Hepatitis Weekly articles from February 2002

Hepatitis Weekly archives from February 2002

Reason For Enzyme Level Elevation During Interferon Therapy Still A Mystery.
February 4, 2002... 2002 FEB 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Doctors still can't explain why levels of the liver enzyme alanine aminotransferase (ALT) may rise in some chronic hepatitis C patients on interferon...

Study Reconsiders Partial Liver Transplants After Group Takes Second Look.
February 4, 2002... 2002 FEB 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - A medical team in France has reconsidered performing partial liver transplant surgeries for patients with fulminant or subfulminant hepatitis after finding that...

HIV May Increase Sexual Transmission Risk For Hepatitis C.
February 4, 2002... 2002 FEB 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - HIV infection can increase the risk of sexually transmitting hepatitis C, researchers in Italy warn. "There are widely discrepant findings on the sexual...

Liver Ailment Different In African-Americans.
February 4, 2002... 2002 FEB 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - A review of autoimmune hepatitis etiology suggests African-Americans are impacted more significantly by the liver disease than Caucasians are. The review...

Picture Of Hepatitis B and C In Drug Users Needs Fine-Tuning.
February 4, 2002... 2002 FEB 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Epidemiologists using data collected from injection drug users who attend treatment centers may be getting an incomplete picture about viral hepatitis infection...

Hepatitis C Vaccine Enhanced By GM-CSF Gene Therapy.
February 4, 2002... 2002 FEB 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - A group studying hepatitis C virus DNA vaccines has found granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) gene therapy increases their effectiveness...

Metabasis Therapeutics Issued U.S. Patent Covering HepDirect Technology.
February 4, 2002... 2002 FEB 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Metabasis Therapeutics, Inc., has received a U.S. patent covering its HepDirect technology. The patent, U.S. 6,312,662, broadly covers the technology and its medical uses and provides the company with...

Hepatotoxity Seen With Serzone Use In Patients With Liver Disease.
February 4, 2002... 2002 FEB 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Pharmaceutical Care Network (PCN), a leading pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), is alerting physicians of the new black box warning for Serzone (nefazodone), a medication commonly used for the treatment of...

Epimmune and Genencor Achieve Preclinical Milestone.
February 4, 2002... 2002 FEB 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Genencor International, Inc., and Epimmune, Inc., have identified an EpiGene clinical product candidate for the lead program in their collaboration, a therapeutic hepatitis B vaccine. Epimmune received...

ICN Pharmaceuticals Files Viramidine IND.
February 4, 2002... 2002 FEB 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (ICN) has submitted an Investigational New Drug Application (IND) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin clinical testing of ICN's nucleoside analog...

Positive Phase Ia Clinical Trial Results For XTL-002 Announced.
February 4, 2002... 2002 FEB 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- XTL Biopharmaceuticals, Ltd., announced positive clinical data on the antiviral activity and safety of XTL-002, being developed for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections. Results of...

Hepatitis A And B Vaccine Combo Protects When Accelerated Schedule Needed.
February 11, 2002... 2002 FEB 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - People traveling at the last minute to areas where hepatitis A and B virus (HAV, HBV) infection rates are high can be protected from infection by receiving a...

With Mycophenolate Mofetil, Antiviral Properties Not Seen For Hepatitis C.
February 11, 2002... 2002 FEB 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, ranking high among the leading risk factors for liver transplantation, also poses a problem for recurrence in patients who...

Doctors Suggest Patients Lose Weight Before Liver Transplantations.
February 11, 2002... 2002 FEB 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Several factors, including viral hepatitis, patient health, and the extent of preexisting liver illness, can affect graft and patient survival in those who...

Hepatitis C Among Predictors For Kidney Problems In Women With HIV.
February 11, 2002... 2002 FEB 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Medical collaborators in the U.S. have cited hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection as well as several other factors for causing proteinuria and kidney failure in...

PCN Issues Warning About Hepatotoxity With Use of Serzone.
February 11, 2002... 2002 FEB 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Pharmaceutical Care Network (PCN), a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), is alerting physicians of the new black box warning for Serzone (nefazodone), a medication commonly used for the treatment of...

American Liver Foundation Issues Advisory Concerning Shortage Of Peg-Intron.
February 11, 2002... 2002 FEB 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The American Liver Foundation (ALF) and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) have been informed that the heavy demand for pegylated interferon alfa-2b (Peg-Intron) has...

VA Launches Four Hepatitis Centers.
February 11, 2002... 2002 FEB 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In its continuing efforts to provide care to more than 80,000 veterans infected with hepatitis C, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has funded four new centers to evaluate and improve hepatitis C...

Nevirapine And Co-Risk Factors Affect Livers In HIV Patients.
February 11, 2002... 2002 FEB 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - A class of drugs used for treating patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) may increase the risk for liver dysfunction when certain other...

Race Influences Outcome In U.S.
February 11, 2002... 2002 FEB 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- African Americans and Asians have a worse outcome than white Americans and Hispanics after liver transplantation, both in terms of graft rejection and survival, according to a study in the January 26,...

Interferon-(gamma) Improves Response To Interferon-(alpha) In Hepatitis C.
February 18, 2002... 2002 FEB 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Insufficient T-cell response can leave some patients battling hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection despite extended treatment with interferon (IFN)-(alpha)....

Drugs To Prevent Graft Rejection Worsen Liver Disease In Those With Hepatitis C.
February 18, 2002... 2002 FEB 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Immunosuppressive drugs designed for extending survival in kidney transplant patients may actually lead to worsened liver disease in transplant recipients also...

New Serum Marker Valuable For Diagnosis In Patients With Liver Ailments.
February 18, 2002... 2002 FEB 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Researchers in Spain may have stumbled on a marker in serum that would be valuable for diagnosing liver diseases. The serum marker is known as paraoxonase...

Invasive Procedures Causing Infection Rates To Expand In Cirrhosis Patients.
February 18, 2002... 2002 FEB 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Epidemiologists in Spain have determined that the number of liver cirrhosis patients experiencing bacterial infection as a result of undergoing invasive...

Global Med's Wyndgate Technologies Announces Partnership Agreement With LabSoft.
February 18, 2002... 2002 FEB 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Global Med Technologies, Inc., (GLOB) announced that the Company's Wyndgate Technologies division has entered into a partnership agreement with LabSoft, Inc. Together, the two companies will offer...

Research Consortium Targets Flaviviruses.
February 18, 2002... 2002 FEB 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Novirio Pharmaceuticals announced the award of Euro 1.9 million from the European Commission to fund a research project entitled "Flavitherapeutics." The consortium, made up of Novirio...

Company Raises $41M In A Private Placement.
February 18, 2002... 2002 FEB 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Achillion Pharmaceuticals, a privately held pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative anti-infective agents, today announced that it has closed a...

Variability Of Gene Expression Observed In Hepatocellular Carcinoma.
February 18, 2002... 2002 FEB 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - An Israeli study indicates that contrary to previous reports, there appears to be a great degree of differential gene expression in hepatocellular carcinoma,...

Swine Veterinarians Have Greater Risk For HEV Infection.
February 18, 2002... 2002 FEB 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Veterinarians who treat or perform research on swine during the course of their careers may have a higher risk for acquiring hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection...