From Richard529@aol.com Fri Nov 7 06:59:09 1997 Received: from sparky.harvard.edu (sparky.harvard.edu [128.103.190.81]) by kantti.Helsinki.FI (8.8.8-spammers-bug-off/8.8.5) with ESMTP id GAA29389 for ; Fri, 7 Nov 1997 06:59:09 +0200 (EET) Received: from imo01.mail.aol.com (imo01.mx.aol.com [198.81.11.113]) by sparky.harvard.edu (8.8.6/8.7.2) with ESMTP id XAA22207 for ; Thu, 6 Nov 1997 23:59:03 -0500 (EST) From: Richard529 Message-ID: <960a5e53.34629dbb@aol.com> Date: Thu, 6 Nov 1997 23:49:45 EST To: owner-autoimmune_research@sparky.harvard.edu Subject: Re: BOUNCE autoimmune_research: Approval required Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Organization: AOL (http://www.aol.com) X-Mailer: Inet_Mail_Out (IMOv10) Status: O The following items are from the November issue of Support & Sharing, a bimonthly newsletter of the San Mateo County (CA) Multiple Sclerosis support group. >From Joyce Harnett San Mateo CA e-mail: richard529@aol.com Beta interferon - A new, cheaper source of this drug, used in betaseron and avonex, may be on the horizon. Genzyme Transgenics Corporation, a biotechnology company in Framingham MA, has produced high levels of this protein in mouse milk, suggesting that the same can be done using dairy animals. The company believes this means of production will lower the cost of the drug considerably. IGF-I - This is a hormone that has stimulated growth of the myelin sheath on damaged nerve cells of diabetic rats grown in a petri dish. The experiments were conducted at the Univerity of Michigan. Tests with 40 persons with neuropathy (any disease of nervous system) of unknown origin are underway at Mayo Clinic. Myloral - This medicine showed little difference in effectiveness when compared with a placebo in a Phase III trial. Autoimmune Inc. of Lexington MA, which makes it, has reported that patients who received it along with a beta interferon had fewer exacerbations than those not receiving it. The results are from MRIs. Rebif - A clinical trial with 560 MS patients, using this beta-interferon drug, reduced relapses between 29 and 32%. Ares-Serono, the Swiss firm developing the drug, said that, in addition, it delayed disability progression and decreased disease activity as seen in MRI scans. Because rebif patients were in more advanced stages of MS than patients in betaseron and avonex trials, comparison cannot be easily made. A report was issued by the Amercan Neurological Association September 30. The company has obtained orphan drug status from the FDA. MS Genetic Research in Iceland Iceland's genetic pool is a rich one for researchers, going back hundreds of years with few changes because of the country's isolation. Decode Genetics, Inc., is there hoping to isolate the genes that bear an MS signature. Dr.Karl Stefansson, firm founder, believes his team is close to locating one of the major MS genes through the analysis of the DNA of 350 patients. MS is more prevalent in northern countries like Iceland.