11 replies to this topic

[malbecman]

A quick and easy read, not a lot of information in it. One quote from Sinclair stood out for me:

"But Sinclair says Sirtris will have enough clinical data by 2009 to know if its wonder drugs will likely work."


Also, it says it may take until 2012 to get full FDA approval for SIRT501 so you gotta wait! Plenty of time for the stock
to go all over the place.... [lol]



Article here


http://www.bostonher...ticleid=1028835

[Karomesis]

you know what I REALLY hate about the drug development process?

the fact that it takes





a






really





really




long





fucking






time. [ang]

I swear if there was a way to speed the process up we'd have aging cured by 2015.

[maestro949]

The way to speed it up is to transform biochem into a computational and information science while building hundreds more microprocessor manufacturing plants to pump out chips 'round the clock for a few decades to do the processing. The good news is that this is starting to happen, the bad news... not nearly fast enough.

$80 million in venture capital

...for one freakin' molecule.

Clearly the costs of this research has to come way down. Massive investments in the biotech and computational tools that can accelerate biological research are desperately needed.

[Brainbox]

Mice given significant doses of the compound could go twice as far on a treadmill as regular mice. The rodents remained thin even when put on high-calorie diets and lived an average of 30 percent longer.

I assume this is still the already known result that has been accomplished with the obese mice. It slipped my memory whether these mice were genetically altered to have obese tendencies.
Are the test results off the normal mice available yet? The impression could develop that Sirtis is not at all eager to publish them.....

[lucid]

Mice are off the table with sirtirs... they are doing human phase II trials. Safety phase I trials were successful, and during their roadshow presentation they showed great blood work improvement. The only thing im not sure about is how it will work with metformin. Though this has probably been demonstrated, I just cant recall the results.

Edited by lucid, 05 September 2007 - 01:09 PM.

[stephen_b]

The way to speed it up is to transform biochem into a computational and information science while building hundreds more microprocessor manufacturing plants

I've been running rosetta@home, a distributed client like seti@home:

Rosetta@home needs your help to determine the 3-dimensional shapes of proteins in research that may ultimately lead to finding cures for some major human diseases. By running the Rosetta program on your computer while you don't need it you will help us speed up and extend our research in ways we couldn't possibly attempt without your help. You will also be helping our efforts at designing new proteins to fight diseases such as HIV, Malaria, Cancer, and Alzheimer's.

Another way to get those processors needed is to harness them over the internet. The BOINC client is smart enough to launch one process per CPU core, and more chips coming multicore will make a great difference.

This program has already been used to design HIV vaccine candidates which are being tested in vivo.

Stephen

[Mind]

Clearly the costs of this research has to come way down. Massive investments in the biotech and computational tools that can accelerate biological research are desperately needed.

Also, there are at least a couple universities that have created sophisticated simulations/models of the human body and its workings. As these become more detailed, they could pay big dividends.

[asnufu]

Does anyone know of the metformin/resv combo results ? pray tell...

[lucid]

Does anyone know of the metformin/resv combo results ? pray tell...

From sirtris' roadshow presentation: http://www.retailroa...how.asp?c=SIRT2
Here are the results which I am putting in a table format from their charts (I am approximating values as I saw them on their graph):

Group________________|__Fed Blood Insulin (ng/ml)_________
DIO+Vehicle __________| 2.1
DIO+SRT501__________| 1.6
DIO+SRT501+Metformin | .7
Control+Vehicle _______| .35

Group________________|__Fasting Blood Glucose (mg/dl)_________
DIO+Vehicle __________| 135
DIO+SRT501__________| 125
DIO+SRT501+Metformin | 115
Control+Vehicle _______| 85

So as you can see it does appear to synergize with metformin quite nicely, but keep in mind these figures are just from mice. I am not sure any human trials are underway using both metformin and SRT501 as a group.

[asnufu]

Thanks - confirms what I was hoping for; the decision to combine the two still isn't a no-brainer, I know, but this is definitely on the pro-side, IMO.

[VP.]

I am not sure any human trials are underway using both metformin and SRT501 as a group.

A trail has started in India with results expected in late 2008:

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 21, 2007--Sirtris Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SIRT), a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing small molecule drugs to treat diseases of aging, announced today the initiation of a Phase 2a clinical trial in India to evaluate its SRT501 product candidate in patients with Type 2 Diabetes whose glucose levels are not adequately controlled by their metformin treatment, a current first-line therapy for such patients.

Patients on metformin alone that have an HbA1c level greater than 7.5 percent, which suggests that their glucose levels are not adequately controlled by current treatment, will be allowed to enter this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2a trial. Such patients will continue on their current metformin therapy together with either SRT501 or placebo, which will be administered once daily for three months. The trial endpoints will focus on measurements of diabetic status including fed and fasting glucose, insulin, and HbA1c levels. The trial is expected to enroll 130 patients; 65 patients in each of the SRT501 and placebo cohorts. This trial will also further assess the safety and pharmacokinetics of SRT501 in the diabetic population. Results from this trial are expected at the end of 2008.

Some more news from todays UK Times: http://www.timesonli...icle2419364.ece

British patients suffering from a rare disease will be among the first to try a new drug based on the “magic ingredient” in red wine.

A small trial in Newcastle upon Tyne will test resveratrol, a chemical that could lead to a whole family of new drugs with powerful effects against the diseases of ageing. The proprietary version of resveratrol, SRT501, is also under trial in India for use against diabetes and newer versions hundreds of times more powerful are in the pipeline.

The new drugs come from research showing that all species live longer on a calorie-restricted diet. So long as there is adequate nutrition, cutting calories by 40 per cent prolongs lifespan by 50 per cent or more – in yeast, mice, rats and every other species so far tested.

In 1999 David Sinclair, at Harvard, showed that a single gene, SIRT1, controlled the process. Subsequent work showed that resveratrol activates this gene – perhaps explaining why red wine seems to prolong healthy life. Dr Sinclair is now a director of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which was set up to exploit the research. In 2006, working with Joseph Baur and others, he showed that in mice the ill-effects of a high-calorie diet could be reversed by resveratrol.

But this did not happen in mice lacking the SIRT1 gene, proving that this gene is the key to the process.

Sirtris developed SRT501 as a more potent version of resveratrol. The animal evidence suggests strongly that it – and its even more powerful successors – should work against the developed world’s fastest-growing degenerative disease, diabetes.

In mice and rats, SRT501 reduces weight gain and glucose levels in animals fed on a calorie-rich, Western-style diet. When used with existing diabetes drugs such as Met-formin, it amplifies the benefits. And, most strikingly, it increases the ability of the mice to run, turning them into athletes who can easily outlast their litter-mates on a treadmill.

SRT501 achieves this by increasing the production of mitochondria, the tiny power-houses within the cells, and amplifying muscle power. That is why the Newcastle trial has been set up. The 30 patients who will take part suffer from a progressive and fatal genetic disorder called Melas syndrome, affecting their mitochondria. Melas stands for mitochondrial encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke.

Symptoms vary greatly from patient to patient. “Some are benign, others devastating,” says Patrick Chinnery, Professor of Neurogenetics at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and a specialist in mitochondrial diseases, who is running the trial.

Patients with Melas generally start by developing a form of diabetes. But the effects can later spread throughout their bodies.

“They can’t convert food into energy efficiently,” Professor Chinnery said. “It tends to affect the brain, the heart, and the limb mucles.”

The 30 patients in the trial will be divided into two groups, with half given SRT501 and half a placebo. The aim is to test safety and to investigate, using magnetic resonance imaging and muscle biopsies, whether the mitochondria are multiplied. Patients’ muscle strength and endurance will also be measured. “The animal evidence is quite compelling,” Professor Chinnery says. “I’m convinced it’s worth a go.”

There is a strong suspicion that mitochondria could also be involved in diabetes, a market worth more than $20 billion (almost £10 billion) a year. Peter Elliott, senior vice-president for drug development at Sirtris, says the company has gone to India for its first trials because the disease is exploding there and it wanted to test the drug in patients with new diagnoses who had not been treated with anything else.

[Karomesis]

Also, there are at least a couple universities that have created sophisticated simulations/models of the human body and its workings. As these become more detailed, they could pay big dividends.

Mind, do you have any links?

I'd appreciate them.