Download Heantos Shows Promise in Aiding Drug Withdrawal • Agilent

Bi Board
Agilent Products Help Cancer
Scientists Study Chromosomal
Changes
Agilent Technologies Inc. recently introduced its Human Genome CGH
Microarray and CGH Analytics software to help cancer biologists and
cytogeneticists study genomic alterations in cancer. Comparative genomic
hybridization (CGH) is used to study the chromosomal changes that
frequently occur in cancer cells, including the loss or duplication of regions
of chromosomal DNA.
Agilent’s microarray-based CGH solution enables researchers to rapidly
explore chromosomal changes on the same platform they would use to
study gene expression changes. This will help researchers more quickly
identify new oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, drug targets and
biomarkers in drug discovery research and future applications such as
disease sub-classification and diagnostics. Agilent will be hosting a series
of e-seminars to help researchers learn how to implement this powerful
technique.
Heantos Shows
Promise in Aiding
Drug Withdrawal
The Hoa Binh clinic in Vietnam has drawn
attention from drug rehabilitation centers and
clinicians around the world because of a
proprietary cocktail of herbal extracts that they
use. Called Heantos, the herbal mixture is
reported to make withdrawal tolerable, and in
the longer term, reduce the craving for drugs.1
Tran Van Sung, now Director of the Institute
of Chemistry, worked with herbalist Tran
Khuong Dan, now an associate in the chemistry
institute, to refine Heantos into a series of subtly
different formulations that can be given at
different stages of detoxification and recovery.
Vietnamese trials returned positive results,
but because clinical research in Vietnam is still
weak, a trial outside Vietnam is required before
Heantos can be internationally recognized. A
clinical trial in Germany is now underway.
1
Paradigm Therapeutics Ltd
Acquires Amedis
Pharmaceuticals Ltd
Paradigm Therapeutics Ltd announced today that it
has completed the acquisition of Amedis Pharmaceuticals
Ltd, a medicinal chemistry and drug discovery company.
The transaction will create an enlarged company with a
unique mix of proprietary biology and chemistry
capabilities. The company will focus on identifying highly
druggable targets and novel compounds for conditions
in the areas of CNS, pain, endocrinology and metabolism.
It has two programs in late stage pre-clinical development
as well as a number of earlier stage programs and
opportunities. Post-merger, the company’s growth plans
will see it grow by around 30% between the UK and
the Singapore operations. The company is located in
Cambridge Science Park, UK and has a wholly owned
subsidiary, Paradigm Therapeutics Singapore Pte Ltd, based
at the Biopolis in Singapore.
Cold turkey, Vietnamese style. Nature 433: 568–569.
APBN • Vol. 8 • No. 24 • 2004
5