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GMED is now getting mentioned on websites concerned with diseases which are the subject of the clinical trials that GMED is running. For example the chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS) Association of America:
http://www.cfids.org/about-cfids/clinical-trials.asp
Studies currently recruiting patients with CFS or related conditions
GenoMed, Inc., St. Louis, MO (added 1/21/2004)
GenoMed, Inc., St. Louis, MO
Principal Investigator: David Moskowitz, MD
Web address: www.genomedics.com
Ongoing Project:
Treating CFIDS using Angiotensin II blockade. Anyone interested in more information or enrolling in a free clinical trial is welcome to contact Dr. Moskowitz at dwmoskowitz@genomedics.com
Incidentally, here is a link to an interview in October 2003 with Dave Moskowitz about treating Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia:
http://www.immunesupport.com/library/showarticle.cfm/id/5007
Treating Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia: Interview with David Moskowitz, M.D.
ImmuneSupport.com
10-03-2003
ImmuneSupport.com: Dr. Moskowitz, please give us a brief overview of your medical background and tell us about your current work with Genomed.
Dr. Moskowitz: I'm trained clinically as an adult nephrologist (kidney doctor) and general internist. I graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1980 and trained at Barnes Hospital and Washington University Medical School in St. Louis from 1980 to 1987. From 1987 until 1998, I was an assistant professor at St. Louis University Medical School, with a lab and practice at the St. Louis VA Medical Center. In 1998, I started my first biotechnology company. Genomed [current affiliation] is my second.
I began studying the angiotensin I-converting enzyme or "ACE" gene ten years ago, while still in academia. My lab found that over-activity of ACE was responsible for kidney failure due to diabetes and high blood pressure. What was surprising was that another 150 or so diseases seemed to be caused by too much ACE activity.
Genomed is a disease management company, meaning that our business model is to get paid for taking better care of patients. We use existing drugs, especially generic drugs, whenever possible, because they're the ones which have the most known about them, in terms of possible side effects.
Our approach is to attack diseases at their source, so as to achieve regression ("cure"). It just so happens that ACE appears to be at the source of virtually all common diseases except prostate cancer. In particular, all autoimmune diseases, such as Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis, and even allergies to penicillin and sulfa drugs, start with overactivity of ACE. The logical treatment to try, then, especially for diseases with no good treatment yet, is an ACE inhibitor or an angiotensin II blocker (ACE makes angiotensin II).
ImmuneSupport.com: You said that "to the extent Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia (FM) are autoimmune diseases, I can treat them." Please elaborate a bit on your belief that CFS and FM are autoimmune in nature. As you know, debates about the true nature and pathology of these diseases are ongoing.
Dr. Moskowitz: Because these are difficult diseases to diagnose and treat, very little is known about them. For a long time patients who suffered from CFS or FM were thought to be "making it up" or somatisizing psychiatric issues. There is increasing recognition that FM and CFS may be autoimmune in nature.
See, for example, the following reference:
Nippon Ika Daigaku Zasshi. 1999 Aug;66(4):239-44. [Autoimmune Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia Syndrome][article in Japanese], Itoh Y, Igarashi T, Tatsuma N, Imai T, Yoshida J, Tsuchiya M, Murakami M, Fukunaga Y. Department of Pediatrics, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, Japan. [Editor's note: This abstract can be read on www.ImmuneSupport.com at http://www.immunesupport.com/library/showarticle.cfm?id=5287&T=CFIDS_FM]
We have encountered two patients with fibromyalgia initially diagnosed as having Autoimmune Fatigue Syndrome (AIFS). To investigate the relationship between AIFS and FM, the distribution of the tender points in patients with AIFS was assessed according to the ACR criteria for FM. It was revealed that AIFS patients had 5.6 tender points on average. Patients with headaches, digestive problems, or difficulty going to school had more tender points than patients without. Patients with ana titers < 1:160 had more tender points than patients with ana > or = 1:160. Anti-sa negative patients had more tender points than positive patients.
These results suggest a relationship between AIFS and FM in terms of the pathophysiologic mechanisms of the numerous tender points. In other words, ana-positive FM patients could be one form of AIFS, as well as ana-positive Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients. Thus, autoimmunity could explain the controversial disease entities of FM and/or CFS.
There is still much debate about this, since the antigen (viral or self) hasn't been found for most patients.
But the symptoms of CFS and FM most resemble the flu, and suggest the work of the monocyte/macrophage, a key player in the host's innate immune response. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (tnf-alpha, or cachectin) is just one of many hormones released by activated macrophages. In fact, most of the symptoms of the flu (muscle aches or "myalgias," weakness, fatigue) are due to release of hormones from macrophages.
Since activated macrophages express ACE on their surface membrane, ACE has something to do with their activated state. The product of ACE, angiotensin II, is probably an activating hormone, or "cytokine," for macrophages. Blocking the macrophage with an ACE inhibitor or angiotensin II receptor blocker ("arb") is a very gentle, benign way of trying to tone down the inflammation. We have seen it work for several diseases already characterized by overly exuberant inflammation or even outright autoimmune disease.
ImmuneSupport.com: What conditions that you have treated do you believe are closely connected with CFS & FM? How do you go about effectively treating those conditions/diseases? Please describe a typical standard treatment protocol.
Dr. Moskowitz: So far, we've had small case series showing positive results for the following diseases (in parentheses is the number of patients with each disease):
Psoriasis (1 patient was able to stop taking 75 mg of methotrexate a day when getting an adequate, tissue-inhibitory dose of an ACE inhibitor)
Alopecia areata (about 30 patients; hair loss was stopped abruptly--within 36 hours--in the first case, a 14 year old; since then about 30 people with chronic alopecia--no hair for years or even decades--have taken an angiotensin ii receptor blocker and are very slowly seeing regrowth of hair they haven't seen for years).
West Nile Virus Encephalitis (9 patients; the only one not to respond promptly--within 24 hrs on average--to treatment with an arb was a single patient who also has chronic leukemia. In the other 8 patients, weakness, fatigue, headache, mental confusion all disappeared within 12-36 hours).
Multiple Sclerosis (~6 patients: here the time scale of the illness is very slow, and it will be another few years before we know whether our approach is helping because the disease itself progresses so slowly).
What we would prescribe for a patient with CFS or FM would be the same as we have been using for patients with alopecia areata or West Nile Virus Encephalitis (and that we shall be using against SARS): an arb, at the lowest dose, taken at bedtime so as to avoid dropping the blood pressure too low. Prescribed this way, nobody has had to discontinue our treatment because of dizziness or light-headedness due to too low a blood pressure.
ImmuneSupport.com: You mentioned that you do not currently have any CFS or FM patients in your care. How would you propose treating a patient with CFS or FM, or both (as overlap of the two conditions is common)?
Dr. Moskowitz: Please see above. All a patient would have to do to get started is to contact me at dwmoskowitz@genomedics.com (all lower case) or go to our website at www.genomedics.com.
ImmuneSupport.com: What traditional therapies are you most impressed with for treating autoimmune diseases? What are the best results you've seen?
Dr. Moskowitz: The only widely used treatment for autoimmune diseases like Lupus or Rheumatoid Arthritis is systemic steroids (oral prednisone). Unfortunately, they carry a 50% 5-year mortality rate, as well as hastening osteoporosis and predisposing to diabetes and hypertension.
Other immunosuppressants, such as Cyclosporin, Imuran (azathioprine), Cyclophosphamide (cytoxan), and Methotrexate are equally toxic, if not more so. The latter drugs can depress the bone marrow for weeks on end.
Arb's (or ACE inhibitors, for people with high blood pressure) represent a very benign form of immunosuppression, so benign that it will come as a great surprise to everyone's physician that they are even capable of immunosuppression at all.
ImmuneSupport.com: You mentioned your interest in a clinical trial for treating CFS and FM patients. Please describe the trial you have in mind, including what drugs or alternative therapies you would employ in such a trial.
Dr. Moskowitz: As I mentioned above, all a patient has to do is contact me by email. I would email back a description of the trial, and an informed consent, for them to share with their physician. Their physician would have to agree with the trial, since s/he will be prescribing the drug and following the patient's blood pressure. I will then follow the patient by email and once a month ask how they are feeling.
To do an unblinded, non-randomized, non-placebo controlled trial like this is free, meaning that it will be done. To make it randomized or blinded or placebo-controlled would greatly increase its cost, making it impossible to do. Case series of consecutive patients tried on a particular treatment are a time-honored method of testing out new treatment approaches, and will be publishable. Clearly, the more patients in the case series who respond positively, the more impressive the study. So we think we've found a way to perform needed clinical trials in the absence of any external funding whatsoever.
ImmuneSupport.com: Where else is your research taking you that is relevant to CFS and FM patients and practitioners? Do you see any new drug targets on the horizon that could be particularly exciting for these patients?
Dr. Moskowitz: I am reasonably confident that blocking angiotensin II will make CFS and FM patients feel better. But they'll be on the right drug to guard them against many other serious diseases. For example, I mentioned that arbs (and ACE Inhibitors) are our choice to prevent death from West Nile Virus Encephalitis and SARS. We also think they will delay or perhaps even prevent most diseases of aging, including all cardiovascular disease and most cancers other than prostate.
In the future, we would be delighted to get DNA samples from patients with CFS and FM to look for additional disease-predisposition genes. But this will require funding, which we currently don't have.
ImmuneSupport.com: Anything else you'd like to add or elaborate on, on the topic of treating CFS and FM? Any final comments?
Dr. Moskowitz: I really appreciate your interest in our approach. The rate-limiting step for all these trials is getting word out to the patients who suffer from the diseases.
Gurinder Shahi is the Senior Medical Advisor to Phenomed (and the Chief Scientific Advisor to DNA Phenomics). We know from statements on their website and in press releases that:
"PhenoMed is building a network of physician and health services organizations to quickly expand its medical and therapeutic service offerings throughout the Asia-Pacific region."
and
"Significant alliances are being negotiated and it is essential to have the talent and experience Dr. Shahi brings to Phenomed to help in that process. There is an enormous unmet need for disease management services in the Asia-Pacific region."
An interesting question is what sort of connections would Dr Shahi have that might be relevant in these alliances? Apart from his involvement with BioEnterprise Asia, Dr Shahi is also Executive Director of the Asia-Pacific International Molecular Biology Network. A lot of relevant connections can be ascertained from their organization structure IMO:
http://www.a-imbn.org/organizational_structure.htm#council
I also think that we might see some sort of liaison with Professor Tan Tin Wee at some stage:
http://olympus.bic.nus.edu.sg/~tinwee/
This page is a bit dated but gives you a good idea of Dr Tan's expertise in both bioinformatics and Internet technology. Dr Shahi is of course himself well versed in the synergies between bioscience and IT:
http://asia.internet.com/news/article.php/1444141
There are all sorts of connections between Gurinder Shahi and Dr Tan, not least through an organization called APBioNet which has close links with A-IMBN. They are also both "prominent speakers" at BioAsia 2004:
http://www.biospectrumindia.com/content/bioEvents/104021201.asp
Incidentally, Dr Shahi is also attending this Global Biotech forum in April:
http://www.sachsforum.com/global04/global04_intro.html
Another cold case where DNA Witness might be used.
http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/northeast/hc-solveit.artfeb01,0,6319490.story?coll=hc-headlines-nort...
How to Solve the 1998 Jovin Murder
February 1, 2004
By JAMES VAN DE VELDE
Five years ago now, on Dec. 4, 1998, a talented and intelligent Yale undergraduate I taught and advised, Suzanne Jovin, was brutally murdered in New Haven. Her killer has yet to be found. The investigation became derailed almost immediately when the New Haven police became enamored with lazy speculation that perhaps Jovin was murdered by someone within Yale - perhaps even one of her instructors. Yet the facts suggest otherwise and paint a picture of missed opportunities and poor analysis that probably blinded otherwise well-meaning people.
The facts of the case suggest that Suzanne Jovin was murdered in a random act of violence, perhaps by more than one individual from outside the Yale and New Haven communities.
The murder was high risk and brazen. The individual or individuals involved did not fear being recognized in the area in which he or they picked Jovin up; nor did he fear being recognized in the area in which they dropped her body. He probably did not belong in either community.
Jovin logged off her computer at 9:10 p.m. and was seen at approximately 9:20 p.m., Dec. 4, 1998, on the Old Campus at Yale on her way to Phelps Gate to return keys to a car she borrowed to attend a pizza party she helped organize for mentally retarded adults. It takes eight minutes to walk from her home on Park Street to the Old Campus. According to a witness who spoke to her for a few moments at 9:20 p.m., "She did not mention plans to go anywhere or do anything else afterward. She just said that she was very, very tired and that she was looking forward to getting a lot of sleep." (She had been awake that day since 5 a.m.) Jovin was holding a piece of white 8.5-by-11-inch paper in her right hand, but no soda bottle and no backpack, was walking at a "normal" pace and did not look nervous or excited.
A Fresca soda bottle was found at the crime scene with Jovin's and someone else's fingerprints on it, though the unknown set was a partial print. The second print has yet to be identified and has not matched any known acquaintance. The only establishment in central campus that sells Fresca is the former Krauszer's, located at York and Elm streets - precisely on the way home from Phelps Gate to her apartment.
Krauszer's was open at the time and had a surveillance camera that recorded all customers' activity. New Haven and Yale police never checked it, even though it might have taped the individual(s) who murdered Jovin and even though it should have been intuitive to ask immediately where might Jovin have purchased this unusual brand of soda on the Yale campus.
Adding time to the confirmed sighting, Jovin is now in or near Krauszer's at around 9:35 p.m.; a passerby called 911 at 9:55 p.m. after finding Jovin lying unconscious at Edgehill and East Rock roads, 1.9 miles away. A vehicle was used in the crime.
The timeline suggests that Jovin was not on her way to any appointment. The meeting with her murderer(s) was probably random, or at least spontaneous. Since her trip to Phelps Gate was chosen at a random time and she was in a random location of campus, it is unlikely that the murder was premeditated: How would anyone have known where Jovin would have been at this time? And who would plan a murder by thinking: "I'll drive around the middle of campus where hundreds might recognize me and hope to bump into her, assume that she will be alone, and somehow get her into my car and drive her somewhere?"
A serendipitous meeting with someone she knew most likely would not allow for an acquaintance to come prepared for murder (i.e., with a knife), nor have his car parked conveniently nearby - precisely in between Krauszer's and her apartment on Park Street, in the middle of the Yale campus, on a one-way street, in a direction facing opposite to her likely destination - home, just a couple short blocks away. And even if all this occurred, why would she get into a car one block from her home with someone who had some animus toward her?
And who at Yale drives around the campus in a car especially as a means to find someone?
For a killer known to Jovin to have waited for her to arrive home from wherever she was would mean the killer knew or assumed she would be returning and returning alone that evening, would have somehow been able to convince her to get into his car, though she would have just returned home, and would have staked her out immediately in front of the Yale police substation.
It takes eight minutes to drive from the corner of York and Elm to the corner of East Rock and Edgehill. This leaves little time for an amicable meeting to turn sour and then hostile. The crime was not likely committed by someone who knew Jovin.
According to the New Haven police press statement in March 2001, "several" witnesses saw a "tan or brown" van stopped facing "east" on East Rock Road around the time of the crime at the location Jovin was found - precisely the direction in which a vehicle would be if it were ejecting a body, or if Jovin were escaping a vehicle that had stopped.
Although the police knew about the soda bottle and the van since the outset of the investigation, reward posters were never posted on central campus where Jovin probably bought her soda until April 2001 - 29 months after the crime.
Since she did not have her wallet on her at the time of her abduction, but only a crumbled dollar bill (perhaps the extra cash she took to purchase a Fresca on her way home?), a frustrated abduction/robbery is a possible motive.
In an October 2001 press conference, State's Attorney Michael Dearington revealed that DNA found under the fingernails of Jovin did not match my DNA. Nor did it match Jovin's former boyfriend's or any of the emergency personnel who worked on her. The state's attorney announced that investigators planned to ask for samples from acquaintances and friends of Jovin. Dearington stated that should no innocent match be established, then it would be more likely to match the assailant. Since no word has emerged in two years, presumably no match has been made to date.
According to the 1996 Bureau of Justice Statistics (the latest such reference on the subject), for women aged 18-24, 53 percent of knife homicides involve individuals who are at least acquainted with the victim. But 45 percent are committed by a stranger. More specifically, however, most of these homicides are committed at or in the woman's home. Only 2.9 percent of such homicides are committed on the street. (In other words, with acquaintance murders, the man goes to the woman's home and kills her; he does not invite her for a ride in his car.) Although I found no specific statistic to combine the two variables, it is logical that homicides involving a knife in which the woman victim is away from her home are overwhelmingly committed by strangers.
Despite the comments by the New Haven police that "there is a good possibility that she may have known her assailant and the assailant knew her," it is unlikely Jovin was attacked by someone she knew. And given the facts of the case, the location, the likely point of meeting, the age and marital status of the victim, it is especially unlikely.
The Jovin homicide is still solvable today.
What Can Be Done
Technologies developed in just the last decade afford the investigation with new ideas to help solve the case. Here are some that are potentially relevant:
Forensics:
Determine the age of the individual through testing the hormones left within the fingerprints found on the Fresca soda bottle found at the crime scene. (Henry Lee's lab could perform this test or refer it to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, see below.)
Conduct a sweat print analysis on the clothing. Dale Perry of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California can do one as small as 10 micrometers across - smaller than a single fingerprint ridge. He uses a synchrotron, a particle accelerator to produce intense light that, when shone at the sample, is absorbed and reveals a chemical makeup that may be unique. If not unique to a person, it can at least segregate age and sex. This technique requires very little sample.
According to the New Haven police, a copy of the Yale magazine The New Journal was near or on Jovin when she was found. Test the magazine and Jovin's clothing under ultraviolet light and laser light for fingerprints; paper especially holds fingerprints very well and for a long period of time.
Determine the ethnicity of the individual through analysis of the DNA found under the fingernails of Jovin. Any result could be potentially helpful. Consider the possibility that the individual is Indo-European, Asian or African. Then match the ethnicity with the age of the individual, and one has a new lead. At least four companies perform such services as a business: Oxford Ancestors, Genelex, DNAPrint genomics and Family Tree DNA (see: www.oxfordancestors.com; www.genelex.com; www.dnaprint.com; www.familytreedna.com). New Haven, Yale or a family member could easily afford these companies' fees, about $300. This requires no new testing of material, only a photocopy of the markers for the companies to interpret.
Since forensic science now can extract DNA from fingerprints, the police can determine whether the DNA under Jovin's fingernails corresponds to the DNA in the fingerprints on the Fresca bottle found at the crime scene. If they match, the DNA is most likely the killer's. The investigation then becomes a DNA hunt. Although such a test may destroy much of the original print, one gets an even more specific piece of evidence - DNA, and the photo of the fingerprint remains in the computer system and case file. After a suspect is identified, let a defense lawyer try to argue that the New Haven police never had the fingerprint in the first place and try to explain how his client's DNA appeared on the Fresca bottle.
The employees of Krauszer's in December 1998 ought to be located and fingerprinted to determine whether they are the source of the suspicious prints (Krauszer's Food Stores Inc., National Road, Edison, NJ 08817, 732-287-2800). It is astounding that the police haven't bothered to locate and test the former employees to rule out the most likely alternative to the prints being those of Jovin's killer. As we know from the Penney Serra murder case in New Haven, unsolved for 25 years, the print on the tissue box that ended up NOT matching the employees at the Pathmark where it was purchased did indeed end up identifying the individual convicted of the Serra crime.
Perform a microscopic forensic analysis to determine molecular trace elements deposited on Jovin's clothing, which could identify dirt and tire molecules, among other unique substances, which can be traced to a specific region or vehicle. A microscopic forensic test might show whether Jovin's clothing was in contact with the floor of a Dodge B250 van, the type police said was seen at the crime scene, or of some other van. Skip Palenik in Chicago, for instance, could perform such analysis (see: www.microtracescientific.com/). (Yale could easily afford Palenik's expertise.)
Compare the fingerprints found on the Fresca bottle with all local and national databases, as well as the FBI's partial-fingerprint database.
Other research:
Make use of regional and national motor vehicle records and other federal agencies to locate the van seen at the crime.
Perform a 411 telephone-information-check to see who might have called SNET in the fall of 1998 to learn the address or phone number of Jovin.
Perform a phone record search of calls from outside the Yale switchboard to Jovin's 624-xxxx number - not just the day of her murder.
Perform a phone check of her number against all those who own Dodge B250 vans in New England.
Perform a search through computer logs of those who searched her home number and address in the fall of 1998 through the Yale website. Pantek, a computer investigation company in Chicago, could perform such a task; so could the computer forensics department of General Dynamics (see: http://www.pantek.com/; http://www.dtsearch.com/CS_forn-intel-gov.html). (Yale could easily afford either company's expertise.)
Using a special network search program that the Microsoft Corp. has, determine who has searched stories on the Jovin investigation and look for anyone on that list who lives in a 100-mile radius who has access to a passenger van.
Test the knife tip left in Jovin's body to determine who made the knife, where it was sold, and who bought similar knives in 1997-98. The University of Connecticut Department of Metallurgy & Materials Engineering can likely determine the type of weapon used in the crime.
Police work:
Contact officials associated with Marrakech Inc., the organization serving people with mental retardation for whom Jovin volunteered in the Best Buddies program. They would have known which of the organization's clients and six associates who traveled to the pizza party Jovin attended the evening of her death arrived in city-supplied vans or who drove vans for Marrakech (many did, according to the former director, who was never interviewed by the New Haven police). Nineteen staff people had some connection with the Best Buddies program, according to the former director; New Haven police have not interviewed a single one of them.
Little to no publicity about the $150,000 reward has been circulated outside of the Yale campus and none likely ever reached the associates of Jovin's killers, since posters were only hung around Yale and only briefly. In 1999, West Hartford police held four days of near constant press conferences to ask the public for help in solving a police homicide in which little evidence was originally found. The constant publicity led to a tip, which led to an arrest. Therefore, use television and radio to broadcast the existence of the Jovin reward.
This past October, the state of Connecticut began a program to DNA test all felons in prison who have committed certain crimes. Perhaps Jovin's murderer is already in prison. Federal legislation recently passed will speed the testing of DNA samples from federal crimes. With some luck, a computer will solve the Jovin crime, much like a computer did for the Penney Serra case.
The investigation today is locked in arrogance: Those who botched it refuse to consider any other analysis than their own, refuse to accept the facts as they are, and instead see what they want to see. I challenge the Yale administration and the New Haven Police Department to pursue my suggestions and allow experts to assist and allow the evidence and the facts to steer the case to its conclusion.
Doug/Ifida, some interesting synergies here - and hopefully some low cost rent as well!
Seriously, this is a very interesting PR. There is a lot of information contained therein.
Is it hot in here or is it just me?
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=2281330
Tampa Bay Technology Incubator
This might have been posted already but I don't remember seeing it.
http://tampabay.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2004/02/09/story8.html
From the February 6, 2004 print edition
Tech incubator getting tenants for USF's research park
Stacey Snow-Clarke
Staff Writer
Tampa -- Shyam Mohapatra works with particles so miniscule that one million of them fit on the head of a pin.
Mohapatra is founder of Tampa-based Transgenex Therapeutics, what the molecular biologist describes as a "nanoparticle company." Transgenex develops very tiny particles to deliver drugs within the body.
"Our idea is to be able to deliver drugs very precisely in very small amounts," said Mohapatra, who received an executive MBA from the University of South Florida in 1999.
Transgenex is one of nine confirmed tenants of the new Tampa Bay Technology Incubator to be located in USF's research park. The ninth, DNAPrint genomics, signed a letter of intent Feb. 3.
Fourteen more companies show strong interest, said Wayne Brass, director of the incubator. Companies will be able to move in by the end of this year or in early 2005, he said.
For Transgenex, moving to the incubator will help accelerate research and will provide enough space to hire more employees, said Mohapatra. The company currently employs two and works with outside consultants.
Transgenex is pursuing three initiatives:
Development of novel nanoparticles for drug delivery
Using the company's technology to develop new or existing drugs into better drugs
In-house development of asthma and cancer drugs that will use the company's delivery systems.
Nanobac Pharmaceuticals, another Tampa business, is counting on the incubator to facilitate research and present the opportunity to connect with other entrepreneurs in the same field, said Alex H. Edwards III, president and chief executive officer.
The incubator will provide infrastructure, as well as access to USF and its resources, Edwards said.
Nanobac Pharmaceuticals seeks to capitalize on the premise that tiny pathogens called nanobacteria cause the calcification that is thought to be one of the causes to heart disease, kidney stones and other health problems.
It employs seven in the United States and five in Finland.
Along with its own space in the new incubator, the company hopes to build, through some form of partnership, a nano-healthcare technology lab in conjunction with USF.
By early next year Edwards expects to launch at least one revenue-producing product.
USF broke ground Jan. 28 on two buildings in the research park, starting the countdown for Transgenex, Nanobac Pharmaceuticals and other businesses waiting to enter the expanded incubator.
With anticipated availability of 60,000 square feet, the new incubator dwarfs the current facility in Telecom Park.
The existing incubator, encompassing just more than 10,000 square feet, houses three companies with three more expected soon.
Those companies will relocate to the University Technology Center II building on campus in preparation for the opening of the Business Partnerships building in the research park.
The three-story building includes the incubator, Class-A office space, wet and dry lab space, and shared laboratories.
The existing incubator offers no lab space.
The university's Connect program in support of entrepreneurs, the Center for Entrepreneurship and the Florida Medical Manufacturers Consortium will be located in the Business Partnerships building as well.
A partnership among the university, the community and the business leadership of the area, the incubator is supported financially by the USF Foundation, Hillsborough County, the City of Tampa and the Florida High Tech Corridor.
Brass said he's gotten calls from around the country about becoming part of the new facility.
So far, between 15,000 to 20,000 square feet have been requested. Companies will remain in the incubator for about two to three years, Brass said.
End of article
Some information about the USF Research Park:
http://isis.fastmail.usf.edu/researchpark/index.html
The Nanobac Pharmaceuticals referred to above is already familiar to us as Hector Gomez was announced as a member of their advisory board:
http://www.nanobaclabs.com/NewsRoom/PressReleases/Article.aspx?shortname=News_2004-02-05
OT (sort of) Zengen and others
For those not familiar with the history of this: Hector Gomez and a guy called Charles Hensley were formerly associated with Zengen or related companies such as Gum Tech and Gel Tech (there is a long and convoluted history here). Hector is now CMO and Director of PRB Pharmaceuticals, where Hensley is co-Chairman and co-CEO. In addition, both Zengen and PRB Pharmaceuticals have links with a Hong Kong company called Lee's Pharmaceuticals.
I keep an eye on this little group of companies/people. Recently the Management and Scientific Advisors pages of the Zengen website have vanished. In addition, the website of Innozen (a wholly-owned Zengen subsidiary) is having a make-over and you cannot directly access the management information.
However, from this link which still works:
http://www.innozen.com/executive_officers.htm
We can see that the Innozen management team are:
R. Steven Davidson (CEO of Zengen and was CEO of a company called Biotem Cytotechnologies, Inc - Hensley was Chairman of this company), Michelle Rossow (was with Gel tech), James M. Lipton (Zengen CSO), Matthew Burns (Zengen Corporate Secretary), and Matthew C. Lipton (Zengen COO).
Let me introduce another couple of companies into the mix. First up is Patent Discovery Corporation, whose website is currently under construction - although from this page:
http://www.patentdiscovery.com/company_info.htm
We can see that the directors are R. Stephen Davidson, Gary Kehoe (ex Gum Tech CEO), and Matthew Burns.
We can also see that one Robb McDaniels is President, Matt Lipton is COO and James Lipton is CSO.
The other interesting thing to note is that the websites of Zengen, Innozen, and Patent Discovery Corporation are all maintained by a company called Tekcetera.
http://www.forrelease.com/D20030820/law048.P1.08202003103331.07104.html
Tekcetera, Inc. Holds the Key to Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
WOODLAND HILLS, Calif., Aug. 20 /PRNewswire/ --
Tekcetera's President John Pitts says, "If your website does not show up in the top 30 results on a search engine, then you are losing business to the competition." Public relations campaigns and traditional media advertising will give you some initial brand recognition, but will fade quickly when the advertising stops running. That's where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes into play. SEO helps companies to continue increasing brand equity well after the launch stages of PR and advertising.
Because search engines like Google.com, MSN.com, and Yahoo.com continually change their algorithms, ranking systems and penal code it is difficult for companies to maintain high efficiency in their SEO efforts. Tekcetera helps companies by utilizing its proprietary technology and highly trained staff to help stay ahead of the competition.
In a recent success, Tekcetera was commissioned by Innozen, Inc of Woodland Hills, CA to provide online branding for their new Eye care Solution, Optizen. Tekcetera CTO Adrian Holloway says, "After researching the online market, we found a unique way to brand the product online months before traditional forms of advertising will kick in." Optizen is also targeted at computer users, who suffer from dry eyes and Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS). Two weeks after launching the website (www.optizen.com), searches using common keywords resulted in the product being displayed on page 1 of the Google index.
Tekcetera, Inc. operates out of Woodland Hills, CA and has been in the SEO business for over 3 years. The company has helped customers grow from 100 hits a day to over 100,000 in a few months, all this from Search Engine Optimization and no other advertising medium. Tekcetera has a highly trained staff dedicated to staying abreast of the changes to Search Engine algorithms and trends relating to you business.
End of press release
Another Tekcetera client company is INGrooves, a digital music company. Their CEO is Robb McDaniels. Here is a PR featuring them from last September:
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/yesterday/september2003
INgrooves Receives Sponsorship from Innozen
September 24, 2003
INgrooves, an online aggregrator and licensor of electronic music, has received sponsorship revenue from Innozen, maker of eyedrops for users suffering from computer eye strain. The sponsorship allows Innozen to use various electronic music clips in its ad campaigns for eyedrops product Optizen, in addition to providing access to branding opportunities on the INgrooves site. Innozen is using the opportunity to reach out to a music dedicated and computer-savvy 16-35 demo. For INgrooves, the sponsorship validates a business model that can supply clients with niche music and audience.
(Incidentally, INgrooves are also part of something called the MusicDish Genome Project: http://www.musicdish.com/genome/ )
All getting a bit incestuous.
Shriver eom
Let's see, apart from anybody else, you missed: Joshua Akey, Ranjan Deka, Bob Ferrell, Peter Underhill, William Garvey, Eric Boerwinkle, Ranajit himself, Richard Cooper, Mike Seldin, Michael Smith, David Stivers, Connie Mulligan, Kenneth Weiss, Kateryna Makova, Andrew Clark, Indrani Halder, Jen Wagner, and George Argyropoulos to name a few.
You missed some of the more important ones...
Ranajit Chakraborty bits and pieces
http://www.eh.uc.edu/
Friday, February 06, 2004
Dr. Ranajit Chakraborty, Director of Center for Genome Information, has been elected an honorary member of the Mediterranean Academy of Forensic Sciences. The Academy’s aim is to realize an exchange of information and collaboration among experts in forensic sciences.
http://www.schullinstitute.org/board.html
The Schull Institute board includes: Ranajit Chakraborty PhD
It also includes Sara Barton who is a co-author of this paper:
Ojeda JM, Ampuero S, Rojas P, Prado R, Allende JE, Barton SA, Chakraborty R, Rothhammer F. p53 codon 72 polymorphism and risk of cervical cancer. Biol Res. 2003;36(2):279-83.
http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0716-97602003000200017&lng=es&nr...
Chakraborty, Barton and Schull have a long association e.g.:
Chakraborty R, Ferrell RE, Barton SA, Schull WJ. Genetic polymorphism and fertility parameters in the Aymara of Chile and Bolivia. Ann Hum Genet. 1986 Jan;50 ( Pt 1):69-82.
They also work with the FBI's Bruce Budowle:
Bertoni B, Budowle B, Sans M, Barton SA, Chakraborty R. Admixture in Hispanics: distribution of ancestral population contributions in the Continental United States. Hum Biol. 2003 Feb;75(1):1-11.
Cerda-Flores RM, Budowle B, Jin L, Barton SA, Deka R, Chakraborty R. Maximum likelihood estimates of admixture in Northeastern Mexico using 13 short tandem repeat loci. Am J Human Biol. 2002 Jul-Aug;14(4):429-39.
http://diagnosticscrc.org/CDxAdmin/AnnRep2003.pdf
The CRC for Diagnostics (CDx) is an unincorporated joint venture that commenced on the July 1, 2001. It evolved through a successful second round funding bid and continues to bring together, in collaboration, a number of Australian research institutions and commercial companies involved in diagnostics. The administrative centre is based at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane. The other research Participants are CSIRO Health Sciences and Nutrition in Melbourne and Adelaide, La Trobe University in Melbourne and the Child Health Research Institute (CHRI) in Adelaide.
From the 2002-03 annual report link above:
The CDx is collaborating with Prof Ranajit Chakraborty, UT-Houston School of Public Health, Human Genetics Centre. Prof Chakraborty is an internationally renowned human population geneticist with an interest in the utility of DNA polymorphisms (RFLP, STR, SNPs and sequence variation) for human identification, parentage testing as well as for establishing relatedness among individuals.
This is slightly dated, but I think might explain some of the DNAP/Australia connections.
Following on from yesterday, some other people who are interesting:
http://www.soph.uab.edu/Statgenetics/People/DAllison/DAllisonCV.pdf
http://www.creighton.edu/~deng/CV.html
From Deng's CV the connection:
Acted as a scientific consultant for the NIH R01 proposal for "studying obesity and diabetes related phenotypes using estimates of genetic admixture in prepubertal children from three ethnic groups " (P.I., Dr. Jose Fernandez, Assistant Professor, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham). 2003. (This was arranged by David B. Allison, Ph.D., Professor & Head, Section on Statistical Genetics, Department of Biostatistics & Acting Director, Clinical Nutrition Research C enter, Dept of Nutrition Sciences Ryals Public Health Building, Suite 327 University of Alabama at Birmingham 1665 University Avenue Birmingham, Alabama 35294 Phone: 205-975-9169, Fax: 205-975-2540).
I missed this article:
http://www.aarpmagazine.org/health/Articles/a2004-01-21-mag-keeping.html
Keeping the Beat
By Melissa Hendricks, March-April 2004
These new heart tests could save your life
Mort Libov knew smoking was bad for you. He just didn't think it was bad for him. After indulging in a pack and a half daily for 50 years, the retired television producer and director felt no chest pain, no shortness of breath, no cough—none of the symptoms the habit is known to cause. So he didn't pay much mind to the doctors and loved ones urging him to quit. "Everybody thinks they're bigger than life," says Libov, 68.
Then he took the test that changed his life—and may have saved it. Last August, Libov's doctor in Baltimore, Maryland, ordered an ultra-fast CT scan as part of a routine checkup. The cross-sectional images showed white flecks—calcium deposits—in the arteries, which are a sign of atherosclerosis.
"If you want to be a patient of mine for a short time, continue to smoke," Libov's doctor told him. "Or, if you want to be a patient of mine for a long time, stop smoking immediately." In other words, there was a good chance some plaque would soon dislodge from the sludge, float free, and then jam one of the arteries leading to his heart, triggering a heart attack.
Libov did not need to hear more. Immediately after his appointment, he collected his cigarettes and drove to the golf course, where he gave away all but one. "I smoked the last cigarette on the 15th hole," he says, "and that was it." He has not had a cigarette since that day.
Libov is a lucky man, no doubt about it. But it wasn't just luck that altered his life. The test that alerted him to the danger lurking in his own body could herald the future of cardiovascular disease diagnosis. Thanks to breakthrough research being done at government, private, and university labs around the country, in the coming decade asymptomatic patients who are at known risk of heart disease, as well as folks who are unaware they are at any risk at all, will increasingly be directed to one of a slew of new tests that can catch the killer before it strikes.
"Absolutely, this is a new era," says Stanley Hazen, M.D., Ph.D., head of preventive cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic. "We're identifying how atherosclerosis occurs and understanding the basic science of heart disease. We've seen the tip of the iceberg. There's a lot more to come."
But along with this new understanding comes a host of new questions: When will a test provide useful information, and when will it cause needless worry—or a false sense of security? Which tests provide new data to doctors, and which repeat what another test has already shown? And most important, which patients should get which tests—especially when insurance might not pay?
In treating heart disease, the key word is risk: the patient's odds of having a heart attack. The higher the risk, the more aggressively doctors seek to lower it with drugs, diet, and exercise.
The best way to learn your own risk is to see your doctor, who will weigh a variety of factors, including your blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and personal and family health histories.
For people without diagnosed heart disease or diabetes (which damages the cardiovascular system), the most popular way to calculate risk is to use a formula developed from the Framingham Heart Study, the federal government's long-term investigation of heart disease, conducted in Framingham, Massachusetts. Into the formula go your age, cholesterol levels, and other vital statistics. Out come your chances of having a heart attack or dying from cardiovascular disease in the next 10 years. (You can perform a rough version of this calculation at the American Heart Association website.)
At the other end of the risk spectrum are people who are actually experiencing the chest pain of angina. For that group, scientists recently developed a new method of predicting whether a heart attack will occur within the next six months. The test, for an enzyme in the blood called myeloperoxidase, is highly accurate.
Ideally, heart specialists would like a similar test to predict a patient's long-term risk of heart disease, before the person starts experiencing symptoms. Using new techniques such as those described below, doctors are beginning to hone their understanding of which patients need which treatments. By intervening in time, they may be able to cut the patient's risk and even save a life.
Uncovering Arterial Plaque Through Imaging
Researchers are refining technologies such as the CT scan, MRI, and ultrasound to make more revealing pictures of the arteries and heart. The tests are noninvasive and can uncover atherosclerosis that would otherwise go undetected.
The National Institutes of Health is sponsoring a study that may help scientists decide how and when to use the new tests. While the main goal of the 10-year Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) is to learn how heart disease develops, the investigators hope to discover which tests best predict risk. Project leaders expect the first results of the study in two to three years.
Advanced imaging tests are generally most helpful for those who have a medium or uncertain risk of heart disease, as determined by the standard tests of cholesterol, blood pressure, and other markers. A positive finding could inspire more aggressive treatment to protect the heart. These tests also could benefit people such as Libov who are at high risk of heart disease but don't yet have symptoms.
Clearly, though, these frontier-science methods are not yet for everybody. The first problem is cost. An ultrafast CT scan of the heart costs $175 to $500 or more, a fee not generally covered by insurance. MRIs cost even more. To justify its expense, a test should provide information that goes beyond other more affordable methods of assessing risk. So far, few studies have looked into the cost-effectiveness of the new imaging tests.
Another problem: the findings are imperfect. For example, plaque causes trouble when it ruptures, but not all plaque is prone to rupture, says Ann Bolger, M.D., professor of clinical medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. The CT scan could show plaque, but if it is stable, it may never cause anything but worry. At present, there's no test to distinguish between these two types of plaque.
On the other hand, an ultrafast CT scan ignores plaque that has not calcified. So the test results might give a patient dangerous reassurance. "Some patients who learn they have no calcium will go straight to McDonald's," says Bolger. "But they may be the ones who are most at risk."
Bottom line: If you have a low risk of heart disease based on conventional risk factors such as weight and lifestyle, you would do just as well to stick with the more traditional tests given to predict heart health, such as cholesterol levels and blood pressure. If, on the other hand, you have reason to be concerned, you might want to consult your doctor about whether any of the new imaging tests would be appropriate for you.
Blood Tests That Reveal a Predator's Tracks
Scientists from labs around the world have discovered that other substances in the blood may indicate heart disease as well as, or better than, cholesterol. One that has attracted the most attention is C-reactive protein (CRP).
The liver produces CRP in response to inflammation. Many experts now believe that cardiovascular disease is at least in part an inflammatory condition, in which the body's immune system produces an excess of proteins that trigger atherosclerosis. They continue to puzzle over exactly what infection, injury, or other factor sparks the inflammation. Growing evidence suggests that the higher your CRP level, the higher your risk of heart attack—even if you have no other indicators of heart disease.
At about $40, the CRP test could be an economical way to find people at risk of heart disease. So who should have their CRP level tested? As with the ultrafast CT scan, medical experts say the test could help people who have a medium risk of heart disease, because those with high and low risk already know where they stand. (Medium risk means a 10 to 20 percent chance of heart disease in the next 10 years. This is a broad category of people that would include, for example, a 50-year-old nonsmoking man with borderline high cholesterol, borderline high blood pressure, and a close relative who has had a heart attack.)
Again, some doctors warn against widespread use of the test. Many different factors can cause CRP levels to spike. Having a cold can boost CRP, as can cigarette smoking, inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, and physical inactivity. As a result, doctors advise patients who receive a high CRP result to repeat the test.
Also, medical experts have not yet demonstrated what people with high CRP readings should do to protect their hearts. Logic suggests that reducing CRP with cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins will reduce the risk of heart disease, but scientists have not yet demonstrated that. The ongoing JUPITER trial, which is following more than 15,000 healthy North Americans with high CRP levels taking either a statin drug or a placebo, is testing the theory.
The Hunt for Dangerous Genes
At the forefront of efforts to refine heart disease risk are the researchers who are hunting for genes that predispose a person toward a strong or a weak cardiovascular system. Everyone knows the medical anomalies: Composer Eubie Blake, who started smoking at age six and lived to be 100. Jim Fixx, the running aficionado who died of a heart attack at age 52. Genes that make people more or less susceptible to heart disease could explain these exceptions to the rules as we now understand them.
Researchers have discovered only a few genes that are related to heart disease, but they will undoubtedly find more. Sharon Kardia, Ph.D., an assistant professor of epidemiology in the University of Michigan Public Health Genetics program, is studying how patients with high blood pressure respond to various drugs based on their genes. She recently reported that people who have a version of a gene called adducin 2 achieved greater declines in blood pressure with drugs called beta blockers than did people without that type of gene.
Which means that genetic testing might one day help doctors decide which blood pressure drug to prescribe, Kardia says. It might also show that one patient would benefit more from trying a diet to reduce high blood pressure, while another could lower blood pressure faster by taking medication.
Promising as these new tests are, we already know a great deal about the risks associated with heart disease. After analyzing the results of three long-term studies involving thousands of volunteers, Philip Greenland, M.D., professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University, concluded that 90 percent of heart attacks occur in people who have at least one of the known risk factors: high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, or smoking.
So while the tools for discovering and understanding heart disease may be rapidly expanding, the prescription for protecting your heart hasn't changed: keep your "bad" cholesterol level and your blood pressure down, reduce your risk of diabetes by watching your weight and exercising, and do not smoke. Science can go only so far in diagnosing and repairing a damaged heart. The most effective treatment, as always, is prevention.
End of article
This is Sharon's website:
http://www.sph.umich.edu/csg/members/kardia.html
Here are some selections:
Dr. Kardia’s research focuses on investigating the complex genetic architecuture of common chronic diseases, especially cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and, more recently, cancer. She has worked on data from many large or multi-center genetic and epidemiological studies including the Rochester Family Heart Study (RFHS), the Family Blood Pressure Program (FBPP), the Molecular Diversity and Epidemiology of Common Disease (MDECODE) program, and the Finnish cohorts of the Seven Countries Study, including the FINRISK study. Her research involves both classical quantitative genetic applications as well as the development and application of novel statistical and machine learning strategies to investigate the pleiotropic and epistatic effects of genetic variations in disease susceptibility genes. She is also studies the norm-of-reaction and gene-environment interactions associated with these genetic variations. Most recently, she is working with Dr. Jeremy Taylor and Dr. Steve Gruber on developing and applying methods to molecularly classify lung, colon, and ovarian tumors using high dimensional microarray and proteomic data.
Genetic Determinants of High BP in Three Racial Groups Principal Investigator: Eric Boerwinkle
Co-Principal Investigator: Sharon Kardia
Graduate Student Researcher: Albert Levin, Laura Rozek
Funding Agency: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institute of Health
Description: The NHBLI Family Blood Pressure Program (FBPP) is made up of four cooperating Networks whose overall objective is to localize and characterize genes contributing to variation in blood pressure levels and hypertension status. Dr. Kardia is the head of the Data Coordinating Center for the Genetic Epidemiology Network of Arteriopathy (GENOA) component of the FBPP. Our study population includes over 500 sibships in each of three racial groups – African Americans from Jackson, MS, Whites from Rochester, MN, and Hispanics from Starr County, TX – for a total of approximately 4300 sib pairs. We are conducting both affected and discordant sib-pair linkage methods to identify genomic regions that may contain hypertension susceptibility genes. We are also applying combinatorial partitioning methods to identify combinations of genetic variations and environmental factors that are associated with hypertension and measures of coronary artery calcification being collected on the Rochester sibships.
Modeling DNA Diversity in Cardiovascular Health/Disease
Principal Investigator: Charlie Sing
Co-investigator: Sharon Kardia
Funding Agency: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institute of Health
Description: One of the most challenging problems in human genetics is defining the relationship between DNA sequence variation and interindividual variation in quantitative risk factors for common complex diseases with a multifactorial etiology. This research program includes three separate projects. The goal of Project 1 is to identify and measure intronic and exonic DNA variation in 13 CVD susceptibility genes in 24 individuals from each of three racially diverse populations. The goal of Project 2 is to model the population genetic structure of the molecular variation in these three populations. The goal of Project 3 is to model the relationships between these DNA sequence variations and quantitative risk factors for CVD collected from 500 African-Americans from Jackson, MS, 500 Whites from Rochester, MN, and 500 Whites from North Karelia, Finland.
She has worked/does work with a core group of people like Eric Boerwinkle, Robert Ferrell, and Charlie Sing.
Sing CF, Stengard JH, Kardia SL. Genes, environment, and cardiovascular disease. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2003 Jul 1;23(7):1190-6. Epub 2003 May 01.
Department of Human Genetics, University of Michigan, 1241 E Catherine St, 5928 Buhl Bldg, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0618, USA. csing@umich.edu
In this essay, we call to attention what every medical researcher knows about the etiology of cardiovascular disease but most deny, or choose to ignore, when designing, carrying out, and reporting genetic studies. Medical research is entering an era of synthesis that will take advantage of the successes of reductionism over the past decade in defining and describing human genome variations. Meaningful insights into the role of such variation requires a biological model of genome-phenotype relationships that incorporates interactions between subsets of possible genetic and environmental agents as causations in particular contexts indexed by time and space. We make recommendations for what needs to be done to cope with these complexities.
Kardia SL, Rozek LS, Krushkal J, Ferrell RE, Turner ST, Hutchinson R, Brown A, Sing CF, Boerwinkle E. Genome-wide linkage analyses for hypertension genes in two ethnically and geographically diverse populations. Am J Hypertens. 2003 Feb;16(2):154-7.
Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2029, USA. skardia@umich.edu
We report the results of a genome-wide linkage scan for hypertension genes in 450 African American hypertensive sibpairs from Jackson, MS, and 539 non-Hispanic white hypertensive sibpairs from Rochester, MN. In the Jackson samples we identified one LOD score peak >1.0 on chromosome 1. In the Rochester sample, no genomic region had a LOD score >1.0. These analyses provide no appreciable evidence of hypertension genes with strong effects independent of other genetic and environmental contexts and suggest that stratified linkage analyses may be required to identify hypertension susceptibility genes in these populations.
So how is this possibly relevant? Here is just one example connection:
Shriver MD, Jin L, Boerwinkle E, Deka R, Ferrell RE, Chakraborty R. 1995. A novel measure of genetic distance for ighly polymorphic tandem repeat loci. Mol Biol Evol 12:914-920.
(Actually the other two names above are relevant as well)
Or how about this blast from the past:
Boerwinkle E, Chakraborty R, Sing CF. The use of measured genotype information in the analysis of quantitative phenotypes in man. I. Models and analytical methods. Ann Hum Genet. 1986 May;50 ( Pt 2):181-94.
Department of Human Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109-0015.
Improved laboratory methods allow one to investigate the contribution of measured allelic variability at a locus physiologically involved in determining the expression of a quantitative trait. We present statistical methods that incorporate measured genotype information into the analysis of a quantitative phenotype that allows one simultaneously to detect and estimate the effects of a measured single locus and residual polygenic effects. Likelihoods are presented for the joint distribution of the quantitative phenotype and a measured genotype that are appropriate when the data are collected as a sample of unrelated individuals or as a sample of nuclear families. Application of this method to the analysis of serum cholesterol levels and the concentration of the group specific component (Gc) are presented. The analysis of the contribution of the common Gc polymorphism to the determination of quantitative variability in Gc using samples of related and unrelated individuals presents, for the first time, the simultaneous estimation of the frequencies and the effects of the genotypes at a measured locus, and the contribution of residual unmeasured polygenes to phenotypic variability.
Of course another person at Michigan is Jeffrey Long, who is Professor of Human Genetics. Here's a link from Mark Shriver's site at PSU:
http://www.anthro.psu.edu/rsrch/biolab/crew/
Carrie Lynn Pfaff, former grad student now postdocing in Michigan with Jeff Long
Not convinced? How about this one:
Province MA, Kardia SL, Ranade K, Rao DC, Thiel BA, Cooper RS, Risch N, Turner ST, Cox DR, Hunt SC, Weder AB, Boerwinkle E. A meta-analysis of genome-wide linkage scans for hypertension:The National Heart, Lung and BloodInstitute Family Blood Pressure Program. Am J Hypertens. 2003 Feb;16(2):144-7.
terry, the best description is from the DNAP website:
"DNAPrintTM's genealogy product, ANCESTRYbyDNATM 2.0, determines genetic heritage and is a great tool for those individuals or groups interested in learning their ancestry and lineage. We have identified sequences of DNA that are more prevalent in people from one continent than another. Using complex statistical algorithms, the test can determine with confidence to which of the major bio-geographical ancestry groups, Sub -Saharan African, Indo European, East Asian or Native American, a person belongs, as well as the relative percentages in cases of admixed peoples."
"We are currently developing ANCESTRYbyDNATM2.5 and 3.0. The 2.5 version will increase the sensitivity of the current 2.0 version while 3.0 will expand the resolution of ANCESTRYbyDNATM 2.0 by including the inference of intra-continental population affiliations and proportionality. The current ANCESTRYbyDNATM 2.0 can predict mixture of continental origin, but cannot predict mixtures of intra-continental ancestral composition. For example, ANCESTRYbyDNATM 2.0 might indicate that someone is of 100% Indo European descent, while ANCESTRYbyDNATM3.0 might indicate that someone is 60% Northern European and 40% Middle Eastern. If proven successful, ANCESTRYbyDNATM 3.0 will provide added accuracy and will have broad application in the genealogy as well as the forensic market."
Here's a previous post about Biogeographical Ancestry groupings in AncestryByDNA 3.0.
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=1837734
OT Terry, I can see you have strong views on this topic! You may be aware of the (linguistically somewhat controversial) view that languages like Finnish (and Hungarian) are similar to Korean and Mongolian; perhaps reflecting a common heritage or a reflection of prior diaspora.
Terry, there are agendas amongst the academics just as there are amongst message board posters! lol
More controversy about the Howard database
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/7940881.htm
Posted on Thu, Feb. 12, 2004
Plan for DNA database focusing on blacks raises questions
BY PETER GORNER
Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO - (KRT) - The first attempt to discover genes involved in diseases that disproportionately strike blacks seems well-intentioned and bright with promise. But it could end up doing more harm than good.
Howard University, a historically black institution in the nation's capital, wants to compile the world's first DNA database focusing on blacks.
The Howard project is one of several designed to pinpoint genetic differences among distinct populations throughout the world in hopes of determining the roles played by genes in sickness and in health.
But many experts consider racial divisions cultural and socioeconomic, not biological.
The sordid history of race-based biology in this country includes compulsory sterilization laws, the U.S. Public Health Service's notorious Tuskegee syphilis study and the discriminatory federal sickle-cell anemia screening of the 1970s, in which carriers of the recessive trait were counseled not to have children.
Now, fears are rising that, once again, genetic determinism might be used to explain social differences. And that, critics warn, could open the door to the re-emergence of eugenics and other forms of ethnic cleansing.
"Race-based medicine, as I call it, is a real problem," said entrepreneurial biologist J. Craig Venter, whose latest ventures include the non-profit Center for the Advancement of Genomics in Rockville, Md. "People should understand that there is no genetic basis for race. Skin color is only skin deep, as far as genes are concerned. Many in the medical research community simply don't get it.
"For example, only minor statistical differences occur among populations with how they respond to anti-hypertensive (high blood pressure) drugs.
"Yet doctors may think there's some scientific rationale to give African-Americans different drugs than Caucasians because of minor statistical differences."
To Venter, this is junk science. And he's blowing the whistle.
"No one is denying the health problems of African-Americans, including the differing incidence of prostate cancer or the response to breast cancer drugs. But those may be more due to socioeconomic and cultural issues than to genes."
Venter was the scientific pioneer and brash entrepreneur who dueled the U.S. government to a draw in June 2000, ending the historic race to decode the human genome.
He had figured out shortcuts with automated DNA sequencing machines that he believed could nail down the human genome faster and at a lower cost than the $3 billion taxpayer-supported international consortium that had been plodding along for nine years.
As president and chief scientific officer of Celera Genomics, Venter eventually commanded the world's most powerful private army of 300 supercomputers. The machines accomplished essentially the same result as the consortium - in nine months and at a cost of $200 million, forcing the Human Genome Project into a frantic dash that officially ended in a tie.
It was later revealed that Venter had secretly sequenced his own genes for the Celera version of the human genome. And when he peered into his genetic future, Venter found the dreaded specter of Alzheimer's disease beckoning.
He had inherited the gene dubbed apolipoprotein E4, which is involved with transporting cholesterol in and out of cells and associated with a broad spectrum of disorders: heart disease, nerve damage, dementia, even cold sores.
Carrying the gene variant may raise the risk of Alzheimer's from 9 percent to 29 percent.
Venter didn't like those odds. He immediately started taking fat-lowering drugs to counteract anything bad the gene might be doing to him.
"That's the way it should be done" for every person, he said, albeit not necessarily using hundreds of supercomputers. But his case proved the principle. "We call it individualized, or personalized, medicine, and it's the great promise of the genome project - to look at your individual genetic makeup and tell you how to stay healthy."
Exactly how to do this has become controversial.
Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration issued draft guidelines to researchers in drug response studies recommending that official census classifications for race and ethnicity be used in gathering information for clinical trials.
"For example, in the United States, whites are more likely than persons of Asian and African heritage to have abnormally low levels of an important enzyme (CYPD2D6) that metabolizes drugs belonging to a variety of therapeutic areas, such as antidepressants, antipsychotics and beta blockers," the FDA said. "Other studies have shown that blacks respond poorly to several classes of antihypertensive (high blood pressure) agents."
But Venter and other scientists point out that census classifications reflect political decisions, not science. In fact, 6 million U.S. residents described themselves as belonging to two or more races in the 2000 census.
The FDA agrees that cultural issues and habits account for many differences but still wants racial factors studied so differences can be understood.
Venter doesn't buy it.
"Geographical origin (ancestry) appears to be more relevant than a person's self-identified race," he wrote in the journal Science. The FDA's advice can only result in "misleading and biologically meaningless conclusions."
Researchers maintain that two human beings differ genetically by less than 0.1 percent of their DNA. One-tenth of 1 percent doesn't seem like much. Greater genetic variation, in fact, can be found within racial and ethnic groups than among them.
For example, scientists have found more genetic differences among Africans from different regions than between Africans and Europeans.
What does 0.1 percent really mean?
It means that only about 3 million nucleotide subunits out of 3 billion in the human genome account for individual uniqueness, differing physical characteristics and why some people get genetic diseases.
So 0.1 percent, which sounds like so little, is really quite a lot.
So how to explain the following:
_Clinical trials are being held for a drug called BiDil (NitroMed), aimed specifically at African-Americans to prevent heart failure. If approved, it would be the first drug sanctioned for any racial or ethnic group.
_When recent tests of an AIDS vaccine by VaxGen Inc. failed in whites, the company said the vaccine offered some slight promise for blacks and Asians.
_Tamoxifen, the first drug shown to prevent breast cancer, seems to work slightly better in white women than in blacks.
Many experts are worried about the current mood of medicine to genetically pigeonhole people by disease. And their concerns extend beyond the efficacy of such research.
Howard University geneticist Dr. Robert Murray Jr., the chief of medical ethics, a professor of pediatric medicine and a veteran of gene wars, said he and his colleagues were not notified when plans for the Howard DNA database - Genomic Research in the African Diaspora - went public.
Murray immediately thought about confidentiality.
"I think people should be concerned about patient privacy," Murray said. "The ultimate protection is in the persons guarding the information. It remains to be seen that such protection can be absolute."
In the view of another leading bioethicist, Arthur Caplan of the University of Pennsylvania: "Collecting DNA from African-Americans raises the risks of reinforcing the view that race has a genetic basis, which it does not.
"There still are few protections against discrimination and invasion of privacy. On the other hand, there is little benefit that can come from current types of genetic testing."
As Venter notes, when a doctor prescribes a drug for you, he or she wants to know how you will react, not how it will affect your ethnic group.
"If you die from a side effect, that may be a minor aberration for that population. But you're still dead."
To Venter, the relatively low number of human genes indicates that there probably are not genes for every disease condition.
"Genetic information is not deterministic but probabilistic - it can only provide the odds that a given individual will get a certain disease," he said.
The new knowledge about the human genome indicates that racial differences are superficial rather than fundamental.
"The federal government should be funding key studies to detect the differences between individuals and stop being blinded by social criteria in scientific issues," Venter said.
"I think those studies will determine that the risk of disease is not based on somebody's skin color, but on genetic and environmental factors that cross all populations."
I suspect you know the relevance of this individual:
Fernandez JR, Shriver MD, Beasley TM, Rafla-Demetrious N, Parra E, Albu J, Nicklas B, Ryan AS, McKeigue PM, Hoggart CL, Weinsier RL, Allison DB. Association of African genetic admixture with resting metabolic rate and obesity among women. Obes Res. 2003 Jul;11(7):904-11.
Department of Nutrition Sciences and the Clinical Nutrition Research Center, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35294, USA. jose@uab.edu
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of genetic admixture in explaining phenotypic variation in obesity-related traits in a sample of African-American women (n = 145) and to determine significant associations between obesity traits and admixture genetic markers. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Associations between genetic admixture and BMI, resting metabolic rate, fat mass, fat-free mass, and bone mineral density were tested using linear regression considering the estimation of admixture by 1) a maximum-likelihood approach (MLA) and 2) a Bayesian analysis. RESULTS: Both the conservative MLA and the Bayesian approach support an association between African genetic admixture and BMI. Evidence for the associations of African genetic admixture with fat mass and fat-free mass was supported by the Bayesian analysis; the MLA supported an association with bone mineral density. When the individual ancestry informative markers that were used to estimate admixture were tested for associations with BMI, significant associations were identified in chromosomes 1, 11, and 12. DISCUSSION: These results provide evidence supporting the application of admixture mapping methods to the identification of genes that result in higher levels of obesity among African-American women. Further research is needed to replicate and further explore these findings.
Fernandez JR, Allison DB. Understanding racial differences in obesity and metabolic syndrome traits. Nutr Rev. 2003 Sep;61(9):316-9. Review.
Clinical Nutrition Research Center, Department of Biostatistics, Section on Statistical Genetics, Department of Nutrition Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35294-3360, USA.
Epidemiologic data demonstrate a positive association between obesity and certain measures related to the metabolic syndrome that differ among individuals of different ethnic/racial backgrounds. The effect of genetic and environmental factors on these differences is not completely understood; however, insightful information can be obtained by taking into account the degree of ancestral admixture in populations.
Mark Shriver bits and pieces
http://mat.gsia.cmu.edu/DMANET/archive/1959.html
Second RECOMB Satellite Workshop on Computational Methods for SNPs and Haplotypes
Carnegie Mellon University February 20-21, 2004
Invited speakers (a who's who this one) include: Mark Shriver Penn State University
http://www.asns.org/Statistical%20Genetics.doc
University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Biostatistics
Fourth Annual Short Course in Statistical Genetics for Obesity & Nutrition Researchers
April 20 – 21, 2004 Renaissance Hotel, Washington, DC
This course is designed to help investigators studying the genetics of human complex traits to better understand and use statistical genetics methods, and thereby further their ability to meet their scientific objectives.
The faculty members for the Fourth Annual Short Course include:
Mark Shriver, PhD Pennsylvania State University
4/21 AM 8:30-12:00 TDT, Genomic Control, Admixture Mapping
Warren Ewens, Kathryn Roeder, Mark Shriver
http://generalmedical.uchc.edu/basicscience/2004/2004%20May.htm
May 2004
Research Lectures and Seminars
University of Connecticut School of Medicine
Tuesday, May 25, 2004 12:00 P.M. "To be announced" Dr. Mark Shriver
bag8ger, it's me that's suffering from old age on this occasion! You are of course right.
Last time it came out on the Friday (November, 14 2003). Since Monica seems to get the returns out on time I would assume we will see it on Friday. That's Friday the 13th of course, but better than the St Valentine's Day massacre!
Pleasure Chris, I usually rely on W2P to do all the number related ones - about time I understood the detail of this part of it myself as well!
Question 2
2. The company has 1.5 billion authorized shares and about 560 million o/s. How will the La Jolla deal and anticipated dumping by the management team and insiders adversely affect shareholder value?
I would like to split this into two parts:
2.1 What is the current number of shares issued and outstanding?
2.2 What would be the potential impact of the issuance of additional shares under existing agreements?
IMO whether "dumping" by is anticipated by the management team and insiders is a value judgment. The scope now also includes all other existing agreements in addition to La Jolla. Perhaps the question should be reworded accordingly?
2.1 What is the current number of shares issued and outstanding?
The main base document to use for this is the 10QSB for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2003:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1127354/000095014403012839/g85847e10qsb.htm
I will also refer to other filings, press releases, etc. as appropriate.
From the 10QSB we can see that the stockholder's deficit was as follows:
Preferred stock, $.01 par value, 10,000,000 shares authorized: 0 shares issued and outstanding
Common stock, $.01 par value, 1,500,000,000 shares authorized: 520,593,914 and 451,366,213 shares issued and outstanding, respectively
Additional shares may be issued as follows:
The financing agreement with La Jolla Cove Investors
The following is publicly known about this agreement (I am not aware of additional sources of information that are not covered by confidentiality agreements). From the press release:
http://www.dnaprint.com/2003/pressreleases/pr_12_03_03.htm
SARASOTA, Fl, December 3, 2003, DNAPrint™ genomics, Inc. (DNAP) has secured a commitment from La Jolla Cove Investors, Inc. to invest up to $8 million in the company over approximately the next two years.. The transaction involves a debenture convertible into common stock and warrants to purchase common stock, resulting in a commitment of $400,000 per month over a twenty month period. The purchase price is based on the trading price of the company’s stock, and the funding will begin after the company registers the common stock that the company will issue in the transaction. DNAPrint™ anticipates that the transaction will provide it with equity to build the business.
From a Tampa Bay Business Journal article:
http://tampabay.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2003/12/01/daily18.html
The transaction involves a debenture convertible into common stock and warrants to purchase common stock...
The maximum number of share that can be issued under this agreement (assuming that the full investment amount is made under the term of the agreement) is the principal divided by the purchase price (which we suspect, but do not know from the above, will be based on a discount to the trading price of the company's stock). You have to assume a number here. I am going to be conservative and assume that the purchase price used for this calculation will be $0.04 per share, resulting in 200 million additional shares (8,000,000 / 0.04).
The Shareholder Private Placement
It is publicly known that the target principal sum to be raised under this initiative is $2 million. If we use the same assumptions as for La Jolla above the new shares to be issued as a result of full take-up of this offering would therefore by 2,000,000 / 0.04 = 50 million shares.
Investment Banking agreement with Athena Capital Partners
The following text from the 10QSB relates to this:
In April 2003, we engaged an investment-banking firm to assist us in our long-term financial planning efforts, including our efforts to raise debt and/or equity capital. Pursuant to the agreement, we have granted this firm, for a period of twelve months, exclusive authorization to act as our agent (on a best efforts basis) in substantially all of our investment banking activities, which may include efforts to place various securities (potentially through private and/or public transactions), and to assist us in obtaining grant money from various governmental entities. As consideration for such services, we have agreed to compensate this entity as follows:
A non-refundable retainer, payable in warrants to purchase stock of our Company valued at $80,000.
Upon closing of a transaction, a fee equal to the greater of $165,000 or 6% of the aggregate dollar value of the “Aggregate Consideration” paid by investors (provided however that if the total raised is less than $1,000,000, then the fee shall be 16.5% of the amount raised).
Upon closing of a transaction, warrants to purchase (at a nominal price) shares of our common stock having a value equal to 4% of the “Aggregate Consideration” paid by investors.
Upon the receipt of any grant money, warrants to purchase (at a nominal price) such number of shares of our common stock having a value of $35,000.
In addition, we have agreed to compensate this entity for any merger and acquisition services provided. In addition to billings on a time and expense basis, this compensation shall include a “Success fee” equal to a percentage of any “Transaction Value.”
So there are two relevant components here: the initial retainer and stock underlying warrants related to compensation for closing of the two transactions above. Using the same assumed purchase price of $0.04 this means that the number of shares related to the initial retainer are 80,000 / 0.04 = 2 million. In relation to the La Jolla transaction, Athena are entitled to shares having a value equal to 4% of the aggregate consideration. The easiest way to do this is to assume that this will be 4% of the number of shares issued to La Jolla, which is 0.04 x 200 million = 8 million. Athena will also be compensated for the shareholder private placement. In relation to the Shareholders Private Placement, Athena are similarly entitled to 0.04 x 50 million = 2 million. Therefore I assume that a total of some 12 million shares will be issued to Athena Capital partners.
Note that there would be additional issuances to Athena in relation to any further investment transactions, grants, or merger and acquisition activities.
Service and Consulting Agreements
From the 10QSB for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2003:
Service Agreement
On July 14, 2003 we entered into an agreement with Sema4, Inc. dba Semaphore. In the Agreement, Semaphore agrees to provide consulting and support services for investor relations and general counsel activities. Semaphore will bill us at an agreed upon hourly rate for investor relation services and general counsel activities. Semaphore agreed to defer, until financing is completed, 60% of the general counsel fees and 50% of the investor relation fees. The deferred billing may be converted to equity at Semaphore’s choosing and at a 20% discount. The value of the stock will be based on the past fifteen day moving average prior to the date of the valuation which will be the date of the invoice. On October 14, 2003 Semaphore chose to convert deferred billing in the amount of approximately $17,000 and 412,744 shares of stock which value approximately $21,000. The discount amount of $4,000 has been recorded as an expense during the period.
Stock issued for services
During the third quarter of September 2003 we issued stock in lieu of cash payment to several service providers including legal, accounting and marketing services. The total number of shares issued in lieu of cash was approximately 411,400 at a value of approximately $25,000 which has been recorded as an expense during the period.
Consulting agreement
During the third quarter of September 2003 we issued stock under an ongoing agreement with a consultant. The Company received $200,000 in cash under the option agreement and the consultant received approximately 6,256,000 shares at a fair market value of $429,300. As a result, we have recognized approximately $229,000 in consulting expense in the third quarter of 2003.
So there are a total of 412,744 + 411,400 + 6,256,000 shares = 7,080,144 shares in this category.
Agreement with Tampa Bay Financial
I refer here to the 10QSB for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2003:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1127354/000107087603000128/dnap10qsb063003.htm
“During the six months ended June 30, 2003, Tampa Bay Financial, Inc. exercised an option to purchase 4,763,662 shares of our common stock at a price of $.05 per share. Because the fair market value of our stock was $.069 at the date they exercised their option, we have recognized approximately $90,000 of expense during the second quarter of 2003. This amount has been reflected as a settlement expense as this option was granted to Tampa Bay Financial in connection with the termination of their funding agreement. In accordance with the terms of this agreement, Tampa Bay Financial retains the rights to purchase an additional 14,786,018 shares of our common stock at a price of $.05 per share at any time through February 2005. These shares remain in escrow pursuant to such agreement.”
Stock award to CSO
Again from the 10QSB for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2003:
“In addition to the above, we previously had an agreement to award 30,000,000 shares of our common stock to our Chief Science Officer when certain performance measures were met. At December 31, 2002 and March 31, 2003, it was not probable that the shares would ever be issued and accordingly no stock based compensation was recorded through such date. During the second quarter of 2003, we approved the immediate vesting of these shares, and in addition agreed to pay the related federal and state income taxes that this officer will incur as a result of these stock grants. As a result, we have recognized approximately $1,334,000 of stock based compensation in the second quarter of June 2003.”
Employment Agreements
Again from the 10QSB for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2003:
“In May 2003, we entered one-year employment agreements with three of our officers. As consideration for their services, we have agreed to issue, at no cost to the executives, a total of 75,000,000 shares of our common stock, and to pay the related federal and state income taxes they will incur as a result of these stock grants. We have estimated that total compensation expense under these agreements will approximate $3,650,000 over the term of the employment agreements, and have recognized approximately $456,000 of stock based compensation expense (based on the amount of service provided through June 30, 2003) during the second quarter of 2003. The difference between such amounts has been included in deferred compensation and will be amortized to stock based compensation expense over the remaining terms of the agreements.”
Employee Stock Options and Awards
From the 10K for financial year 2002:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1127354/000107087603000035/dnap10ksb2002.htm
We have a stock option plan that provides for the granting of stock options and awards to officers, directors and employees. The objectives of this plan include attracting and retaining the best personnel, providing for additional performance incentives, and promoting our success by providing employees the opportunity to acquire common stock. We are authorized to grant options for up to 49,300,000 common shares, of which 15,130,000 have been granted as of December 31, 2002. Options were granted at exercise prices from $ .006 - $ .03 per share (or approximately 40 % of the market price of our stock on the respective grant dates). With the exception of the options issued to one of our directors, which vests in one year, the options issued all expire in ten years and vest 25% per year for four years.
Mark Shriver Agreement
Again from the 10K for financial year 2002:
“During June 2002, we entered into an agreement with a member of our Scientific Advisory Board, to collaborate with us to develop a kit product that could be used to infer Ancestry Admixture Ratios in human beings. We have agreed to compensate the consultant with quarterly payments of $4,000 and 50,000 shares of our common stock for the term of this contract. Pursuant to an amended agreement dated August 13, 2002, we have also agreed to provide the consultant with a number of shares of our common stock equal to 2.5% of the Net Revenues derived from a product developed with his help. The term of this agreement is two years, and the parties may agree to renew it for consecutive two-year terms. At December 31, 2002 we have accrued approximately $6,700 related to this agreement, which amount is included in accounts payable and accrued and other liabilities.”
This one is difficult to quantify. It’s also slightly ambiguous as to whether the 2.5% of Ancestry revenues relates to the two year term referred to above or the lifetime of the product (I know what the company assumptions for their models are so I know the intent here). Let’s assume that the net revenues from Ancestry are of the order of $1 milloin per annum and the 2.5% relates to a term of 30 years. The shares issuable under this agreement are therefore ((2.5% x 1 million) / 0.04) x 30 = 18.75 million shares.
Scientific Advisory Board
There are agreements with the members of the Scientific Advisory board (including the 50,000 shares per quarter referred to above for Mark Shriver). Let’s make a simplifying conservative assumption and say that this totals 1 million shares.
So to summarize, additional shares may be issued as follows:
La Jolla Cove Investors – 200 million
Shareholders Private Placement – 50 million
Athena Capital Partners – 12 million
Service and Consulting – 7.08 million
Tampa Bay Financial – 14.78 million
Stock award to CSO – 30 million
Employment Agreements – 75 million
Employee Stock Options – 15.13 million
Mark Shriver Agreement – 18.75 million
Scientific Advisory Board – 1 million
The total is therefore 423.74 million shares.
I may have missed some individual items or updates related to the above, but to the best of my knowledge it reflects the set of public domain information.
2.2 What would be the potential impact of the issuance of additional shares under existing agreements?
Assuming the exercise or issuance of all of the shares above, an estimated additional 423.74 million shares would be issued and outstanding. There are currently 520,593,914 shares outstanding and the impact of the issuance of all of the above shares would represent approximately 45% dilution to the ownership of existing shareholders.
A so-called "death-spiral" scenario was postulated by tdiamonds in post 286540 on Raging Bull. I do not personally agree that this is a likely outcome based on my view that intervening events will occur which will alleviate this scenario. However, the views of both tdiamonds and myself are value judgments not facts. The only "fact" is the estimated scale of the potential dilution as described above.
OT "tired and emotional" is a British phrase which was a reference to myself and not to you. It seems we have something else in common. This is the sort of hiking I do:
http://www.hkcrystal.com/hiking/MacLehoseTrail.htm
Not too much snow in evidence though given that it is usually over 30 degress in temperature and the humidity is 100%.
Question 3
3. What exactly are Gabriel, Tamborini and Gomez doing for the company to earn their respective guaranteed non-performance based compensation packages? Where are these individuals located and how much of their time is actually devoted to company business?
This breaks down naturally into three subsidiary questions:
3.1 What are the duties of the individuals?
3.2 Where are these individuals located?
3.3 How much of their time is actually devoted to company business?
3.1 What are the duties of the individuals?
The duties of the three individuals can be ascertained from their employment contracts, which were included with the 10QSB filed on August 15, 2003, and which I produce relevant quotes from below. The specification of the term of the agreement is the same in all of the agreements:
“The Company hereby employs Executive and the latter hereby accepts employment by the Company for the one (1) year period commencing on May 16, 2003 (the "Commencement Date") and expiring May 15, 2004, which employment shall be automatically extended for unlimited successive one (1) year periods…”
Further details are provided in the press releases that were made concerning the individuals and I reproduce some relevant quotes from these as well. I think that these are fairly self-explanatory; and that the activities I have highlighted form the core duties for the executive concerned, and/or highlight the value they will be adding to the company.
Richard Gabriel:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1127354/000107087603000128/employmentrg.htm
“During the term of this Agreement, whether initial or extended, the Executive shall render to the Company services as Chief Executive Officer of the Company and shall perform such duties as may be designated by and subject to the supervision of the Company's Board of Directors, and shall serve in such additional capacities appropriate to his responsibilities and skills as shall be designated by the Board of Directors. During such period, the Executive shall devote his full attention, time and energies as necessary to the business affairs of the Company (subject to the terms of Section 4. below), and will use his reasonable business efforts to promote the interests and reputation of the Company; provided that he may pursue such non-competitive activities as do not interfere with the complete performance of his obligations hereunder. Any question of interpretation which may arise under the preceding provision shall be resolved by majority decision of the Company's Board of Directors.”
N.B. Section 4 relates to vacation.
http://www.dnaprint.com/2003/pressreleases/pr_04_09_03.htm
“Having Richard join the Company at this time and help with capitalization and business development allows me to return to the nuts and bolts of research and product development” said Dr. Frudakis.
In addition to Forensics and Consumer genomics, DNAPrint is also focused on developing drug and treatment solutions targeted for specific segments of the patient population. Mr. Gabriel and Dr. Hector J. Gomez, MD, PhD, DNAP Board Chairman, have significant experience in drug development and together, they have completed ten successful New Drug Applications (NDA's).
"Mr. Gabriel brings to DNAPrint extensive and complementary FDA regulatory and compliance expertise, as well as an extensive political and business development network", said Dr. Gomez. "Mr. Gabriel served an instrumental role in the development of Pharm-Eco into a profitable business. Given his considerable experience with development stage companies, his addition will help us accelerate our efforts to expand DNAPrint's products and services."
"Our immediate goals are to make DNAPrint Genomics, Inc. profitable and strategically financed for its future expansion, research and product development. Dr. Tony Frudakis and all the members of the Company are important elements to the Company's success." Mr. Gabriel added. "The single most important resource any company has is its people and their ability to generate novel and patented technologies that satisfy current and future customer needs. Clearly Dr. Frudakis and his team of researchers have demonstrated that spark, the entrepreneurial spirit so vital to any company's long term health and profitable growth."
Monica Tamborini:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1127354/000107087603000128/employmentmt.htm
“During the term of this Agreement, whether initial or extended, the Executive shall render to the Company services as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of the Company and shall perform such duties as may be designated by and subject to the supervision of the Company's Board of Directors, and shall serve in such additional capacities appropriate to her responsibilities and skills as shall be designated by the Board of Directors. During such period, the Executive shall devote her full attention, time and energies as necessary to the business affairs of the Company (subject to the terms of Section 4. below), and will use her reasonable business efforts to promote the interests and reputation of the Company; provided that he may pursue such non-competitive activities as do not interfere with the complete performance of her obligations hereunder. Any question of interpretation which may arise under the preceding provision shall be resolved by majority decision of the Company's Board of Directors.”
http://www.dnaprint.com/2003/pressreleases/pr_07_28_03.htm
As CFO, Ms. Tamborini will be responsible for DNAPrint's finances and operations. Her financial duties will include managing the Company's reporting compliance, developing and implementing internal controls/procedures and overseeing and directing all accounting and finance functions. In addition, she will be charged with securing additional financing for the Company's growth. In her role as COO, Ms. Tamborini will be responsible for managing and directing the operations of the Company in a way that will allow the Company to attain its long-term strategic goals.
Ms. Tamborini has extensive financial and management experience. She has served in Controller and CFO positions since 1988, and throughout the late 80s into the early 90s, she gained expertise implementing restructuring and turnaround strategies in the construction and printing industries. From 1992 to 2001, Ms. Tamborini was CFO for Calix Corporation and its subsidiary, Pharm-eco Laboratories Inc, where her main focus was operations and finance. At Pharm-eco, Ms. Tamborini was one of five core team members that set the overall strategic direction of the company. She was successful placing nearly $35 million in debt financing and was instrumental in building the underlying operations that made Pharm-eco a successful company. She has also served as CFO for UPT (Universal Pharma Technologies), a joint venture between Pharm-eco Laboratories, Inc. and UOP (Universal Oil Processors). She is a Summa Cum Laude graduate (Valedictorian) of Suffolk University.
Hector Gomez:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1127354/000107087603000128/employmenthg.htm
“During the term of this Agreement, whether initial or extended, the Executive shall render to the Company services as Chief Medical Officer of the Company and shall perform such duties as may be designated by and subject to the supervision of the Company's Board of Directors, and shall serve in such additional capacities appropriate to his responsibilities and skills as shall be designated by the Board of Directors. During such period, the Executive shall devote his full attention, time and energies, as necessary to the business affairs of the Company (subject to the terms of Section 4. below), and will use his reasonable business efforts to promote the interests and reputation of the Company; provided that he may pursue such non-competitive activities as do not interfere with the complete performance of his obligations hereunder. Any question of interpretation which may arise under the preceding provision shall be resolved by majority decision of the Company's Board of Directors.”
http://www.dnaprint.com/2003/pressreleases/pr_08_13_03.htm
Dr. Gomez is well known in the pharmaceutical sector, adding to DNAPrint a rich background in the business and science of pharmacology and the developing field of pharmacogenomics.
He received his M.D. from the National University of Colombia in 1963 and his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Marquette University in 1968. In 1973 he also received a diploma in Clinical Pharmacology from Tulane. From 1979-1988, he served as Director and Senior Director of clinical research at Merck/MSDRL, where he was responsible for the clinical development of some of the very first ACE inhibitors (enalapril and lisinopril). From 1988 through 1991, he served as Executive Director of Clinical Research at CIBA-GEIGY Corporation. After a three-year term as Vice President of Medical Affairs at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, he became the President and CEO of the newly formed Transcend Therapeutics, Inc., which he successfully led through the Initial Public Offering (IPO) process to a Nasdaq listing and headed that company until 1998. During the interim from 1998 until joining DNAPrint's board, Dr. Gomez has consulted with a number of start-up companies. In 2002, he was added to DNAPrint's board of directors, assuming the Chairman position later in that same year.
"Dr. Gomez brings to DNAPrint his years of successful clinical development expertise, crucial to DNAP's future growth and development. Dr. Gomez and I have worked together in the past, accelerating the development and ultimate approval of pharmaceutical compounds, such as Vertex's product for AIDS, approved and currently being marketed by GlaxoSmithKline. He brings clarity to the process of drug development that is unique amongst his peers, and I am pleased to be working with him on pharmacogenomics projects," said Richard Gabriel, CEO/President.
3.2 Where are these individuals located?
As at the date of the employment agreements (May 16, 2003) Richard Gabriel was “currently residing” in MA, Monica Tamborini was “currently residing” in MA, and Hector Gomez was “currently residing” in FL. We do not know where they are currently residing, although we can reasonably suppose that Hector Gomez is still in Florida, but there has been speculation that Richard Gabriel and Monica Tamborini spend at least some of their time in MA where they presumably retain residences. We do not know for a fact if they spend any of their time in MA, other than during vacations as allowed for under their employment agreements.
Given the respective obligations that they have under their employment agreements their location at any particular time is not particularly relevant as long as it does not interfere with the fulfillment of those obligations. Having said that it can be reasonably argued that it would be difficult to fulfill certain normal duties reasonably expected of a CEO and a CFO/COO, if they were not present at the company’s location for the time required to perform any such duties that are dependent on their physical presence. We do not know if there are any such duties (but might reasonably suspect that there would be), and it can also be reasonably argued that with modern communications technology and the advantages of tele-commuting for both the company and the executives that they do not need to be located in Sarasota full-time.
So the bottom line here is we do not know where they are located and if their location has any impact on their duties. However, it is my belief that we can reasonably expect professionals such as Gabriel and Tamborini to act as professionals and for the company Board of Directors to exercise the governance function that is their responsibility.
3.3 How much of their time is actually devoted to company business?
In each of the employment agreements referred to above, the clause that outlines their duties specifies that:
“…the Executive shall devote his/her full attention, time and energies, as necessary to the business affairs of the Company…”
Although:
“…he/she may pursue such non-competitive activities as do not interfere with the complete performance of his/her obligations hereunder. Any question of interpretation which may arise under the preceding provision shall be resolved by majority decision of the Company's Board of Directors.”
There is also a “Restrictive Covenants” clause in each of the contracts which is as follows:
“During the term of his employment hereunder and for the two (2) year period following the termination hereof for any reason other than (a) the Company's discontinuance of activities; or (b) an adjudication of the Company's material breach of any of its obligations set forth in Sections 1-4, inclusive, the Executive shall not, directly or indirectly, engage in or become an owner of, render any service to, enter the employment of, or represent or solicit for any business which competes with any activity of the Company conducted at any time during the Executive's period of employment and which is located in the United States. The parties expressly agree that the duration and geographical area of this restrictive covenant are reasonable.”
So there is a clear-cut legal framework, within which they are obliged to operate, that requires them to devote their full time to the company and that precludes them from undertaking certain activities which would be against the company’s interests.
We know that in the real world people (especially senior individuals) typically act as Directors, Scientific Advisors, etc for more than one company while being ostensibly employed full-time by a single organization. As far as we know Monica Tamborini is not engaged in any capacity with any other organization. We know that Richard Gabriel and Hector Gomez are or were involved with other organizations as follows.
A relevant IHUB post from July 2003:
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=1247532
Hector Gomez is certainly a busy guy. Here are some of the things that he is involved with.
http://www.dnaprint.com/pr_bod.html
February 26, 2002: press release announcing that Hector was on DNAP's board. At that time "He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Zengen, Inc."
http://www.tbtf.org/article.cfm?article=29
November 1, 2002: A new chief executive officer sits at the head of the table at Saneron CCEL Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company located at the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of South Florida.
Paul Sanberg, the former president and CEO of Saneron, said Dr. Hector J. Gomez has taken over that role. Gomez was a local consultant for about a year before coming on board at Saneron, said Sanberg, who also founded the company.
http://www.sema4usa.com/Company/events/LifeSciences2002.htm
November 7, 2002: From the Semaphore press release about their due diligence expansion into life sciences "Richard Gabriel former CEO of Calix Corporation is the point person for the firm as head of Life Sciences diligence services practice...His team includes: Hector Gomez, MD, Ph.D, former CEO of Transcend Therapeutics, Inc. and Lonnie Bookbinder, Ph.D, an experienced large Pharma executive."
http://columbus.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2002/12/02/daily27.html
December 4, 2002: Gomez gone from Saneron. After little more than a month on the job, Dr. Hector J. Gomez is no longer the chief executive officer of Saneron CCEL Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company located in the business incubator at the University of South Florida.
"We brought him in on a trial basis, and there just wasn't a strategic fit," said Nicole Kuzmin-Nichols, vice president, business development and operations for Saneron. She declined to give further details.
http://www.dnaprint.com/pr_04_09_03.htm
April 9, 2003: press release announcing that Richard Gabriel is CEO also tells us that "Dr. Hector J. Gomez, MD, PhD, DNAP Board Chairman"
http://clinication.com/advisory.htm
Clinication's Advisory Board includes: Hector Gomez, MD, Ph.D. Partner, Genbiomics, Tampa, Florida. Click on his name and it tell's you that "He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Phase 5 Sciences, PRB Pharmaceuticals, and DNAprint Genomics, where he is Chairman of the Board."
(Incidentally, the other partners in Genbiomics are none other than Richard Gabriel and Lonnie Bookbinder...)
http://www.foleylardner.com/resourcecenter/r_sem_full.asp?ID=193
One of the participants at the 7/9/03 meeting: Hector Gomez, Chairman/President DNA Print Genomics, Saneron, and Cellgenica.
Let me throw in the following:
http://www.leespharm.com/ce/media/Ora-Flu.pdf
April 16, 2003: Lee's Pharmaceutical Holdings Limited (www.leespharm.com), a research-driven and market-oriented biopharmaceutical group engaged in the development, manufacturing and sales of quality biopharmaceutical products in the Peoples Republic of China, today announced that the Group obtained the exclusive distribution rights from a US biopharmaceutical company, PRB Pharmaceuticals Inc. based in Long Beach, California for OraFlu and OraFlu Plus, two products developed as treatments for viral infectious diseases. The exclusive covers the territory of Hong Kong SAR.
http://www.zengen.com/
July 15, 2002: Zengen, Inc. announced today that one of its strategic partners, Lee's Pharmaceutical Holdings, Ltd., a biopharmaceutical company based in Hong Kong, began trading today on the Hong Kong Growth Enterprise Market...Zengen entered into a licensing agreement with Lee's Pharmaceutical on February 2, 2002.
http://www.beverlyglen.com/
This is Phase 5 Sciences (previously known as Beverly Glen Medical Systems Corp.). They have a number of cardiologists associated with them (Timothy Callahan and William Shell are the names on the patents), and some interesting people behind them and on their advisory board.
Their technology "has been used successfully in many phases of clinical trials, and is of particular interest in the early Phase I environment. It's designed to help you identify early on in the drug development process, potential problems with QT-interval prolongation."
Then of course there are some updates:
http://www.prbpharmaceuticals.com/company/management.asp
Hector J. Gomez, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer, Head of Research and Development.
Dr. Gomez has over twenty years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. From 1994-1999, as President and CEO of Transcend Therapeutics, a biotechnology company in Cambridge, MA, Dr. Gomez defined its strategic planning and oversaw its implementation. He led the transition from a private to a public company (IPO). He was also CEO of Zengen, Inc., a private Biotech Company in California. Before joining Transcend, he was Vice President of Medical Affairs for Vertex Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, MA, where he was responsible for planning and implementing the Pre-Clinical, Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs departments. Prior to that he was a senior executive for two large pharmaceutical companies: Executive Director, Cardiovascular for Ciba-Geigy in Summit, NJ, and before that, Senior Director, Cardiovascular Clinical Research for Merck in Rahway, NJ. Dr. Gomez received an M.D. from the National University of Colombia, and a Ph.D. from Marquette University and a Diploma in Clinical Pharmacology from Tulane University.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/031120/205377_1.html
UTEK Corporation Appoints Hector Gomez, M.D., Ph.D., to Scientific Advisory Council
Thursday November 20, 10:29 am ET
PLANT CITY, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 20, 2003--UTEK Corporation (AMEX:UTK - News) announced today that Hector J. Gomez, M.D., Ph.D., has joined UTEK's Scientific Advisory Council. Previously, Dr. Gomez served as a Senior Director of clinical research at Merck/MSDRL, Executive Director of Clinical Research at CIBA-GEIGY Corporation, VP of Medical Affairs at Vertex Pharmaceuticals and President and CEO of Transcend Therapeutics. Dr. Gomez is currently a Member of the Board of Directors of PRB Pharmaceuticals and Apollo Pharmaceuticals and is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of DNAprint Genomics.
Here is the new Phase 5 Sciences website:
http://www.phase5sciences.com/index.htm
http://www.nanobaclabs.com/Newsroom/PressReleases/Article.aspx?shortname=News_2004-02-05
Nanobac Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announces the Creation of a Corporate Advisory Board
TAMPA, Fla. (February 5 2004) — Nanobac Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCPK:NNBP) (“Nanobac” or “The Company”), Alex Edwards, Chief Executive Officer and President, announces the creation of a Corporate Advisory Board. This advisory board is in keeping with the Company’s plan of strengthening the organization for the successful implementation of its business plan.
The initial members of the advisory board are Hector Gomez, MD, PhD; David Filer, PhD; Daniel A. Shoskes, MD, FRCS (c); and Benedict S. Maniscalco, MD, FACC.
I dealt with Apollo Pharmaceuticals in this IHUB post:
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=2160876
We still know nothing whatsoever about Cellgenica.
I dealt with Richard Gabriel in this IHUB post:
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=2282097
Gabriel, Gomez and Bookbinder joined the Life Sciences practice of Semaphore (the US office of which is in Boston) in 2002. We knew that from this (now invalid) link:
http://www.sema4usa.com/Company/events/LifeSciences2002.htm
MBO Announcement
... Richard Gabriel former CEO of Calix Corporation is the point person for the firm as head of ... I am delighted to join the quality team represented by Semaphore. ...
www.sema4usa.com/Company/events/LifeSciences2002.htm - 43k - Cached - Similar pages
At present there is no mention of personnel in Semaphore's Life Sciences practice on their website and I would imagine that Gabriel and Gomez are no longer involved with Semaphore, but I have no factual evidence of this per se.
Gabriel, Gomez and Bookbinder are also partners in Genbiomics - a Florida registered consulting company. We know very little about Genbiomics and I do not know why it was reinstated in November 2003.
The most revealing item is from the bio about Gabriel on the DNAP website:
http://www.dnaprint.com/2003/corporate/officers.html
"From 2001 until becoming the Chief Executive Officer and President for DNAPrint, he consulted for several start-up companies while working as a partner at Genbiomics, LLC and as head of Life Sciences Practice at Semaphore, Inc."
Now this is still slightly ambiguous in that it is not absolutely clear that he ceased being a partner in Genbiomics and working as Head of the Life Sciences practice at Semaphore on becoming the CEO and President for DNAP, but that would be my reading of the text.
For the avoidance of doubt, it is my belief that Gabriel and Gomez are no longer involved with Semaphore and that Genbiomics is essentially a dormant (though reinstated) entity. Therefore there is no conflict of interest and no undue lack of focus on DNAP as a result of involvement in these entities.
To summarize what we know:
Hector Gomez is on the Advisory Board of Clinication, a Partner in Genbiomics, a Director of Phase 5 Sciences, a Director and CMO of PRB Pharmaceuticals, the Chairman/President of Cellgenica, a Scientific Advisor to UTEK, a Director of Apollo Pharmaceuticals, and an Advisor to Nanobac Pharmaceuticals. Richard Gabriel is a Partner in Genbiomics.
How much of their time is taken up with these activities? Difficult to quantify, but I would think that acting in the capacity of either a Director or an Advisor is a part-time activity that involves commitment of the order of days per month at a maximum. Being involved as a CMO as a different matter and we might reasonably suppose that Hector Gomez’s commitment to PRB Pharmaceuticals would entail more effort. The other thing to bear in mind is that we do not know if there is any connection between DNAP and any of these other entities that would mean that the commitment was not a detraction from DNAP itself.
Well there you are. We can all get too (tired and) emotional at times lol!
OT Oh dear, somebody is not having a good day are they? Accused you of being Dragon - wow, you're taking this far too seriously (and too personally I might add). BTW, I'm ex military myself and have over thirty years martial arts experience. Happy to look you in the eye anytime pussycat.
It might surprise you to learn that I have some sympathy with the views expressed in this post...
No my point is that you do not cease in raising non-issues and putting a bit of spin on them. If you and the others who engage in such activity genuinely want to discuss "the issues" in a civil manner then you know what to do. BTW, most if not all of the issues are well known and have been DD'd to death previously (as far as is possible). If you engaged us more positively you might actually learn something. Oh, and everybody does have an agenda (including me), and I'm not as edukatid as you might think.
Something I didn't know DNAP were working on (but could have been inferred from comments previously made by Gavin Menzies):
http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/GENEALOGY-DNA/2004-02/1075744638
"We are working on a method to date the admixture for customers, but it is a difficult project and you'll have to have patience." [Tony Frudakis]
Doug - I see that Tony is increasingly telling it like it is on the RootsWeb board lol!
Here's another one for Dragon and co to play with:
http://www.phase5sciences.com/index.htm
Cellgenica anyone?
DNA Phenomics
From their website we can see that they plan to offer two different products/services:
"DNA Phenomics' goal is to become a leader in the discovery, development, and sale of genomic-based diagnostic healthcare products and biotech research services throughout Asia and the Pacific."
The latter are specified:
"DNA Phenomics' research services include contract genotyping and SNP discovery."
As are the diagnostic products:
"DNA Phenomics' principle genomic product line will be a series of important drug-response classifier tests for the personalized medicine market."
"Currently there are 4 genomic products under development, and another significant set of genomic products in the planning stages by the scientists at DNA Phenomics."
(The figure 4 is very interesting)
Disease management is not a product/service offering as this is ostensibly the business plan for Phenomed. Some more quotes from the DNA Phenomics website:
"The company currently employs five people and anticipates significant growth as it lays out its research agenda and concludes building it contract research facilities."
"Using the latest genotyping technology, super-computing facilities, and sophisticated statistical analysis techniques DNA Phenomics researchers will process more genomic information and in a far more efficient manner than ever thought possible. And most importantly, DNA Phenomics scientists will identify exactly those elemental parts of the human genome which determine an individual's response to a particular drug. In short, it is that power to gather and quickly translate the text of DNA that enables the scientists at DNA Phenomics to discover and develop revolutionary healthcare solutions for humankind."
So we know from this that they are apparently in the process of building their own research facilities and that they will have access to genotyping technology, super-computing and statistical analysis techniques. Further they will be using Mapping by Admixture Linkage Disequilibrium to "uncover the causal genetic factors underlying traits such as drug reactivity."
How are they going to be able to offer the products/services? Either build it from scratch themselves and/or:
"DNA Phenomics has a growing list of impressive scientific and corporate alliances and partnerships worldwide."
Only Senecio and the Multimedia Super Corridor are currently listed on the website. You don't need to be Einstein to figure out where they will be getting supercomputing facilities from. Who can offer them contract genotyping, SNP discovery, statistical analysis techniques and drug response classifiers?
"DNAPrintTM’s services range from sequencing and genotyping to the entire process of SNP discovery."
"We [DNAPrint] currently have two pharmacogenomic tests in development..."
The statistical analysis techniques are part of the ADMIXMAP platform. DNAP could offer contract genotyping and SNP discovery as DNA Phenomic's service provider. DNA Phenomics could also (possibly longer term) offer the services themselves utilizing DNAP's technology. Similarly, DNA Phenomics could market DNAP's pharmacogenomic products in the Asia Pacific region on a preferred supplier basis; and perhaps longer term use DNAP's technology for the development of their own drug classsifiers. A number of different models could be used for renumeration including licence fees, royalties, etc.; and to some extent whether or not DNA Phenommics is a non-public company is irrelevant.
Why the delay? Apart from building their research facilities, growing the company, and the distraction of things like Phenomed, I would think that there are a number of things that have to occur before DNA Phenomics can offer drug classifier products in Asian markets. The regulatory framework may not perhaps be as onorous as the FDA in some of the markets but I can assure you that it is still present.
Are DNA Phenomics and DNAP going to be working together? Is there no connection after all? Did they fail to agree commercial terms (as has been suggested)? The truth is we do not know. Going on public domain information (and information obtained from the companies registrar in Kuala Lumpur) I have formed my own opinion. I would personally be very surprised if the two companies did not announce some sort of working relationship at some point.
All IMO of course.
retro, what happened here? As I recall the (hastily withdrawn) post was concerned with this website:
http://www.nanobaclabs.com/common/images/gomez.gif
I found this one pretty interesting as well:
http://www.nanobaclabs.com/common/images/retrosagendaisobvious.gif
Or how about:
http://www.nanobaclabs.com/common/images/retrosddisrivalledonlybyhiscomputingknowledge.gif
bag8ger, nothing to see here, move along, no significant alliances!
These are the key bits:
"Significant alliances are being negotiated and it is essential to have the talent and experience Dr. Shahi brings to Phenomed to help in that process."
"Dr. Gurinder Shahi is Chairman and CEO of BioEnterprise Asia. A physician with training in molecular biochemistry as well as international health policy and management, Dr. Shahi is a leading expert on change management and strategic program implementation in healthcare and the life sciences. His experience includes work on life science technology assessment; strategic business planning; performance appraisal of joint ventures and strategic alliances; market strategy development; economic and policy analysis for health intervention; and evidence-based, decision-making for investment and implementation. Dr. Shahi has played a key role in the development of several major international initiatives including the International Vaccine Institute and the Asia-Pacific International Molecular Biology Network (for which he currently serves as Executive Director/Coordinator). In addition, he currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the United Nations Development Program for the International Health Organization and Chief Scientific Advisor for DNA Phenomics. He has authored over 50 articles, refereed journal papers and conference presentations, served as lead editor of International Perspectives on Environment, Development and Health: Toward a Sustainable World (Springer Publishing Company, New York, 1997), and recently completed work on a book entitled BioBusiness in Asia - Exploring Opportunities and Challenges Confronting Entrepreneurs and Life Science Enterprises (Pearson Publishing Group, Cambridge, UK, February, 2004). Dr. Shahi received a Masters of Public Health from Harvard University and his doctorate from the National University of Singapore."
Doug, very familiar with both countries. Would be nice to be involved with both of them!
Just like that!
http://www.phenomed.net/news.htm
Doug, actually it was before Gurinder Shahi was announced as a Scientific Advisor as well, hence the statement about not being surprised to see "them" play a more direct role as e.g. investors, directors or scientific advisors. How did we know? A very reasonable educated guess. There are all sorts of connections between Shahi and the Flying Doctor and Shahi and e.g. Kamaluddin. The fact that they based the companies (note plural) in Malaysia rather than Singapore was indicative of utilization of one set of connections over another. So, why the six month delay? I think that, at least in part, this was caused by something else not occuring as quickly as originally anticipated (or perhaps not occuring at all?). There is the possibility that we will see things fall into place very quickly now as far as Malaysia is concerned.
On the other hand there are the things which were uncovered in Malaysia, but not publicly disseminated, which I think also have a bearing on all of this - namely who the directors of certain companies are. Time will tell...
First Annual Advanced DNA Technology Workshop
San Diego, CA
March 8 – 11, 2004
http://www.bodetech.com/documents/dnaworkshop.pdf
9:00am – 9:30am DNA Witness
Zach Gaskin, DNA Print
Seventh Annual STR Megaplex Advanced Research and Training Workshop
Virginia Beach, Virginia
March 28 – April 1, 2004
http://www.bodetech.com/documents/syllabus.pdf
8:30am-9:00am BioGeographical Ancestry - Using DNA for Race Determination
Zach Gaskin, DNAPrint Genomics
There is also an Advanced DNA Technical Workshop on May 10-13, 2004 at Hawk's Cay Resort in the Florida Keys; however there is no program yet for this one.