Check your pollen level & latest on Ariad trial

[Guest guest]

National Allergy Bureau Pollen and Mold Report

Pull down menu for your part of the country. This is for all you allergy and

asthma sufferers:

http://www.aaaai.org/nab/index.cfm?p=allergenreport

MONDAY, May 11 (HealthDay News) -- " Climate change isn't only bad for the Earth,

it may be bad for your health -- especially if you have allergies or asthma.

Global warming is making pollen seasons last longer, creating more ozone in the

air, and even expanding the areas where insects flourish, putting more people

with bee allergies at greater risk, experts say.

" Climate change will cause impacts in every area. Wet areas will get wetter, and

drier climates are getting drier, " said Dr. Demain, director of the

Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Center of Alaska, and a clinical associate

professor at the University of Washington. Those changes will mean more people

with allergies and asthma will suffer. In wet areas, mold allergies will spike,

while in drier areas pollens and other airborne irritants will become more of a

problem, he said. Last month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced

that it believes carbon dioxide and five additional greenhouse gases are

dangerous to human health. This finding may eventually lead to environmentally

friendly changes, such as regulations for cleaner energy and more fuel-efficient

cars. "

More information if this is a problem area for you.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/hscout/2009/05/11/hscout626408.html

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A little cameo about Ariad trying to catch up to Gleevec back in 2003. AP23573

was in trial for sarcoma. I found the article interesting, so I pasted part and

refer to the web site if you are interested in the entire article. Let's all

hope and pray for the success of this trial for our members who are entering

Phase II. We wish them well in this new venture. According to the article,

the weird part is in cancer no drug should suppress the immune system.

" Ariad and other biotechs once pursued only the broadest markets, but they have

a newfound interest in curing the rarest of cancers. The revenue upside turns

out to be surprisingly lucrative, and the journey from the lab to final approval

can go far faster than usual. This is because the cause of a rare form of cancer

often can be narrowed down to a single gene, providing a clear target, and

because few other effective remedies exist, so that the promise of a new drug

can be instantly visible.

" Their model is Gleevec, the Novartis drug for a rare form of leukemia that

occurs in only 4,600 new patients a year--but brings in $2.2 billion in revenue.

Gleevec was so good at attacking chronic myelogenous leukemia that it won

approval in less than three months, after only two of the three phases of trials

that the feds usually require.

" Ariad hopes to follow suit. Its AP23573 pill has shown amazing promise in

sarcoma, which kills 5,000 people each year.It is treated with surgery,

radiation and chemo, but when it returns there is little hope. " We've seen this

drug do things no other drug has done yet, " says D. Demetri of the

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who codesigned trials of AP23573 after big

successes with other fast-tracked pills, such as Gleevec and Pfizer's Sutent. In

an early trial Ariad's drug apparently halted tumor growth in 16 of 52 patients;

more results are due in November. "

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2005/1031/098.html

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Short summary on leukemia. " Leukemia is a blood-based cancer characterized by

the abnormal proliferation and accumulation of immature, functionless blood

cells in the blood and marrow, which impede the development and function of

normal blood cells. If untreated, the cancerous blood cells overwhelm the bone

marrow, enter the bloodstream and eventually invade other parts of the body,

such as the lymph nodes, spleen, liver, and central nervous system. "

More current information on Ariad AP24534. Let's all hope and pray for the

success of this trial for our members who are entering Phase II. We wish them

well in this new venture. According to the article, the weird part is in

cancer no drug should suppress the immune system. I guess we proved them all

wrong.

" In preclinical studies, AP24534 demonstrated efficacy and oral dosing

flexibility in animal models of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), including forms

of CML caused by clinically relevant variants of the target protein, Bcr-Abl.

Specifically, AP24534 potently inhibited a specific mutant, T315I, which is

resistant to all currently available drugs. Additional preclinical studies

demonstrated that AP24534 also inhibits Flt3, a target associated with acute

myeloid leukemia (AML).

" Preclinical studies also demonstrated that AP24534 potently inhibited

additional targets that control the process of angiogenesis, or blood vessel

growth, including the receptors for vascular endothelial growth factors, or

VEGFRs, fibroblast growth factors, or FGFRs, and angiopoietin, or Tie2.

Inhibiting angiogenesis is a clinically validated approach to treating multiple

solid tumors.

" Additional preclinical studies indicate that AP24534 should be well tolerated

at anticipated therapeutic dose levels in cancer patients. We believe the

results of our preclinical testing support the broad potential of AP24534 in

patients with leukemias as well as solid tumors. " ©2009 ARIAD Pharmaceuticals,

Inc.

http://www.ariad.com/wt/tertiarypage/kinase_inhibitors

FYI,

Lottie