendance included President Donna Randall, Vice President for Finance and Administration Mike Frandsen, Admissions Department staff, current director of the Health Institute Al Pheley, and students.

Behling said to the audience that in this shift in the medical field, Albion has the “first-mover advantage.” However, it remains to be seen if Behling’s predictions are even realizable dreams.

In response, Frandsen said, “Paradigm change is hard. Risk aversion is a part of the human condition…how do we push people to get ahead of this shift?”

“It’s about raising a student’s imagination ceiling,” Behling replied. Albion needs to encourage to see their potential outside of just going to medical school. This can be accomplished through partnerships in the medical field with doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, and technicians.

Behling understands the interdisciplinary connection better than anyone. He claims that his career in the medical field happened “by accident.”

Behling grew up in Albion and is the third generation in his family to attend Albion College. He was an economics and management and religious studies double major. Following his undergraduate study, Behling attended Harvard Divinity School. He got his foothold in the healthcare system by administering examinations for a life insurance company.

From that point, Behling became interested in patient care and the medical field. Behling became president of Mollen Immunization Clinics in 2011. Mollen provides flu shot and other services through Walgreens and other outlets and is seen as at the cutting edge of providing access to care.

Behling is currently one of three candidates seeking the position of director of Albion’s Health Institute.

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M.D. or no M.D.? — Clinic president trumpets liberal arts [not med school] as the future of medicine

Do you remember when we used to think some things were impossible? Modern technology has taught us to never say never or impossible. I think about the 1970s and 1980s growing up without cell phones, computers and many of the electronically advanced gadgets that our kids today take for granted. I can’t even imagine what the great innovators will come up with next.

When I was a young child, I remember watching science fiction movies about cloning people and remember how obscure and unbelievable it seemed at the time. It was common knowledge that cloning was strictly science fiction. Now, cloning is not only possible, but a procedure that has occurred with astonishing success. Fortunately, cloning has only been performed with animals and not yet humans.

Medically speaking, one of the most popular and potentially one of the most substantial advances in modern medicine is stem cell research and therapy. Initially, stem cell research was met with a great deal of resistance and controversy. The reason stem cell research had trouble getting started was because stem cells could only be collected from fetuses. With time, scientists have successfully harvested stem cells from other sources.

Stem cells are primitive or extremely young cells which are capable of dividing and changing into a variety of cell types. They have the ability to develop into cells that form muscle, cartilage, bone or other tissues. One of the remarkable findings about stem cells is that they seem to detect and “know” which tissue is damaged and automatically change into the cells needing repaired.

In actuality, the damaged tissue sends some type of signal to the stem cells allowing them to respond and promote healing of the injured tissues. Essentially, stem cells have the ability to grow into mature tissue cells wherever they are needed and this makes them very useful for repairing certain body tissues damaged by injury, disease and possibly aging.

Stem cell treatment is a type of medical therapy called regenerative medicine. Regenerative medicine is simply a category of medical therapy pertaining to growing new tissue. Although stem cell therapy is an extremely unique and obviously beneficial type of medical treatment, it is also a very vast field of medical research and certainly has not been completely perfected. There are countless possibilities and applications for stem cell therapy and medical researchers have barely scratched the surface with regards to stem cell potential.

Until now the gold standard for treating arthritis in pets has been to give them anti-inflammatory medications, joint supplements and sometimes acupuncture. Over the years, these types of medications have improved greatly and pets have benefitted wonderfully from receiving this kind of treatment. However, even with the improvements, these medications have potential side effects. Sometimes, the side effects may even outweigh the benefits, depending on the individual circumstance.

Therefore, stem cell therapy offers treatment that doesn’t just relieve the symptoms, but actually regenerates or grows new tissue allowing for complete healing and without side effects. Presently, there are some stem cell applications already being used in veterinary medicine!

Recently, veterinary specialists have developed a technique for collecting stem cells from fat tissue and administering the stem cells into dogs, cats and horses specifically for treatment of arthritis. The process involves collecting a small amount of fat from the patient and then the fat is placed into a machine which extracts and concentrates stem cells. Next, the stem cells are injected back into the patient’s joints forthe treatment of arthritis.

There is a certain protocol for proceeding with the stem cell therapy. First, a definitive diagnosis of arthritis, using X-rays, must be made by your veterinarian. Additionally, your pet would need a complete workup including blood tests and additional X-rays to rule out any other disease processes such as infection or cancer. Any patient with cancer would not be a good candidate for stem cell therapy and any infection would need to be cleared prior to stem cell therapy.

Following the initial workup, your pet would be sedated or anesthetized for surgical collection of fat tissue. The fat tissue would then be sent to a lab to have the stem cells extracted and processed from the fat. Then, your pet would need to be sedated again to administer the injections containing the stem cells into their arthritic joints.

In pets, stem cell therapy is primarily available and being used for arthritis. However, I have no doubt that it won’t be long before stem cell therapy will be used in pets to treat many diseases and conditions. It has already shown to be effective for diabetes, allergies, gastrointestinal diseases, pancreatitis and many other diseases.

If you have a pet that you think might be suffering from arthritis, contact your veterinarian as soon as possible to consider stem cell therapy and to ensure your pet lives a long, healthy and happy life.

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The Pet Corner: Behold! The future of modern medicine is here

Inaugural Meeting, Facilitated by Pfizer Animal Health, Offers Collaboration on Advancement of Initiatives Pivotal to Development of the Veterinary Profession

Madison, N.J. (PRWEB) February 02, 2012

Five prominent Colleges of Veterinary Medicine located in the Western U.S. recently convened to create the Consortium of Western Regional Colleges of Veterinary Medicine. The Consortium was formed to collaborate in the advancement of initiatives critical to the future of the veterinary profession.

To ensure actions are put in place to address these priorities, representatives from each of the colleges created a regional think-tank with a commitment to action and mutual collaboration. Representatives, including the deans from Colorado State University, Oregon State University, Western University of Health Sciences, Washington State University and University of California at Davis, met in San Francisco this past October and created the Consortium to pursue set objectives.

The inaugural meeting of the Consortium was funded and facilitated by Pfizer Animal Health as part of the company’s Commitment to Veterinarians™ platform—which offers support through training and education, research and development, investing in the future of the veterinary profession, and philanthropy.

The Consortium collaborated on the following topics outlined as top priorities in veterinary medicine:

    Gaps between selected career tracks among veterinarians and societal needs     Targeted recruiting and professional readiness among graduating veterinarians     Learning and application of soft skills to keep veterinarians at the center of healthcare     Identifying and devising ways for academic institutions to share resources and create Centers of Excellence     The importance of strong and continued faculty development to promote rich and innovative learning environments

“The first meeting of the Consortium of Western Regional Colleges of Veterinary Medicine was tremendously productive; the concept behind the group and the identified areas of potential collaboration align closely with strategic priorities of the veterinary profession, as well as with short- and long-term goals of the institutions, with a focus on creating better-prepared graduates, developing faculty and modeling collaboration,” said Vanessa Mariani, Director of Academic & Professional Affairs for Pfizer Animal Health. “We are fully committed to continued engagement with the Consortium in support of securing a strong, relevant future for the profession.”

An important achievement during the inaugural meeting of the Consortium was the development of a rubric for collaboration, which will be used to develop and implement shared strategies. Unanimous agreement was reached to start working immediately on the topic of faculty development by creating a regional teaching academy. Plans are being developed for Consortium members to reconvene in the near future to work out the details of this initial collaborative project.

Pfizer Inc: Working together for a healthier world™

At Pfizer, we apply science and our global resources to improve health and well-being at every stage of life. We strive to set the standard for quality, safety and value in the discovery, development and manufacturing of medicines for people and animals. Our diversified global health care portfolio includes human and animal biologic and small molecule medicines and vaccines, as well as nutritional products and many of the world's best-known consumer products. Every day, Pfizer colleagues work across developed and emerging markets to advance wellness, prevention, treatments and cures that challenge the most feared diseases of our time. Consistent with our responsibility as the world's leading biopharmaceutical company, we also collaborate with health care providers, governments and local communities to support and expand access to reliable, affordable health care around the world. For more than 150 years, Pfizer has worked to make a difference for all who rely on us. To learn more about our commitments to animal health, please visit us at http://www.pfizerAH.com.

# # #

Rebecca Cisek
Pfizer Animal Health
(973) 660-5565
Email Information

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Five Colleges of Veterinary Medicine Form Regional Consortium

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Rehabmart.com Joins Forces with DeRoyal to Offer Healthcare Products to Professionals and Patients

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NANOYOU PART 5 – The Nano Future – Video

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA–(Marketwire -02/02/12)- Prana Biotechnology (NASDAQ: PRAN – News) (ASX: PBT.AX – News) today commented on three recent high profile scientific journal articles that the company believes provide support for Prana's therapeutic strategy for treating neurodegenerative disease.

Professor Rudy Tanzi, the Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy Professor of Neurology at Harvard University and Prana's Chief Scientific Advisor, said, “It bodes well for PBT2 that at a time when so many drugs have failed, many independent researchers are shifting their focus around to the role of metals in neurodegenerative disease, providing data that promotes optimism for the outcome of Prana's trials. Prana's therapeutic strategy for treating neurodegenerative disease is very different from the anti-beta-amyloid drugs that have failed. I believe that PBT2 has a very good chance of success for providing real benefit to millions of patients in need of effective treatments.”

Recent articles in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA (PNAS)(1) Journal of Alzheimer's Disease(2), and Nature Medicine(3), have brought the roles of metals, both in normal synaptic function as well as in disease, into sharper focus. Released successively over the last three weeks of January 2012, the publications relate to different aspects of metal biology in neuronal health and disease and implications for therapy.

Prana has recently commenced clinical trials for Alzheimer's Disease and Huntington's Disease, both using the drug PBT2. PBT2 addresses the disruption in the normal balance of metals (Copper, Zinc and Iron) in the brain, brought on by the accumulation of misfolded proteins in neurodegenerative disease. Proper metal homeostasis is required for healthy brain function.

(1) You H et al (2012) A? neurotoxicity depends on interactions between copper ions, prion protein, and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors Proc Natl Acad Sci USA www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1110789109
(2) Wang T et al (2012) Clioquinol Reduces Zinc Accumulation in Neuritic Plaques and Inhibits the Amyloidogenic Pathway in A?PP/PS1 Transgenic Mouse Brain
J Alz Dis 28: 1-11
(3) Lei P et al (2012) Tau deficiency induces parkinsonism with dementia by impairing APP-mediated iron export. Nat Med doi:10.1038/nm.2613

About Prana Biotechnology Limited
Prana Biotechnology was established to commercialize research into age-related neurodegenerative disorders. The Company was incorporated in 1997 and listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in March 2000 and listed on NASDAQ in September 2002. Researchers at prominent international institutions including The University of Melbourne, The Mental Health Research Institute (Melbourne) and Massachusetts General Hospital, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, contributed to the discovery of Prana's technology.

For further information please visit the Company's web site at www.pranabio.com.

Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Company has tried to identify such forward-looking statements by use of such words as “expects,” “intends,” “hopes,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “could,” “may,” “evidences” and “estimates,” and other similar expressions, but these words are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. Such statements include, but are not limited to any statements relating to the Company's drug development program, including, but not limited to the initiation, progress and outcomes of clinical trials of the Company's drug development program, including, but not limited to, PBT2, and any other statements that are not historical facts. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those risks and uncertainties relating to the difficulties or delays in financing, development, testing, regulatory approval, production and marketing of the Company's drug components, including, but not limited to, PBT2, the ability of the Company to procure additional future sources of financing, unexpected adverse side effects or inadequate therapeutic efficacy of the Company's drug compounds, including, but not limited to, PBT2, that could slow or prevent products coming to market, the uncertainty of patent protection for the Company's intellectual property or trade secrets, including, but not limited to, the intellectual property relating to PBT2, and other risks detailed from time to time in the filings the Company makes with Securities and Exchange Commission including its annual reports on Form 20-F and its reports on Form 6-K. Such statements are based on management's current expectations, but actual results may differ materially due to various factions including those risks and uncertainties mentioned or referred to in this press release. Accordingly, you should not rely on those forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual future results.

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Prana Comments on Nature Medicine, PNAS and Journal of Alzheimer's Disease Articles That Highlight the Role of Metals …

TORONTO, Feb. 2, 2012 /CNW/ – Dr. Tom Hudson, President and Scientific Director of The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR), today announced a new study to develop a framework for the implementation of personalized medicine in cancer care.

The framework aims to integrate genomics research into everyday clinical practice, with a goal to provide improved and more targeted care for patients.

Published in the journal Cell, the framework supports improved diagnostics for cancer patients based on DNA analyses of tumours. The results of these analyses could be used to predict a patient's response to novel therapies. More immediately, it could be used to predict how drugs currently approved and in use today could help to treat other types of cancer.

“As the cost of genome sequencing decreases, we are presented with the reality that soon genome analysis will be no more or less expensive than most diagnostic tests in use today,” said Dr. Hudson. “This presents a huge opportunity to improve diagnosis for patients and ultimately improve patient outcomes. But in order to implement these tools, we must first understand their impact in a clinical setting.”

“This framework is not about simply doing a new test but creating evidence that would inform what type of treatment would be given to individual patients,” said Dr. Janet Dancey, leader of OICR's High Impact Clinical Trials Program. “We currently have a strong theoretical basis but now we need to create evidence from clinical trials to put these theories into clinical practice.”

“The timing is right to develop a clinical trial and research framework for genomics and cancer,” said Dr. Philippe L. Bedard, Medical Oncologist at Princess Margaret Hospital. “This framework will help to deliver on the promise of personalized medicine sooner.”

The paper's publication coincides with World Cancer Day on February 4, 2012. The collaborative research conducted in the study is an excellent example this year's World Cancer Day theme “Together it is possible”. For more information on World Cancer Day visit www.worldcancerday.org.

Much of the work in the study is based on sequencing currently underway by the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC), a collaborative international effort with a goal of sequencing 25,000 tumours from 50 different cancer types. The ICGC is creating a large database of mutations that are revealing many mutations known to be involved in specific tumours (for example, the BRAF mutation) are observed in many other types of cancer. This suggests that cancer diagnosis should involve an in-depth analysis of a tumour's mutation for many different types of cancer, regardless of where the tumour originated.

While the framework does provide a path forward for establishing a role for genomics in everyday clinical practice in the future, more research is needed before such practices can be implemented more widely.

Cancer was once thought of as a single disease that affected many different parts of the body. Now researchers know that every patient's cancer is different, requiring different treatments for different patients – even for tumours of the same type of cancer. This means new technologies are required to accurately diagnose and effectively treat different types of cancer. Personalized medicine will allow physicians to use new tools to identify characteristics of a tumour that are specific to each patient, and then tailor treatment to each patient's specific form of the disease. This will lead to earlier, more accurate diagnosis and improved treatment for patients with fewer side effects.

OICR

OICR is an innovative cancer research and development institute dedicated to prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The Institute is an independent, not-for-profit corporation, launched by the Government of Ontario in 2005. The annual budget for OICR, its research partners and collaborators exceeds $160 million. This supports more than 1,500 investigators, clinician scientists, research staff and trainees located at its headquarters and in research institutes and academia across the Province of Ontario. It has research hubs in Hamilton, Kingston, London, Ottawa, Thunder Bay and Toronto. OICR has key research efforts underway in small molecules, biologics, stem cells, imaging, genomics, informatics and bio-computing, from early stage research to Phase III clinical trials. For more information, please visit the website at www.oicr.on.ca.

Princess Margaret Hospital

Princess Margaret Hospital and its research arm, Ontario Cancer Institute, have achieved an international reputation as global leaders in the fight against cancer and delivering personalized cancer medicine. Princess Margaret Hospital, one of the top five international cancer research centres, is a member of the University Health Network, which also includes Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital and Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. All are research hospitals affiliated with the University of Toronto. For more information, go to www.uhn.ca

Ontario Institute for Cancer Research
Contact: Christopher Needles
Manager
Editorial Services and Media Relations
Email: christopher.needles@oicr.on.ca
Telephone: 416-673-8505
Mobile: 416-319-5252

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New study building framework to bring personalized medicine to the clinic

Feb 1, 2012 – 21:24

Image Caption: DNA sequencing can reveal if a person is susceptible to certain types of disease (Keystone)

by Scott Capper, swissinfo.ch

Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche, with over SFr9.5 billion ($10.35 billion) in profits for 2011, is looking to secure its future and betting on personalised medicine in the process.

Last week, the Basel-based firm made an offer worth $5.7 billion for Illumina, a San Diego company that makes machines which help decode DNA at lower cost.

It was ten years ago that the human genome was sequenced for the first time, at a cost of around $3 billion and a decade’s worth of research. Today, the goal is to cut the price tag to below $1,000 and carry out the sequencing in just a day.
 
Illumina is one of the front-runners to reach that target. On January 10, the company announced that it would have a machine capable of completing the task on the market by the second half of the year – though it is not alone in that claim.
 
While the cost of gene sequencing has dropped, its potential in medicine has been on the rise.
 
Sequencing helps identify new targets for pharmaceuticals. It also better defines patients that are most likely to respond to drugs. And with Illumina at the front of the field, Roche doesn’t want to be left behind.
 
“DNA sequencing is the foundation of personalised medicine,” said Karl Heinz Koch, analyst with Swiss equities broker Helvea. “Roche is weak in this field so far and cannot afford to miss the boat in this sector.”
 
Roche already expects a new generation of drugs targeted at specific groups of patients, a shift that is pushing the boundaries of modern medicine.

” We will need huge amounts of data… so we can understand the underlying mechanisms and design preventive and therapeutic measures. “
Ernst Hafen, molecular biologist

Everybody’s different

In an interview with the Reuters news agency, CEO Severin Schwan compared advances in molecular biology that are improving understanding of how cells work to the revolution in medicine several centuries ago when doctors first started opening up patients' bodies.
 
“In ten years we would see half of our portfolio to be targeted therapies. And if anything, I would assume in 20 years this percentage is going to increase,” Schwan said.
 
Roche, the world's largest maker of cancer drugs, leads the pack in targeted therapies thanks in part to its closely integrated diagnostics arm that helps its pharmaceutical division pinpoint the gene mutations that its drugs should zero in on.
 
Half of the products in Roche's late-stage pipeline already have companion diagnostics – tests that determine if the patients are a genetic fit with the therapies.
 
Genetic testing has certainly changed the way medicine considers illnesses.
 
“We have learnt the same disease can have different causes depending on the person, and require different therapies,” said Ernst Hafen, a molecular biologist at Zurich’s Federal Institute of Technology.
 
“People also do not all react the same way to drugs. And all that depends on the environment and genetic factors.”

Financial incentives

Besides boosting its bottom line, Roche is hoping that better targeted medicines will also help cut healthcare costs.
 
Patients whose genetic makeup means they will not benefit from a drug simply will not get it, reducing spending on administering drugs as well as the cost of potential side effects. The costs of developing drugs could potentially also fall with cheaper clinical testing.
 
According to Koch, purchasing Illumina fits this strategy, even if the Californian company is playing hard to get after rejecting Roche’s hostile bid.
 
“Illumina is the highest quality company in this field, with a strong double-digit growth potential,” he told swissinfo.ch. “The sequencing technology is a bridge between discovering genetic dysfunctions and designing drugs or diagnostic tools.”
 
However, this bridging role means that more research is needed on the human genome and the development of diagnostics.
 
“We will need huge amounts of data that will have to be handled by very powerful computers and software so we can understand the underlying mechanisms and design preventive and therapeutic measures,” Hafen told swissinfo.ch. “We are only at the beginning.”
 
Cheaper genetic testing is already on the market. Sending a saliva sample to some US companies provides a person with an outline of their genetic makeup and the likelihood of developing some diseases, although the precision of the data is controversial and experts warn the results should be considered with the utmost circumspection.
 
Some observers of the pharmaceutical industry have raised questions about Roche’s intentions, such as whether the company is seeking to corner the gene patenting market and potential direct-to-consumer testing.

Future usage

Specialists also say that decoding entire DNA sequences is set to move from research institutes and government laboratories to the healthcare system as it becomes a more widespread. There has been speculation that the firm is betting that the technology could become a publicly marketed tool with a Roche label.
 
Sequencing the entire genome also changes the logic of diagnostics according to Alexandre Mauron, professor of medical bioethics at Geneva University.
 
“Traditionally, diagnostics involves a selection process, whereby a doctor decides which tests are carried out on a patient. With sequencing, diagnostics becomes simpler and potentially cheaper,” he said.
 
“But it also provides answers to questions that weren’t raised. So advising patients about their genetic makeup will become more important, because you can’t just simply ‘download’ that information and give it to them, without an explanation as to what data are relevant and why.”
 
Mauron points out though the patient will have a bigger say in the diagnostic process, and will in fact be able to claim ownership of any information produced. 
 
“It would be wrong for doctors to decide what a patient should know,” he told swissinfo.ch. “This also means that providing expert counselling about genetic information will become even more important in the future, so we need to rethink the role of those providing it.”
 
The Geneva professor says there is no reason to feel concerned that the latest gene sequencing technologies will cause major problems in Switzerland.
 
“Swiss legislation on human genetic testing has enough scope to cover new technological developments and includes all the necessary ethical considerations,” he said. “The degree of genetic counselling must for example be proportionate to the wider implications of the tests carried out.”

Scott Capper, swissinfo.ch
(With input from Gaby Ochsenbein)

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Roche looks to personal future

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Sequenom, Inc. (NASDAQ: SQNM – News), a life sciences company providing innovative genetic analysis solutions, today announced that a new publication of an independent multi-center study on Sequenom Center for Molecular Medicine's MaterniT21™ laboratory-developed test (LDT) appears today in the online issue of Genetics in Medicine. The study demonstrated the LDT can detect fetal trisomy 21, 18 and 13 with high accuracy from a maternal blood sample and will be published in the March issue. The full results of the study can be found online at http://journals.lww.com/geneticsinmedicine/.

“Together with the previously published results on the test's ability to detect trisomy 21 with high accuracy, this publication provides further evidence that this valuable non-invasive technology can identify nearly all cases of T18 and T13, as well as T21, at a low false positive rate,” said Harry F. Hixson, Jr., Ph.D., Chairman and CEO, Sequenom, Inc. “This research continues to validate the use of our MaterniT21 LDT as a valuable tool in the care of pregnant women who are at high risk for fetal aneuploidy.”  

The published results represent a large international, multi-center study conducted at 27 prenatal diagnostic centers. Participating sites collected and processed maternal plasma samples from 4,664 pregnant women at high risk for fetal aneuploidy undergoing diagnostic testing in the late first and early second trimester. The results of a blinded testing of 212 pregnancies with trisomy 21 and their 1,484 matched controls were previously published in Genetics in Medicine. During that same testing period, blinded samples from pregnancies with trisomy 18 and trisomy 13 and their controls were also tested. Inclusion criteria were the same as for the earlier study of trisomy 21. 

A total of sixty-two trisomy 18 and twelve trisomy 13 pregnancies along with their matched controls (including the trisomy 21 cases and matched controls) were tested using the MaterniT21 LDT. When unblinded, the detection rate for trisomy 18 was 100 percent and for trisomy 13, was 91.7 percent, with false positive rates of 0.28 and 0.97 percent, respectively. 

The research was led by Jacob Canick, PhD, and Glenn Palomaki, PhD, of the Division of Medical Screening and Special Testing in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Women & Infants Hospital and The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and included scientists at Sequenom Center for Molecular Medicine, San Diego, CA, and an independent academic laboratory at the University of California at Los Angeles. The MaterniT21 test is available exclusively through Sequenom CMM as a testing service to physicians.

An estimated 1,330 cases of trisomy 18 and 600 cases of trisomy 13 are expected at term among the estimated 4.25 million pregnancies in the United States each year.

About Sequenom

Sequenom, Inc. (NASDAQ: SQNM – News) is a life sciences company committed to improving healthcare through revolutionary genetic analysis solutions. Sequenom develops innovative technology, products and diagnostic tests that target and serve discovery and clinical research, and molecular diagnostics markets. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in San Diego, California. Sequenom maintains a Web site at http://www.sequenom.com to which Sequenom regularly posts copies of its press releases as well as additional information about Sequenom. Interested persons can subscribe on the Sequenom Web site to email alerts or RSS feeds that are sent automatically when Sequenom issues press releases, files its reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission or posts certain other information to the Web site.

About Sequenom CMM

Sequenom Center for Molecular Medicine® (Sequenom CMM), a CAP accredited and CLIA-certified molecular diagnostics laboratory, is developing a broad range of diagnostics with a focus on prenatal diseases and conditions. These laboratory-developed tests provide beneficial patient management options for obstetricians, geneticists and maternal fetal medicine specialists. Sequenom CMM is changing the landscape in genetic disorder diagnostics using proprietary cutting edge technologies.

Forward-Looking Statement

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, including statements regarding the use of the MaterniT21 test as a valuable tool in the care of pregnant women, expectations regarding the future performance, utility, and impact of the test, the Company's commitment to improving healthcare through revolutionary genetic analysis solutions, and Sequenom CMM changing the landscape in genetic disorder diagnostics, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially, including the risks and uncertainties associated with market demand for and acceptance and use by customers of new tests such as the MaterniT21 LDT, reliance upon the collaborative efforts of other parties, the Company's financial position, its ability to position itself for product launches and growth and develop and commercialize new technologies and products, particularly new technologies such as noninvasive prenatal diagnostics, laboratory developed tests, and genetic analysis platforms, the Company's ability to manage its existing cash resources or raise additional cash resources, competition, intellectual property protection and intellectual property rights of others, government regulation particularly with respect to diagnostic products and laboratory developed tests, obtaining or maintaining regulatory approvals, litigation involving the Company, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's most recently filed Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010, and other documents subsequently filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements are based on current information that may change and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement, and the Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the issuance of this press release.

(Logo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20040415/SQNMLOGO)

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Study Published In Genetics In Medicine Demonstrates Sequenom CMM MaterniT21 Test Accurately Detects Two Additional …

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MIT Sloan BioInnovations Conference to Spotlight New Trends in Entrepreneurship, Financing, Personalized Medicine and …

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Store-A-Tooth Dental Stem Cell Banking Featured at Yankee Dental Congress 2012

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Skin Cells as Stem Cells! Medicine's Next Big Thing

OTTAWA , Feb. 1, 2012 /CNW/ – The following is a statement by Russell Williams , President of Canada's Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (Rx&D) on the announcement by the Government of Canada today to ensure that personalized medicine will allow for more effective treatments, thus supporting our Canadian health care system in a more sustainable way.

“Canada's Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies welcome this commitment by the Government of Canada to establish personalized medicine as the way to transform the delivery of health care to patients.

“At Rx&D, we believe that providing the right medicine with the right dose to the right patient at the right time is crucial to improving health outcomes for Canadians. With the rise of chronic disease and an aging population, all governments are grappling with unprecedented demand for health care services. It is clear that we face a collective challenge to sustain and improve our health care system where traditional approaches are no longer efficient.

“We commend the Government of Canada's commitment to engage in this work. Pharmaceutical innovation is a proven tool to help Canadians live longer, healthier, more productive lives. It is critical to the future productivity of our country, our workplaces, our communities and our citizens. Innovation is essential for “patient-centered” care.

“The development of new and more effective medicines and vaccines continues to change the face of health care in Canada . Canadians now survive life threatening illnesses and live with chronic conditions in ways not possible for previous generations.

“We applaud the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Genome Canada and the Cancer Stem Cell Consortium for their vision and leadership to develop and implement a scientific innovation that will result in better health for Canadians.”

About Rx&D

Rx&D is the association of leading research-based pharmaceutical companies dedicated to improving the health of Canadians through the discovery and development of new medicines and vaccines. Our community represents 15,000 men and women working for 50 member companies and invests more than $1 billion in research and development each year to fuel Canada's knowledge-based economy. Guided by our Code of Ethical Practices, our membership is committed to working in partnership with governments, healthcare professionals and stakeholders in a highly ethical manner.

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Statement – Rx&D Applauds Government of Canada for Investing in Personalized Medicine

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Dr. Andrew Weil’s Vision for the Future of Integrative Medicine – Video

Halfway through its initial ten-year mandate, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) in San Francisco is confronting a topic familiar to anyone at middle age: its own mortality.

The publicly funded institute, one of the world’s largest supporters of stem-cell research, was born from a state referendum in 2004. Endorsements from celebrities such as then-state governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the late actor Christopher Reeve, who had been paralysed by a spinal injury, helped to garner voter support for a public bond to underwrite the institute. But with half of the US$3 billion that it received from the state now spent and the rest expected to run out by 2021, CIRM is now actively planning for a future that may not include any further state support.

“It would be premature to even consider another bond measure at this time,” wrote Jonathan Thomas, CIRM’s chairman, in a draft of a transition plan requested by the state legislature. Thomas outlined the plan on 24 January at a public hearing held in San Francisco by the US Institute of Medicine, which CIRM has asked to review its operations.

Given that California is facing severe budget shortfalls, several billion dollars more for stem-cell science may strike residents as a luxury that they can ill afford. It may also prove difficult for CIRM’s supporters to point to any treatments that have emerged from the state’s investment. So far, the agency has funded only one clinical trial using embryonic stem cells, and that was halted by its sponsor, Geron of Menlo Park, California, last November.

Yet the institute has spent just over $1 billion on new buildings and labs, basic research, training and translational research, often for projects that scientists say are crucial and would be difficult to get funded any other way. So the prospect of a future without CIRM is provoking unease. “It would be a very different landscape if CIRM were not around,” says Howard Chang, a dermatologist and genome scientist at Stanford University in California.

“It would be a very different landscape if CIRM were not around.”

Chang has a CIRM grant to examine epigenetics in human embryonic stem cells, and is part of another CIRM-funded team that is preparing a developmental regulatory protein for use as a regenerative therapy. Both projects would be difficult to continue without the agency, he says. Federal funding for research using human embryonic stem cells remains controversial, and could dry up altogether after the next presidential election (see Nature 481, 421–423; 2012). And neither of Chang’s other funders — the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland — supports his interdisciplinary translational work. Irina Conboy, a stem-cell engineer at the University of California, Berkeley, who draws half of her lab’s funding from CIRM, agrees that in supporting work that has specific clinical goals, the agency occupies a niche that will not easily be filled by basic-research funders. “The NIH might say that the work does not have a strong theoretical component, so you’re not learning anything new,” she says.

CIRM is developing plans to help its grantees to continue their work if the agency closes. One option is a non-profit ‘venture philanthropy’ fund that would raise money from private sources to support stem-cell research. The agency is also writing a strat­egic plan for the rest of its ten-year mandate that focuses on translating research into the clinic, acknowledging that CIRM’s best shot at survival — and at sustaining future funding for stem-cell researchers — could come from a clinical success.

As CIRM board member Claire Pomeroy, chief executive of the University of California, Davis, Health System in Sacramento, noted at the agency’s board meeting on 17 January: “If you asked the public what they would define as success, they would say a patient benefited.”

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Stem-cell agency faces budget dilemma

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