UCI College of Medicine professor of pathology and pharmacology Dr. Sandor Szabo has demonstrated that stomach and small intestine ulcers sometimes are healed by gene-injection therapy. His team offered findings of their study May 23 at the annual meeting of the American Gastroenterology Association in San Diego.
Although his study was done on rats, Szabo believes the findings may hold promise for other mammals, notably us.
“To show that just a single dose of gene therapy can work, even in animals, is an exciting development in molecular medicine,” said Szabo.
Ulcers, traditionally thought to be the result of stress, are now associated with bacteria. With researchers looking at proteins as part of the healing process, and Szabo showing that gene injections are helpful in protein production, a whole new class of treatments may be on the horizon.
The result would be gene-based drugs that break the Tums-Mylanta-Pepcid AC cycle of stomach acid responses.
Szabo also is chief of the molecular medicine healthcare group at Long Beach Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Medi-Cal Reform Backed
Several disparate groups that met last month in Sacramento to see what Medi-Cal reforms they could agree on will spend their summer vacations pushing them. With the state budget showing a projected record surplus, the group wants California to commit at least $500 million to a reform package including:
n Simplified information and documentation for applicants to the Medi-Cal and Healthy Families programs
n Streamlined enrollment for children who already qualify for public programs with similar income tests
n Adding coverage for uninsured parents of enrolled children
n Longer continuous coverage for working families.
This easier-application, multiple-enrollment, added-beneficiary and continuous-coverage effort has garnered support from a range of groups including the California Small Business Association, the California Association of Health Plans and the Children’s Defense Fund. Member groups say the $500 million would generate federal matching funds of at least that amount.
More Pressure on Health Plan Rates
A reminder from PacifiCare Behavioral Health: The mental-health parity law takes effect July 1. With nine new mental illnesses now covered under annual and lifetime benefits, no visit limits, co-payments matched to health plans and an anticipated shift from public sector to private sector treatment, Dr. Jerome V. Vaccaro sees an inevitable increase in costs and a corresponding rise in health plan rates by insurers.
Vaccaro, vice president of PBH, suggests early intervention and outcome monitoring (managed care) are key to holding down costs.
Individuals are included when they start or renew coverage. Medicare, Medi-Cal and self-funded health plans are exempt.
Bits and Pieces:
They don’t look a day over 4: Hoag Health Center in Costa Mesa will celebrate its fifth birthday on June 10. Bring your body (for blood pressure and body fat tests), the kids (for clowns and face-painting), and a fork (for free birthday cake). Call (800) 514-HOAG (514-4624) … Does the heart good to hear it: Cardiac Science of Irvine got two pieces of good news in two days last month. A corporate jolt to the heart came when investors agreed to pony up $10 million in new equity, and two days later its Powerheart automatic heart defibrillator product helped saved its first patient since being approved in January. The company’s OTC BB ticker symbol is, of course, DFIB … How much time do you have?: Walter A. Zelman will speak June 8th on challenges facing HMOs. The date is the June Orange County Employee Benefit Council meeting. Zelman is president and CEO of the California Association of Health Plans. Call (714) 573-8605 … Let’s call the whole thing off: University of California nurses represented by the California Nurses Association reached tentative agreement on a new contract, averting a pending strike by nurses at several medical centers, including UCI … Everybody’s doing it, doing it: ExpertPractice.com hooked up with ClickThings Inc. to offer free Web sites to small and mid-size healthcare practices. The service is now part of Expert Practice’s Web-based administrative efficiency tools suite. The company is based in San Diego and has an office in Orange.
