This week in review-strides in Hepatitis C treatment; Autism test for infants and armadillos!
Vertex on Road to FDA Approval for Hepatitis C Virus Drug
Congratulations to Cambridge biotech company, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., for getting one step closer to FDA approval for telaprevir, its experimental drug to treat the hepatits C virus—a viral disease that leads to inflammation of the liver. Yesterday, an FDA medical advisory committee—an independent panel of medical experts from across the country— unanimously recommended that the drug be approved when the FDA makes it decision which is scheduled to occur by May 23. The FDA typically follows the panel’s advice.
According to an article in the Boston Globe, if approved, this would be the first blockbuster drug (drugs with more than $1 billion in annual revenues) launched by a Massachusetts company in almost a decade and Vertex’s first drug commercialized solely by the company in its 22-year history. Vertex has been working on this treatment for the liver-ravaging disease since 1993.
Quiz for Early Diagnosis of Autism in Infants
The Wall Street Journal reports on a study conducted at the University of California, San Diego’s Autism Center of Excellence, that showed that a screening in a pediatrician’s office can detect autism-like symptoms in children as young as 12 months old. Autism typically appears during the first three years of life and affects a person’s ability to communicate and interact with others. The 5-minute questionnaire asks parents to identify potential problems in language and communications skills. Early diagnosis and treatment of autism—which according to the Autism Society affects 1.5 million Americans—are thought to improve outcomes. While the study did flag some babies who turned out to be developing normally, the study found that the benefits of the test outweighed the downsides. Typically, children are not diagnosed until age 2 or 3 when symptoms like lack of eye contact become more obvious. The study found that of the nearly 10,500 infants screened, 184 scored lower than expected and were referred for further evaluation and tracked up to three years. 32 infants were diagnosed with an autism-spectrum disorder and 101 infants were found to have a language or developmental delay. This is the first and only study that demonstrated the feasibility of using a broad screening measure in a medical setting.
Think Twice about Petting an Armadillo
Using genetic sequencing, researchers have found that armadillos are a likely source of leprosy among some Americans who have contracted the disease in the U.S. According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, researchers found that infected armadillos captured in five southern states have the same strain of the agent that causes leprosy as that found in patients from southern states diagnosed with the disease. The strains are genetically identical, providing a biological link between the infection that occurs in human beings and those that occur in animals. The study was sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
While leprosy is rare in the U.S. with fewer than 250 new cases reported each year and most cases are acquired overseas, one-third of patients were not out of the country or couldn’t recall contact with another infected person. The study could prompt doctors encountering patients with unexplained skin lesions to ask whether they have handled armadillos.
Posted by Lauren Arnold on April 29, 2011 at 11:48 AM
