Author Archive for billp

Africa Genomics Effort Taking Shape

Published on February 2, 2011 in News. 1 Comment

GenomeWeb staff reporter, 01 February 2011

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – A new international effort will seek to expand and enhance the capabilities for using genomics in Africa by creating new infrastructure, investing in training, and funding specific genomics and bioinformatics research projects.

A partnership between the National Institutes of Health, the Wellcome Trust, and the African Society of Human Genetics (AfSHG),The Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) project will aim to catalyze and enable human genomics-based science in Africa, of particular interest to Africans, and conducted by African researchers, according to a new white paper proposal for the project.

The goal of the project is to establish “a viable, productive clinical and research infrastructure” by creating a network based around centers in hubs and regional nodes that branch out into the country, according to the authors of the white paper, which included scientists in Africa, Europe, and the US.

As GenomeWeb Daily News reported when the initial plans for H3Africa were released, NIH has committed $5 million per year for five years, and the Wellcome Trust has committed at least $12 million over the term of the project.

More than simply enhancing research into certain disease areas, the H3Africa project was designed to “improve the capabilities for doing research in Africa,” Mark Guyer, director of NIH’s Division of Extramural Research and acting deputy director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, told GWDN today.

“To the extent possible we are trying to develop what is essentially an Afrocentric plan, where the ideas, the identification of the issues, will all come from the African scientific community. The awards when they are made will be made directly to African scientists and institutions, and they will be the driving force,” Guyer said.

Personalized Medicine Regulation Needs More Than Band-Aids

Published on January 31, 2011 in News. 1 Comment

Dan Vorhaus January 28, 2011, Genomics Law Report

Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared as a guest column at Xconomy.]

Last week, New York State assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow introduced the descriptively named “act to amend the insurance law, in relation to requiring coverage for genetic testing in accident and health insurance polices.”

While not accompanied by a press release, or widely covered by media outlets, the bill merits close attention. While the substance of the bill is striking, its greater import lies in what it reveals about the United States’ current framework for personalized medicine regulation and in what the bill portends for the future of personalized medicine innovation and investment in this country.

The Basics and Breadth of the Pretlow Proposal. Despite its broadly worded title, New York bill #A02325 has a specific goal: to require insurance companies to “provide coverage for genetic testing” for any individual who, “in the opinion of an attending physician, [is at] significant risk of contracting cancer.”

Though not discussed in the text of the bill of itself, the bill’s accompanying memorandum clarifies an intent to specifically require insurance companies to reimburse the cost of genetic tests for individuals deemed to be at significant risk of developing breast cancer (more on this below). With the new legislation, at risk patients “will be able to seek genetic screening and counseling that will be paid for by insurance.”

Whether the bill would require coverage for genetic tests aimed at any type of cancer (as the bill’s text implies), or only for breast cancer (as the explanatory memorandum indicates), its scope is significant. In addition to requiring insurance companies to provide coverage for these genetic tests, it would also require insurers to cover “any subsequent treatment resulting from the results of such test” (emphasis added).

CDC Releases New Diabetes Estimates for U.S.

Published on January 28, 2011 in News. 1 Comment

Eryn Brown, Los Angeles Times, 27 January 2011

A total of 25.8 million people in the United States -- 8.3% of the U.S. population -- have diabetes. That's a 9% increase over the 2008 estimate. (Kirk McKoy/Los Angeles Times)

A factsheet released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that numbers of diabetes cases in the United States continued to grow in 2010.

Highlights from the factsheet:

25.8 million people in the United States — 8.3% of the U.S. population — have diabetes. That’s a 9% increase over the 2008 estimate.
Most of those affected — somewhere between 90% and 95% — have Type 2 diabetes.
Among American residents 65 years and older, 10.9 million — 26.9% — had diabetes in 2010.
Seven million cases of the disease were undiagnosed.
The CDC estimated that more than a third of adults 20 years or older are prediabetic, which means their blood-sugar is higher than normal but not high enough to be classified as diabetes. Those people have an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
Diabetes is the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States. The risk for death among people with diabetes is about twice that of people of similar age but without diabetes, the CDC said.

Diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness among adults aged 20–74 years. It is also the leading cause of kidney failure. The CDC gathered the statistics from a variety of surveys and studies. The director of the center’s Division of Diabetes Translation, Ann Albright, said in a press release that the new figures “show how important it is to prevent Type 2 diabetes.”

See CDC factsheet…

Antibiotics Defeat Ear Infections In Young Kids, Studies Find

Published on January 14, 2011 in News. 1 Comment

RICHARD KNOX NPR, January 13, 2011

Two new studies add substantial weight to one side of a long-running controversy over whether to give antibiotics to young children suffering from ear infections.

The “wait and see” approach has been enshrined in current guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics. It’s based on a slew of studies over the past couple of decades indicating that most children with ear infections get better without antibiotics. Some researchers also worry that too many prescriptions are fueling resistance to the drugs.

But the new studies, from the United States and Finland, come down firmly on the side of early antibiotic therapy for kids under age 2 or 3. Both studies, which appear today in the New England Journal of Medicine, find these kids get over painful ear infections faster, and have less severe symptoms, if they get prompt treatment with Augmentin, an inexpensive antibiotic often used to treat respiratory infections.

But there’s a big “if.” Study authors and other experts say doctors should be sure the child really is suffering from an ear infection before writing that prescription.

Much of the confusion, experts say, has been caused by studies that weren’t careful enough about the diagnosis. If many children in prior studies didn’t really have ear infections, then it’s not surprising the antibiotics didn’t work for them, says Dr. Jerome Klein of Boston University, who wrote an editorial that accompanies the new studies.

EPA Encourages Regular Testing for Heavy Metal in Water

Published on January 13, 2011 in News. 1 Comment

Michael Hawthorne, Chicago Tribune, January 11, 2011

Cancer-causing hexavalent chromium, which attracted worldwide attention from the movie ‘Erin Brockovich,’ was found in tap water from Chicago and more than two dozen other cities.

Federal regulators on Tuesday urged nationwide testing for cancer-causing hexavalent chromium, the latest response to a study that found the heavy metal in tap water from Chicago and more than two dozen other cities.

In a memo to public water systems, a top official at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency encouraged quarterly or semi-annual testing for the metal, also known as chromium-6, which attracted worldwide attention from the movie “Erin Brockovich.”

The advice isn’t binding but could be one of the first steps toward national limits intended to reduce the cancer risk from years of exposure to contaminated water.

The EPA now limits and requires water testing only for total chromium, a standard that includes another form of the metal, the essential nutrient chromium-3. Critics say federal rules need to be strengthened to reflect studies that link chromium-6 to stomach cancer.

“EPA believes that the enhanced monitoring will enable public water systems to better inform their customers about the levels of chromium-6 in their drinking water,” Peter Silva, the agency’s assistant administrator for water, wrote in the memo.