Merck wins the race for HPV vaccine approval in the US...CRP inhibitor shows promise as a cardioprotective agent

Todays Headlines from across the DailyUpdates network (9th June 2006)

• Breaking News (from DailyUpdates-Infectious Diseases): Merck wins the race for HPV vaccine approval in the US HPV is the most commonly diagnosed viral sexually transmitted disease in the US and UK , with conservative annual incidence estimates of 5.5 million in the US alone. Over 100 types of HPV, causing a variety of diseases, have been identified. It is believed that 50-75% of HPV infections involve high-risk HPV types, leading to approximately 500,000 new cases of cervical cancer and 232,000 deaths worldwide each year. Treatment options are limited, with no known cure currently available. However, the causal link between HPV and cervical cancer has prompted development of prophylactic vaccines, aimed at reducing the incidence, and eventually the prevalence, of this widespread disease and, by association, cervical cancer. Merck and GSK have been running neck and neck in the race to win approval for the first vaccine. GSK filed for European regulatory approval of Cervarix March, 2006 with an anticipated US filing late 2006. Yesterday however, Merck announced the FDA approval of their vaccine, Gardasil. This follows Mexican approval last week. The market opportunity for HPV vaccines stand at £2-£4 billion per annum by 2010 (see Human Papillomavirus - Vaccines, Then Antivirals?).

• Featured Journal Article (from DailyUpdates-Psychiatric Disorders): CRP inhibitor shows promise as a cardioprotective agent: Cardiovascular disease has been the leading therapeutic category for over two decades and is set to continue its pace of expansion and dominance over the global drugs market. The cardiovascular market has expanded from a value of $60 billion in 1997 to nearly $400 billion (see our feature The Cardiovascular Report). The principle aims of cardiovascular therapies are to reduce morbidity and mortality from heart attacks, strokes and other vascular diseases. 17 million deaths occur globally each year due to cardiac related problems. Complement-mediated inflammation contributes to many cardiovascular diseases exacerbating the tissue injury of ischemic necrosis. Human C-reactive protein (CRP), the classical acute-phase protein plays a key role in complement activation. Featured study reports on a small-molecule inhibitor of CRP which abrogates the increase in infarct size and cardiac dysfunction produced by injection of human CRP in an animal model of myocardial infarction. The authors expect this molecule to also provide neuroprotection in stroke as well as therapeutic benefit in a range of other conditions.