Worried About the Size of Your Head?

New research has demonstrated that small variations in the genetic code of the HMGA2 gene may be impacting your brain size and IQ. According to study leader Paul Thompson, these variations “can tilt the scales in favour of a higher intelligence.” The researchers acknowledged that genetics, education, and environmental factors all likely play a role in determining our intelligence and that, according to Thompson, “most other ways we know of improving brain function more than outweigh this gene.”

Although the effect of this gene is small, the researchers feel that the gene variations may help our brains resist cognitive decline as we age. Interestingly, they found that every “T” in place of a “C” correlated with a 0.6% reduction in brain size, which they say is equal to more than a year’s worth of brain loss due to normal ageing processes. Guess this means that the next time you worry about the size of your head remember that it may mean you have a bigger brain and are potentially smarter than your smaller headed friends. Read the entire article here.

For more information regarding Harbor Consulting, please visit www.seqidno.com.

Abbott Labs Admits Guilt and Settles on $1.6 Billion Fine in Depakote Case

Despite the impending ‘patent cliff’, the pharmaceutical industry has appeared fruitful for the first part of 2012.  Surprising then is the news that Abbott Labs (Abbott) has been penalized $1.6 billion in fines and received a misdemeanor after admitting guilt to marketing a medication for unapproved uses.

Considering the gutsy moves Abbott made in marketing its anti-seizure medication, Depakote, to nursing homes for treatment of aggression and agitation in elderly dementia patients, the fine of $1.6 billion dollars could be viewed as getting off lightly.  The nursing home drug sales were the result of a company organized and trained special sales force team whose sole responsibility was selling Depakote to nursing homes.  Even worse, the team continued to market the drug even after its own clinical trials showed that the treated patients often suffered from drowsiness, dehydration and anorexia.

The Justice Department learned of Abbott’s violations of Depakote through a whistleblower suit filed by former sales reps that charged Abbott with bribing physicians and pharmacists at eldercare facilities and forcing their reps to falsify Depakote’s safety and effectiveness.  As a result of Abbott’s admitted guilt, those whistleblowers will now share an $84 million bounty from the federal government with additional money coming from various states.

For more information, see the related articles below:
Abbott Labs Settles Depakote Lawsuits for $1.6B
A big fine and patent breaking highlight pharma’s week

For more information regarding Harbor Consulting, please visit www.seqidno.com.

Roche ends cardiovascular drug trial

A potential blockbuster heart disease drug was pulled after results from late stage trials produced disappointing results.  Roche, a Swiss drug maker, ended the trial when the Data and Safety Monitoring Board recommended it after the drug did not effectively make a positive difference in patients with stable coronary heart disease.  This would have been Roche’s first cardiovascular drug and had financial analysts predicting over a $10 billion payout as recently as last September.  The news dropped Roche shares by 3.3%.  At this time Roche does not plan to put any additional funds towards further development of this drug.

Read the source article here.

For more information regarding Harbor Consulting, please visit www.seqidno.com.

HCIP Selected to Participate in EPO’s “Invitation to Tender…” Pertaining to an Integrated Biological Sequence Query System

As some of you may be aware, the European Patent Office (“EPO”) recently sent out an invitation to a select group of IP service providers inviting them to participate in its “Invitation to Tender relating to 2012/0151/Tr relating to the provision of an integrated Biological Sequence Query System to the EPO as a service.”  Having nearly 17 years of biotech IP experience, Harbor Consulting IP Services, Inc. was one of the service providers selected to submit a proposal for this invitation.

That said, the main purpose of the tender is to develop, maintain, and support a centralized search platform consisting of various public and private patent databases that EPO patent examiners may access to run sequence search queries.  The EPO estimates that its examiners search about 60,000± DNA and amino acid sequences each year.  Proposals were due to the EPO no later than April 23, 2012, and should the EPO choose a particular proposal for implementation, it shall award an initial two year contract sometime in June of this year.

For more information regarding Harbor Consulting, please visit www.seqidno.com.

Bionic Eye Gives Sight to the Blind

Sounds like something out of a science fiction novel, but this is reality for Chris James, a 54-year-old man who has been blind for 20 years.  James’ eye was implanted with a chip created by the German company Retina Implant AG and you can view a diagram of exactly how the chip works in this article.

The chip does not fully restore sight back to normal vision, however, it does allow James to see the outline of objects and figures, as well as the contrast of light and dark, which is a significant improvement for those who have been living in complete darkness.  As the brain “learns” how to see again, it will make more sense of the images, and over time the detail of sight may increase to the point wherein the patient has the ability to recognize the faces of others.

There are a lot of tests and improvements yet to be made, but for those who are living with blindness, this is a huge breakthrough; and in the not too distant future, this technology may possibly lead the restoration of full, normal vision.

For further reading:

Bionic Eye Helps Blind See
BIONIC Eye Patient Hopes To See His Wife For First Time

-The Harbor Consulting Team

For more information regarding Harbor Consulting, please visit www.seqidno.com.

RBCC Target Amarantus BioSciences Reports Positive Pre-Clinical Results of Parkinson’s Treatment

“Somewhere over the Rainbow” … maybe dreams will come true for patients with Parkinson’s disease.  Rainbow BioSciences, LLC, through its joint venture Amarantus BioSciences, Inc., recently received positive clinical results for their new Parkinson’s therapy MANF currently in development to address an underlying form of cell death known as apoptosis.  Other companies working vigorously to find a treatment and/or a cure for Parkinson’s disease include some heavy hitters such as Cell Therapeutics, Inc., Biogen Idec Inc., Abbott Laboratories, and Elan Corp.  With the continued support of interested parties such as the Michael J. Fox Foundation, hopefully there is a pot of gold at the end of this Rainbow.

Read the entire article here.

-The Harbor Consulting Team

For more information regarding Harbor Consulting, please visit www.seqidno.com.

Better than acupuncture??

There are many of us who have tried acupuncture to help relieve pain.  Traditional acupuncture causes the body to release adenosine, which acts as a local anesthetic.  However, the results are short-lived (usually lasting about 1 ½ hours), because once the adenosine is gone, so is the relief.

A new study by Julie Hurt and Mark Zylka at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reports that injections of an enzyme called PAP (prostatic acid phosphatase) at an acupuncture point could provide longer lasting results than traditional acupuncture.  Providing up to six days of relief, the enzyme breaks down your body’s natural supply of AMP (adenosine monophosphate) to produce adenosine.  As your body produces a continuous supply of AMP to be broken down into adenosine, the pain relief is much longer-lived.

So far the study has only been conducted on mice; however, Zylka says that they may soon test the enzyme as a pain reliever for humans.

-The Harbor Consulting Team

For more information regarding Harbor Consulting, please visit www.seqidno.com.