Popular Articles

Could Your Mouth, Not The Food You Put Into It Be The Secret To The Size Of Your Waistline?
Oral healthcare could hold the key to beating obesity according to new dental research*.

First Confirmed Case Of 2009 H1N1 Flu In Navajo County
Navajo County Public Health Services District officials announced today the first case of 2009 H1N1 in Navajo County. The Arizona Department of Health Services Lab confirmed that an 18 year old patient at Little Colorado Medical Center tested positive for the illness. The patient has subsequently been treated and released.
News of the day
Michigan Doctors Flee Medicaid Program Cuts
Michigan"s Medicaid program is growing by as many as 15,000 people a month, but fewer physicians are accepting new patients insured by the program, which physicians say pays too little to cover their costs, the Associated Press reports. Meanwhile, the Michigan governor"s office announced an additional 4 percent cut last month, which "will lower payments across the board for hospitals, dentists and doctors who treat Medicaid patients." The article notes that in Michigan, the program currently insures a record 1.6 million residents.
Mental Health

Conatus Pharmaceuticals Initiates A Second Phase 2 Clinical Trial For The Treatment Of Hepatitis

Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced the initiation of a second Phase 2 clinical trial with a novel drug candidate for the treatment of liver disease associated with Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection. The trial will enroll patients for whom treatment with approved standard of care treatments is not currently advised. Results from an earlier clinical trial in HCV patients who failed standard of care treatment are expected to be reported later this year. CTS-1027 is an oral, small molecule compound that inhibits the activity of key members of a class of protease enzymes, the matrix metalloproteinases or MMPs. CTS-1027 had previously been shown to be effective in multiple preclinical models of inflammatory liver disease and HCV infection. The clinical trial is a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial testing an optimized dose of CTS-1027 alone or in combination with ribavirin. Dosing will last for up to twenty four weeks. The Company expects approximately 70 patients to be enrolled. The clinical trial will be conducted at up to twenty five medical centers in the U.S. Additional information "Our recent preclinical studies suggest that CTS-1027 treatment has the potential to impact the second phase of HCV virus inhibitory kinetics in patients. This phase is associated with the gradual reduction and replacement of HCV infected cells by uninfected liver cells. Interestingly, ribavirin is also postulated to have the greatest impact on HCV second phase inhibition, leading us to evaluate CTS-1027 in combination with ribavirin," said Steven J. Mento, President and CEO of Conatus. "We believe that CTS-1027 represents a novel approach to treating HCV disease and look forward to developing this drug candidate to fill an important medical need in HCV-infected patients." Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a privately-held specialty pharmaceutical company engaged in the development of innovative human therapeutics to treat liver disease. Chronic liver disease affects millions of people worldwide and can be caused by many different conditions or "insults" to the liver including Hepatitis C and other viral infections, obesity, chronic alcohol abuse or autoimmune diseases. Conatus was founded by the executive management team of Idun Pharmaceuticals in July 2005 following the successful sale of Idun to Pfizer. Conatus Pharmaceuticals


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