Category Archives: Health

Health, Medical, Research, Science

New heart drug offers biggest breakthrough since statins

MEDICAL RESEARCH

Unlike other treatments that tend to focus on cholesterol, Canakinumab works to lower inflammation in the body.

The discovery of a new heart drug is being hailed as the biggest breakthrough since statins. Thousands of lives could be saved.

In a four-year trial, scientists found that the drug – given by injection every three months – cut the risk of heart attacks by a quarter.

The study involving 10,000 patients, and around 1,000 doctors in 39 countries, also suggested that the drug could halve the risk of dying from lung cancer and prevent arthritis and gout.

Scientists said the treatment marked “a new era of therapeutics” that could save thousands of lives.

The drug, canakinumab, works by reducing inflammation – a major new approach in heart medicine. For the past 30 years cholesterol-busting statins have been given to nearly all people deemed to be at risk of cardiovascular disease in an effort to save them from heart attacks and strokes.

Yet half of the 200,000 people who have a heart attack in Britain each year do not have high cholesterol, so there is a desperate need for a different approach to treatment.

Experts have long thought that inflammation – the body’s natural responses to infection or injury – might also play a major role in causing heart attacks and strokes, possibly because it causes swelling in the arteries, increasing the risk of a blockage.

The new trial, however, is the first definitive proof that cutting inflammation slashes heart risk.

Study leader Professor Paul Ridker of Harvard Medical School said the new drug opened up a “third front” in the war on heart disease, following the previous focus on cholesterol and lifestyle.

Presenting his findings at the European Society of Cardiology congress in Barcelona, Professor Ridker said: “These findings represent the end game of more than two decades of research, stemming from a critical observation – half of heart attacks occur in people who do not have high cholesterol.

“We’ve been able to definitively show that lowering inflammation independent of cholesterol reduces cardiovascular risk.”

Professor Ridker, whose results are published in the New England Journal of Medicine, added: “This has far-reaching implications.

“It tells us that by leveraging an entirely new way to treat patients – targeting inflammation – we may be able to improve outcomes for certain very high-risk populations.”

Canakinumab is an antibody that attacks an immune-system protein called interleukin-1, which in high levels results in increased inflammation throughout the body.

The scientific trial involved high-risk patients who had already suffered a heart attack – a group in desperate need of help because a quarter of patients suffer a second attack within five years, even with statins.

All patients in the trial took statins as well, but canakinumab cut the risk of repeat heart attacks by 24 per cent, over and above the impact of the cholesterol drug.

People who took the drug were 36 per cent less likely to be hospitalised with unstable angina, and 32 per cent less likely to require costly bypass surgery.

Researchers reported a sharp rise in infections, which killed one in every 1,000 patients. But patients had a 51 per cent reduced risk of lung cancer deaths – a finding they said was “very exciting”. Gout and arthritis, which are linked to inflammation, also fell.

Canakinumab manufacturer Novartis said it would seek a licence to use the drug for heart disease.

Canakinumab is used for inflammatory problems, including forms of arthritis, at the cost of £9,928 per jab. Experts said the price – £40,000 a year for heart patients – would have to be lowered for it to be made available on the NHS.

Professor Jeremy Pearson, of the British Heart Foundation, said: “These exciting trial results finally confirm that ongoing inflammation contributes to risk of heart disease, and could help save lives.

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Government, Health, Science, Society

Pesticide use deemed ‘worse for children than passive smoking’

RESEARCH

Crop Spraying

A study has revealed that crop spraying with elemental sulphur, one of the most widely used pesticides, is a greater danger than passive smoking to children.

CROP spraying with the world’s most widely used pesticide could be a greater danger to children than passive smoking, a new scientific study has said.

Scientists have linked elemental sulphur to higher levels of asthma and breathing problems in youngsters living near sprayed fields.

Significantly, the chemical is widely used on both conventional and organic farms on the basis that it is a ‘natural’ substance.

It is typically used to prevent and eradicate fungi such as mildew from fruit crops such as strawberries and grapes. The chemical is also widely used on wheat, barley, hops, sugar beet and swedes.

However, the fine powder can drift and damage the lungs of children living nearby, according to the landmark study.

Academics at the University of California, Berkeley, say farmers may need to change how they use the spray.

This could include a ban on spraying near homes, or wetting the powder before spreading it, meaning it is less likely to blow into neighbouring communities.

The research, which is being funded by the US Government, is the first to link agricultural use of sulphur with poor respiratory health in children living nearby. Researchers looked at a group of children in Salinas, California, which is well known for growing strawberries, lettuce, tomatoes and spinach. Known as America’s ‘salad bowl’ it is also an important area for grape growing.

The study linked reduced lung function, more asthma-related symptoms and higher asthma medication use in children living less than a mile from recent elemental sulphur applications compared to unexposed children.

Researchers found an association with the spraying of the fungicide and a fall in the lung function of children aged seven who lived within 1,100 yards. This was measured as an average fall of 143 millilitres per second (ml/s) in the amount of air the children could forcefully blow out in one second.

This is worse than the 101 ml/s reduction shown in children of the same age exposed to passive smoking via their mothers for five years.

Professor Brenda Eskenazi said: ‘This study proves the first data consistent with anecdotal reports of farm workers and shows that residents – in this case, children – living near fields may be more likely to have respiratory problems from nearby agricultural sulphur applications.’

Co-author of the study Asa Bradman said: ‘Sulphur… is naturally present in our food and soil and is part of normal human biochemistry, but breathing in sulphur dust can irritate airways and cause coughing.

‘We need to better understand how people are exposed to sulphur used in agriculture and how to mitigate exposures. Formulations using wettable powders could be a solution.’

A spokesperson for the UK Pesticides Campaign, said: ‘This study provides further evidence of the significant health risks for rural residents living in the locality of pesticide sprayed crops.’

‘It also again confirms the fact that such risks and adverse impacts on residents exposed to agricultural pesticides anywhere in the world has simply not been properly assessed before such pesticides are approved.’

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Health, Medical, Research, Science

A drug used for treating diabetes could combat Parkinson’s

RESEARCH

A DIABETES drug could be a breakthrough treatment for stopping Parkinson’s disease in its tracks, a new study suggests.

People with Parkinson’s who took Exenatide, which has been used to treat Type 2 diabetes since 2005, for around a year had better motor skills than those who took a placebo.

The results suggest the drug could halt decline in Parkinson’s patients rather than just relieving symptoms.

In the study, researchers from University College London followed 60 Parkinson’s patients who injected themselves once a week with either Exenatide or a placebo, in addition to their regular medications.

After the treatment, those who took the drug had improved their motor function – measures such as tremors, agility and speech – while those who took the placebo declined.

In diabetes, Exenatide works by activating hormone receptors in the pancreas to stimulate the release of insulin.

But the same receptors exist in the brain, and scientists believe activating them can boost dopamine function and stop inflammation. In Parkinson’s, dopamine-producing cells become damaged, so preventing this could help stop the progression of the disease.

The research, which has been published in The Lancet medical journal, was welcomed by Parkinson’s UK. A spokesperson for the organisation said: ‘These results could build upon an earlier, smaller trial and offer encouragement that diabetes treatments could provide new treatments for Parkinson’s.’

 

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