UCI Researchers Link Childhood Seizures With Adult Epilepsy
If Robert Garrison and Charles Kosmont have their way, consumers will look to plants for answers to common ailments.
After 18 months of research and development, their Next Pharmaceuticals of Irvine is introducing two separate botanical extracts, which they say will each be used as an ingredient in supplements to treat anxiety and inflammation. Next plans to sell the extracts to pharmaceutical companies and dietary supplement makers.
The 3-year-old company was co-founded by Garrison, a pharmacist and author of some 14 books on vitamins and supplements, and Kosmont, former president of Irvine-based Met-Rx.
The first product, taken from the Asteraceae (aster) plant family, is touted as an anti-inflammatory that can be used to relieve joint pain. The second extract, taken from the Magnoliaceae (magnolia) plant family, is marketed under the name Relora and will be used to treat anxiety and stress.
Garrison believes the timing of his company’s new botanical products couldn’t be better. In January, the FDA ruled that supplement and vitamin makers can market products that claim to treat certain conditions, so long as companies don’t make any claims related to treating diseases.
“We can do it under the dietary supplement regulatory arena much faster and expend a greater number of products for appropriate conditions faster than a company could if you’re going to develop it as a drug,” Garrison said. “It’s ten years down (the drug testing) pathway.”
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Meanwhile, State Assemblyman Ken Maddox, R-Garden Grove, recently paid a visit to Next Pharmaceuticals on behalf of the newly formed five-member Select Committee on Biotech. The committee, chaired by Assemblyman Howard Wayne, D-San Diego, was created to help legislators understand issues in the state’s biotech and biomed hotspots such as Orange and San Diego counties. Apart from Next, Maddox has also dropped in on Nexell Therapeutics, Techniclone Corp. and Sicor Inc.
Adults who have had prolonged, fever-induced seizures as children may be more susceptible to epilepsy, according to a UC Irvine College of Medicine study.
The study, conducted on rats, indicated that seizures induced by fever and lasting more than 20 minutes produced permanent changes in nerve cell functions in the hippocampus area of the brain. In rats and in humans the hippocampus is associated with some forms of adult epilepsy, researchers said.
Most childhood febrile, or fever-induced seizures, that last less than five minutes are not harmful, researchers said. But prolonged febrile seizures studied by UCI researchers have long been suspected of leading to epilepsy in some adults.
“We don’t believe this automatically results in epilepsy later in life. It may instead increase the likelihood that epileptic seizures could happen in some adults, so physicians can’t assume that all childhood seizures are harmless,” said Dr. Tallie Z. Baram, UCI professor of pediatrics who led the study.
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Need a surgeon or a cancer specialist for your pooch? The Advanced Veterinary Specialty Group recently opened a 13,000-square-foot facility in Tustin, which will offer 15 veterinarians, 25 registered veterinary technicians, 15 exam rooms, 10 treatment areas and three operating rooms.
According to a company press release, the vets specialize in critical care and internal medicine; veterinary cancer and dermatology and the staff includes two board-certified orthopedic and soft-tissue surgeons.
According to a report issued by Deloitte & Touche and HCIA, a Baltimore-based healthcare information content company, hospitals in markets with high managed-care penetration were the only ones in a group of 4,000 acute-care hospitals studied that showed an increase in median net profit margin for 1998.
The 2000 Comparative Performance of U.S. Hospitals indicates those hospitals as a group saw net profit margin rise 38% from 3.8% in 1997 to 5.2% in 1998.
Overall, hospitals saw a 28% decrease in operating profit margin in 1998, compared with 1997, Deloitte & Touche said.
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Bits and pieces:
NeoTherapeutics Inc, Irvine, announced that it has been issued a new U.S. patent covering a method for controlling the expression of genes to stimulate nerve-cell growth within the human body. Previously, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted the company three patents to cover its lead drug candidate, Neotrofin. The new patent covers one of the actions of the drug, which stimulates the formation of new nerve connections A radiation oncologist with 25 years of experience has joined the staff of Irvine Medical Center. Kenneth M. Tokita, M.D., specializes in cancers of the prostate, liver and breast. Tokita previously was medical director of radiation oncology at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica. He was the founding director of radiation oncology at Torrance Memorial Hospital.
