is dreaming of Nicosan4All ;-)
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re a) - Last semi-official word from the company said something along these lines:
With all the excitement over the commercially launched NICOSAN™ in Abuja,Nigeria on July 6th,2006 by the President of Nigeria, 5-HMF represents an extreme-ly promising potential crisis treatment for sickle cell diseased patients and perfectly places us in a unique position of providing much needed efficacious treatment,with the exclusive patent license from VCU to Xechem International.”
“July 6, 2006 was a very exciting day, after five years of extensive research, development and pilot scale production under cGLP and cGMP testing at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Sickle Cell Disease Reference Laboratory (SCDRL) of National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of National Institutes of Health (NIH), sanctions, and talks of loan financing in Nigeria and USA, to bring NICOSAN™ to market.
There is still a lot of work to be completed on the construction of a full commercial scale production facil-ity by October/November 2007, where Xechem Nigeria’s plant factory will meet all the current Good Manufacturing Practices(cGMP) guidelines - as the first state-of-the-art standard pharmaceutical factory in Nigeria.
Expansion to complete the state-of-the-art pharmaceutical facility within the time frame of October/November 2007 is underway. Xechem Nigeria will be a full scale, self-sufficient five-building factory complex in Abuja for the commercial production of NICOSAN™/ HEMOXIN™, involving estimated costs for machinery and equipment at $12 - $15 million (where $5 million has already been invested,with Nigeria’s contribute of US$1.2 million for construction, including the $9.38 million loan from the US Export Import(EXIM) Bank Loan Guarantee Program).
Importance of Quality Control In the Development of Herbal Medicines as Drugs: The Antisickling Phytopharmaceutical Niprisan/NICOSANTM/HEMOXINTM
1Peter N. Gillette, MD, 2Renuka Misra, PhD, 2Prema Tripathi, BHMS,
3Toshio Asakura, MD, PhD, 2Ramesh C. Pandey, PhD
1State University of New York at Brooklyn; 2Xechem Research Laboratory, New Brunswick, N.J.;
3Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
The new antisickling drug Niprisan (Nix-0699, NICOSANTM, HEMOXINTM) is a modern preparation based on a traditional phytopharmaceutical from Nigeria. It is an extract of a mixture of four plants administered by healers to reduce pains of Sickle Cell Disease especially in children and adolescents. In laboratory studies it strongly inhibits sickling of red blood cells, and it benefits patients in Nigerian clinical trials. US trials await final standardization of the product.
Niprisan development has revealed three links with medications used by India's traditional healers in the 5000 year old Vedic Herbal System “Ayurveda”: administration by healers, herbal source, and decoction of multiple plants. This paper will describe laboratory and clinical studies of Niprisan and discuss methods to overcome the difficulties in preparation and standardization of phytopharmaceuticals.
Interestingly, initial standardization of Niprisan showed that all four botanicals contribute to efficacy. By several different approaches including high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), fractionation and subsequent recombination of various fractions reduces potency (Asakura; Pandey; unpublished data) as is true for many botanicals.
There is a striking analogy between the lessons being learned from working with a traditional medicine and challenges for the future of herbal medicines such as those used in Ayurvedic phytomedicine.
http://www.umassd.edu/indic/waves/04_wdc_conf/abstracts.doc
You are right that the two licensing agreements have nothing to do with each other. However 5-HMF has nothing to do with Nigeria (at this time) but if XeChem decided at a future date to market 5-HMF in Nigeria, it could only do so with NAFDAC approval imo.
HOWARD UNIVERSITY NIPRD CAMPUS SOON
It was a gathering of scientists, industrialists and politicians as the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development [NIPRD] in collaboration with the Howard University organized a one-day seminar to inform Nigerians on the collaboration between the two institutions. The Dean School of Pharmacy, Howard University, Prof. Marcellus Grace, accompanied by an international biopharmaceutical expert, Prof. Kumar, gave a one hour lecture shingling between pure science and the politics of science. Prof. grace told the audience that Howard university was very happy with excellent work being done in NIPRD and was glad to yield to the request of one of their own, Dr US Inyang to assist in R & D activities of the Institute. the professor made it clear that research in NIPRD should focus majorly on putting products on the shelf. He commended the DG/CEO of NIPRD, for his achievements so far. Dr. Ramesh Pandey, Chairman/CEO Xechem Inc. USA. who was also present at the seminar was full of praise to the Nigerian scientists in NIPRD. In his words and apparently responding to the challenge thrown to the scientists by Dr. Inyang, Pandey said “like China for artemisin in, NIPRD has made Nigeria synonymous to NICOSAN”. NICOSAN is an antisickling preparation developed by NIPRD but licensed to Xechem Int. for commercial production and marketing. All the research staff in NIPRD were present at the seminar. Most of the staff who spoke to us expressed satisfaction with the level of collaboration going on and advised that exchange programme should become a very solid part of the of the collaboration. This they believe, will expose the scientists to better equipped laboratories and ultimately beneficial to the country.
The DG/CEO of NIPRD, Pharm. Dr Uford Inyang, said that the desire to institute a regular training programme on Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and clinical trials through a comprehensive package involving resource persons from the Howard University, and by exchange programme has been one of his priorities. It was therefore a dream come through that Prof. Grace was in NIPRD to see things for himself. He told the audience that Howard University had accepted to rain two PhDs every year for NIPRD and plans for a biannual training programme not only for scientists in NIPRD, but for all pharmacists in Nigeria had been concluded. Infact according to Dr. Inyang, a memorandum of understanding to that effect had been signed between the two bodies. It could be recalled that last year, NIPRD in collaboration with Howard University organized a one-week training workshop on clinical trial of drugs and current good manufacturing practice for scientists, health care providers, researchers, administrators, chief executives and industrialists. Post workshop evaluation by the M & E team in NIPRD reported that it was one of the best workshops held in Nigeria in recent time. Some graduates of the course have been calling on the DG of NIPRD to let his Howard counterparts organize the next phase of the workshop.
It was time for the vote of thanks and the man who knows what to say any time hence always mastering ceremonies for the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Dr. Kunle O. O. thanked the visitors but, above all, threw a challenge to the NIPRD scientist: “Let us do things in a new and better way, for we cannot afford to disappoint those that put their trust in us”. He expectedly thanked Dr. Inyang for the wonderful opportunity given to scientists to hear the dean of Howard University speak on the plans for NIPRD and pleaded with him not to rest until things materialize.
http://niprd.org/niprdhowarduniversity.htm
That is an important point imo pinmoney,...the XeChem Park has the capability (and likely capacity) to produce this and other phytomedicines. It is a huge facility and we expect it to be equipped with near state technology. I do not know if there are other facilities in Nigeria that can produce commercial quantities of phytomedicines, but certainly the history between NIPRD and XeChem would warrant some positive feelings about the possibilities. As you say, it does take time however.
Focus on Malaria Drugs, Minister Tells Pharmacists
since this is not xkem scd specific it will likely be removed, however for the duration it is up, i thot it noteworthy that NIPRD appears to have developed a phytomedicine for malaria and that it purportedly is in phase III trials... I wonder if there is any relation to the herbs used in Nicosan for SCD since there is some correlation between malaria and scd, albeit remote. ... interesting ... no? (lol)
Daily Trust (Abuja)
20 March 2008
Ruby Rabiu
Abuja
The Federal Government has urged pharmacists in the country to focus their efforts on the production of drugs to treat and prevent malaria which has been fatal.
The Minister of State for Health, Architect Gabriel Aduku, made the call at the opening ceremony of the international workshop on green chemistry and essential drug production in developing countries.
Urging the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), he said it had become necessary to look inwards for solutions to conquer malaria as the drugs meant to cure the disease, Arteminisinin based Combination Therapies (ACTs), has become scarce and inaccessible to the masses.
The minister, while revealing the institute's malaria new drug said, "NIPRD has produced a new phytomedicine from local natural products for the treatment of malaria which is now at phase 111 clinical trial."
He called on the experts in the country to look into the production of the drug as a cheaper alternative.
He recalled that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had in 2001 suggested that malaria in developing countries was resistant to older drugs like chloroquine, urging a change to ACTs.
Aduku, however, observed that since that recommendation there has being a rapid increase in the prices of the drugs.
He called on experts from Howard University and other countries to assist NIPRD look for an alternative by improving on the ACTs for the purpose of "cultivation, extraction of active ingredients and processing to finished drugs."
Nifty Site lol, thanks ElisComing...
Raven, send this to your bosses lol
http://TheRaveninexile.youaremighty.com/
Otological findings among Nigerian children with sickle cell anaemia from the International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology
Background/Aim
Various degrees of hearing loss have been associated with sickle cell anaemia, especially of the sensorineural type (SNHL). However, there is little information on hearing pattern among sickle cell children in Nigeria. This study is to determine the prevalence of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) among children with sickle cell anaemia (SCA).
Patients and methods
Eighty (80) stable children aged 4–15 with Hbss attending the pediatric sickle cell clinic and also 60 control patients with HbAA, matched for age, sex at the pediatric general medical clinic of the University of Ilorin teaching hospital, Ilorin, Nigeria, all had prospective study of their pure tone audiological assessment (PTA) and tympanometric evaluations done over a year period.
Results
Their age range was 4–15 years with a mean of 9.4 for the Hbss and 9.7 for the control group. The male/female ratio was 1.3:1 and 1.5:1 for SCA and control subjects respectively.
25 subjects (50 ears) had abnormal audiograms among the SCA subjects and OME was the cause in 22 subjects and only three (3) had mild SNHL which was bilateral. However, in the control group 15 had abnormal audiograms and all were due to OME and none had SNHL. OME was bilateral in 19 subjects with SCA, two on the left and only one on the right. In the control group, 11 of the OME was bilateral and only four were on the left side. The prevalence of SNHL was 3.8% and OME was 27.5%.
Conclusion
We have found a prevalence rate for SNHL of 3.8% for 80 subjects with HbSS, and all cases have been a mild bilateral high frequency SNHL. Our findings suggested that SNHL is uncommon in early childhood, specifically during the years of language acquisition and early schooling. This could mean an age dependant prevalence rate of SNHL among SCA patients. However, no difference in the incidence of OME among both groups which can lead to educational difficulties from the resultant speech and language defects.
March 17, 2008 - Posted by Callier Library | Uncategorized | audiological assessment, otitis media with effusion, otological findings, sensorineural hearing loss, sickle cell anaemia (sca) | 2 Comments
2 Comments »
United Nations Economic Commission For Africa
Book Of Abstracts
Science With Africa Conference
March 3-7, 2008
page 30
Evaluation of Niprisan (Herbal Medicine) for the Management of Sickle Cell
Anaemia
Charles Wambebe and Hadiza Khamofu, International Biomedical Research in Africa, Abuja,
Nigeria, wambebe@yahoo.com, Joseph Okogun, Nathan Nasipuri and Karynius Gamaniel,
National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, Abuja, Nigeria.
About 70% of all sickle cell anemia (SCA) subjects reside in Africa, estimated at over 12 million. The prevalence of SCA is estimated at over 2% while infant mortality is about 8% and survival rate of SCA babies in rural areas by five years of age is about 20%. These statistics indicate that SCA is probably the most neglected (and sometimes forgotten by health authorities) serious public health disorder with serious mortality and morbidity rates in Africa. The objective was to undertake pre-clinical and clinical assessments of a herbal extract vis-à-vis management of sickle cell anemia using Good Laboratory Practice and Good Clinical Practice principles respectively. In Africa, there is no standard treatment for sickle cell anemia, only palliative management is generally available. In view of this situation, most
SCA subjects use herbal medicines. NIPRISAN is a standardized extract from four medicinal/food plants: Piper guineenses seeds, Pterocarpus osun stem, Eugenia caryophyllum fruit and Sorghum bicolor leaves. Short term toxicity study indicated that NIPRISAN was safe in laboratory animals. Bio-activity guided fractionation show that vanillin and aromatic aldehydes may be the bioactive moieties. NIPRISAN reversed sickled red blood cells and
protected them from being sickled when exposed to low oxygen tension. NIPRISAN dose- dependently delayed polymer formation of haemoglobin S. NIPRISAN induced 85% increased solubility of deoxy haemoglobin S. The in vivo efficacy study was undertaken at Children Hospital of Philadelphia, USA. Histological examination of lungs of control Tg transgenic mice carrying human sickle haemoglobin showed entrapment of massive numbers
of sickled cells in alveolar capillaries. NIPRISAN significantly cleared the lungs of sickled cells. Furthermore, NIPRISAN induced profound effect on the survival time of Tg mice under hypoxic conditions (p<0.0001). The phase II clinical data indicated that all the subjects benefited from NIPRISAN with no serious adverse effect. About 80% of the subjects did not experience any crisis during the study (12 months). The subjects experienced significant
reduction in hospital admission while attendance at school profoundly increased. Furthermore, there was no evidence of kidney or liver damage. NIPRISAN has been patented, licensed to an American company, registered and being manufactured at Abuja for
global market.
http://www.uneca.org/sciencewithafrica/content/swa_book_of_abstacts-en.pdf
Comment by Asclepius | March 18, 2008
Nicosan information including clinical trials, toxicity studies, FDA and EU orphan drug status, history and video.
http://sicklecellsurvivor.org/node/16
Comment by Asclepius | March 18, 2008
HIV, Others - NIPRD's Successful Preclinical, Observational Studies
Lagos, Dec 10, 2007 (This Day/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) --
At the commissioning of the new laboratory facilities recently, the Minister of Health, Prof. Adenike Grange who was represented by the Minister of State for Health, Chief Gabriel Aduku, an architect, said a great need exist for rallying support to NIPRD for new drug discovery and development. He emphasised that the institute's scientists have participated in the discovery and development of new phyto-pharmaceutical that is currently being marketed and are working on more drugs for diabetes, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and ulcer amongst others. He further explained that NIPRD has a well developed capacity and valued national and international partnership with highly respected organisations like the National Institute of Health (NIH). Aduku told the audience that the institute has the intellectual capacity and expertise to manage their projects coupled with strong and dedicated team of researchers.
"There are potential social, political and economic benefits that a country derives from pharmaceutical research and development such as establishment of high value added, high technology sector and industry diversification; contribution to economic growth and trade surplus; development and commercialisation of public sector research; high quality jobs; reduction in brain drain; contribution to the global public good and improved healthcare through access to newer medicines amongst others," the minister stressed.
Aduku therefore appealed to Nigerian pharmaceutical businessmen, international investors and other interested individuals to come and invest in the establishment of chemical industry for the production of pharmaceutical (chemicals) ingredients for drugs. He said this could be in the spirit of the new policy on public private partnership (PPP) or any other arrangement to be negotiated and agreed with the government.
Dr. Anthony Okam, the immediate past chairman of the governing board of the institute said under his leadership NIPRD currently has about seven compounds in the pipeline for development as antiviral agent. He said the research is going on at the institute and at the Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland, USA with some senior scientist from NIPRD as member of the team.
He further said that the institute has also eleven compounds in the pipeline for development as anti-tuberculosis drugs in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) of the National Institute of Health, USA. In addition, Okam stressed that a potent anti-diabetic agent developed by NIPRD is in phase II clinical trial and may soon hit the local market. The institute, according to the former chairman NICOSAN, an anti-sickling phyto-pharmaceutical agent developed by NIPRD for the management of sickle cell disease had been licensed out and is currently being produced and marketed by Xechem Pharmaceutical Nigerian Limited, Sheda, Abuja.
"Just last month, we concluded preclinical studies on an immunostimulant and antifungal cream which would be used for the management of fungal skin disease and for HIV/AIDS. NIPRD is the first public research institute to extract Artemisin from locally grown Artemisia annua.
Added to the challenges are the inconsistent government policies on raw materials. The NIPRD boss said that it is quite difficult to have a long term strategy for the development of commercialisable raw materials. He said if government policies do not remain stable, there seems to be no change with the budget each year.
Though it appears the problems are daunting, Inyang said the prospects of commercialising research results in Nigeria are enormous as the returns are rich. He however said that it is doable.
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:XyE0G7xWyoIJ:www.zibb.com/article/2329274/HIV%2BOthers%2BNIPRDs%2BSuccessful%2BPreclinical%2BObservational%2BStudies+Prof.+Adenike+Grange+nicosan&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=ca
Let's call it even Lochute
We all have different gifts and if we share them
wEaReLeGiOn & mrcsn, thanks for your comments. eom
Indeed it is. My point was only that the 5-HMF toxicity studies recently completed appear to be considered as phase I trials for 5-HMF, something I had not considered.
That's almost 1 1/2 years old.
5-Hydroxymethyl-2-furfural is currently in Phase I clinical trials for treating sickle cell anemia
new to me too...
from the link...
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – October 4 th, 2006 – Xechem International, Inc. (OTC BB: XKEM) announced today that it has received a SBIR grant in the amount of $473,181 from the National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NIH-NHLBI) to carry out the toxicity studies on the five-membered heterocyclic anti-sickling compound known as 5-HMF. Researchers from both Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), University of Pennsylvania are expected to participate in the 5-HMF trials.
You are endearing! and please do not take my take as criticism. I feel for your work and 'situation' and it makes me appreciate mine (more).
There are moments when I feel about my Xgem investment as you do about your management (and likely this investment as well lol)
Do you have a gun available? I'd like to blow my brains out, thank you.
Lagos pharmacists lament high cost of local healthcare services
Written by Sola Ogundipe
Tuesday, 18 March 2008
THE high cost of healthcare and poor access to essential medicines in the country’s healthcare financing is a source of worry for the Lagos State branch of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN). A statement issued during the Society’s 2008 Annual General Meeting, attributed the root cause of the unsavoury development to the practice whereby doctors engage in the practice of dispensing of drugs in private clinics as against the ethics of the profession.
Chairman of the State PSN branch Pharm. Bola Oyawole who signed the statement, berated the inherent weakness in the nation’s public health care delivery system which he alleged was putting the masses at the mercy of operators of the public health care system .
Lamenting the continued practice of out-of-pocket payment procurement of drugs, Oyawole said: “In a country where 70.2 per cent of the population live below the poverty line of less than one dollar a day, it becomes glaring that issues concerning prices of drugs are germaine to improving access to essential medicines.”
According to him, a recent survey confirmed that only 38 per cent of house holds patronised public health facilities when faced with illness, preferring to seek the services of medicine sellers, private health clinics and pharmacies.
Noting that these level of care providers were the main sourcs of drugs in the private sector, which underscored the importance of the private sctor in medicine pricing, Oyawole said the phenomenon of dispensing doctors is well established in the country as it is estimated that about 90 per cent of private clinics dispense drugs in their facilities.
“Even when the relevant acts of parliament and the 2005 national drug policy makes dispensing of drugs the exclusive preserve of pharmacists, Nigerian doctors shamefully continue to violate this global norm for pecuniary gains.”
In his brief, Oyawole recalled that the World Health Organisation recently showed that patients in Nigeria pay 2-6 times international reference prices for medicines in public and private health facilites in the country.
He noted that from the study, drug prices in the public sector were almost identical with private pharmacies and that private hospitals and clinics were shown to charge up to 184 per cent more than public health facilities and 193 per cent more than private retail pharmacies for essential drugs.
__________________________________
Comments
High Cost of drugs; Poor Healthcare Poli
Written by EHIRIM,T.J.This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , on 18-03-2008 11:00 , IP: 41.219.211.121
Dear Nigeria,
I wish to ask you, Do you not know that there is inherent weaknesses in your Public Health Delivery System? Why is Nigeria still practicing "Out-of-Pocket" payment of Drugs in the Public Hospitals and Clinics up till this Age and Time with so much resources. Do you not know that it is UNBELIEVABLE that unemployed and RETIRED people still Pay CASH in Nigeria for Essential Drugs in a Public Hospital?
Surprisingly, no body is paying this issue the required attention. Let us not blame Obasanjo or Yar'Adua, not the Government this time, of course not Dora Akunyili. Let us Blame Mr.Ochereome Nnanna, Let us Blame Dr.Reuben Abati, Let us Blame Chief Pini Jason and co, Let us blame first, these few Respectable and Trustworthy Pressmen of our Time for not giving this issue the attention it deserves in that country. They have travelled far and wide and sincerely seen that what our people are doing at home with respect to Health Care is a CRIME against Humanity in modern times. Ochereome and Abati Why? Dele Momodu Why? Let us Blame ourselves. Let all of us who has had something to do with the Nigerian Health Sector in terms of Laws and Policy Making and implementation, Financing and execution of the Health Care Delivery take a Piece of the Shame. Let us start now to look at ways [it is not impossible] to change this trend and cater for our people. Imagine the statistics, "patients in Nigeria pay 2-6 times the price of Drugs in the public sector".
Ochereome so Why are you quiet? Dr.Abati Why? Mr.Nduka Obaigbena, I beleieve so much in you but I'm surprised that you in your implicit business thinking and Greater role in Nigeria has never thought of this. Why is Health of the people not getting the required ATTENTION? What is the Faith of The "Thy Kindom Come" Awaited National Health Scheme? NIGERIAN PRESS Why not tell those currently in Government that Health care is a Human Right Issue in the New World Order.
Dear Nigeria, Why do you still allow your Pharmacies to be run by "Hanging Certificates"?
Why do you still allow "Charlatans" to Dispense and Control even your Scheduled Drugs[poisons] for your Children up to this Century? Why are your Doctors Breaking your Laws Dispensing their scripts amongst very many Pharmacists,exploiting your Children[patients]?
Why are your Pharmacists' Council and the Pharmacy Society still allowing Register and Go[R&G]? Health Care has become a basic necessity, lets understand, accept and implement this.
For you the Media Children of Nigeria[the respectable few I can remember],Mr. Ochereome Nnanna, Sola Ogundipe, Dr.Reuben Abati,Pini Jason,Sen.Chris Anyanwu,Raymond Dokpesi,Mr.Nduka Obaigbena, Nduka Irabor, Chuks Ehirim, Ben Eguzozie, Onome Osifo Whiskey, Tordue Salami,Chioma Gabriel, Leon Usigbe, Jide Ajani,Rotimi Omole, Dolapo Ekanade, Erick Ikhilae, Gboyega Adeoye,Funso Muraina, abdulahi Ibrahim, even Olisa agbakoba of the firmed CLO, and Gani Fawehinmi of the Human Rights Fame please brethren, I urge you today to match on, assist bring the necessary attention to this Matter of Great National Importance.
To you Nigeria,I wish you well!
EHIRIM,T.J.
nwanagamkpa@yahoo.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
A Director at the Department of Health, South Africa.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4813&Itemid=0
Wonderful, ... I see your posts showing up more and more in my various searches across many fields. Your latest (today at http://paradoxuganda.blogspot.com/2008/03/witness-to-death.html ) might have (imo) been tailored a bit for the Ugandan location/presence rather than the heavy US/EU emphasis.
Please do not take this as knocking your efforts, I am just observing that your efforts are diluted as a result of a lack of some simple/quick mods imo. Although you have posted in well over 100 locations, and I have come accross only about half, a bit of variance will add authenticity and creedence to your efforts (and the content) since many who visit one forum also likely visit another.
I am posting this here just because this board is in need of something up-beat and I think the board members should know (again imo), of your untiring work especially for someone who works so very many hours in such a giving capacity at a 'regular' job.
Some here of course know already who you are, but I do not believe it has been revealed publically. I won't do this, but I once again will Thank You for your untiring dedication. Your perserverance may well save many lives in time. ~ Steve
TDActiveTraderPlatform showing .0023x.0026 eom
...worldwide filing of Patents for the drugs NIPRISAN, NIPRIPAN and NIPRIFAN ...
Raven re ur PM, I believe the other two items were offered to Xechem, but remain property of NIPRD
Folasade Laniyan at JACKSON, ETTI & EDU:
Sade presently handles all aspects of the Intellectual Property Law, including, but not limited to Advising clients, Conducting Searches, Filing, and generally Prosecuting Trademarks, Patents and Designs. She is also involved in Anti-counterfeiting
As part of her work experience, she has coordinated a number of key projects for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). This involved the Drafting, Collating and Perfection of necessary documentation such as the specifications required for the filing and protection of a number of key projects. Notable amongst these projects was the worldwide filing of a Patent in respect of a device for the Emergency Transfusion of Blood on behalf of the inventor and The World Health Organization (WHO). We have also more recently coordinated the worldwide filing of three (3) Patents for the drugs NIPRISAN, NIPRIPAN and NIPRIFAN on behalf of a National Research Institute (NIPRID) in conjunction with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
She is also actively involved in anti-counterfeiting matters and has worked with a number of key clients in the protection of their brands in Nigeria.
you need to 'highlight' text to see it
http://www.jacksonettiandedu.com/tm_folasade_laniyan.htm
FROM GREENS INTO MEDICINE: TAKING A LEAD FROM NATURE
by Abiodun O. OgundainiProfessor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
An Inaugural Lecture Delivered at Oduduwa Hall, Obafemi Awolowo University,Ile-Ife, Nigeria.onTuesday 26thApril, 2005
As a matter arising from all I have presented above, the logicalquestion to ask is how have the findings affected the lives of ordinary Nigerians? Such a question is quite legitimate and deserves to beaddressed on an occasion such as this. My answer to this question isthat, it has not affected the lives of Nigerians as much as it should.Given this answer, what then could be done to bridge this gap? It isgenerally agreed that research efforts should be designed not only tomeet academic and scientific challenges but should also be ofrelevance to the community.
At present, a yawning gap exists between research results and commercialisation efforts. In mostcases, the well-established pharmaceutical industries, usuallymultinationals, have a different focus in their drug development effort, which does not tally with problems existing locally. On the otherhand, researchers are not entrepreneurs with capacity for development. Thus, there is a need for government to establish quasi-commercial bodies to take up the slack in order to encourage indigenoustechnological growth. In Nigeria, such established bodies include theRaw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) and the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development(NIPRD). Their mandate is to commercially exploit research resultson a pilot scale to assess the feasibility of mass production with theultimate goal of getting entrepreneurs to take up production on a largescale. But, how far have they fulfilled this mandate?
NIPRD hasdeveloped some plant based medicines which are in various stages ofclinical trials: Niprisan (capsules and syrup) for the management ofsickle cell disease; Nipripan, an antiulcer preparation and Niprifan, ahighly effective topical antifungal agent, while RMRDC hassponsored some projects. The benefits of the government s massive investments in these bodies are yet to reach the masses and have alsonot been extended in concrete terms to Nigerian universities. It is mybelief that encouragement of fruitful collaboration and joint ventures by these bodies with Nigerian universities can serve in the long run aspositive feedback for the supply of the much needed funds forresearch, if the products emanating from the relationship turn out to besuccesses.
Secondly, Nigerian business entrepreneurs are not assisting enough totranslate research outputs from our universities and research institutesinto tangible products for the use of Nigerians through investments onthem. This is not limited to the pharmaceutical field, but common toall fields of research in the universities/research institutes.Thirdly, another way out is to encourage researchers to establish spinoff companies to develop and market their research output as done inthe developed countries of the world. For example, Oxford University has an impressive record of twenty-three spin off companies with fouremanating from the Chemistry Department. Similarly, a chemist, Dr.Peter Baeckstrom, to solve a practical problem in his research,developed the famous Accelerated Gradient Chromatography (AGC)assembly used routinely for separation in our laboratory. A company,Baeckstrom Separo, is now producing and marketing the AGCassembly worldwide. It must be stated, however, that at the point ofsetting up these companies, adequate agreement involving theuniversity, the researcher and the source of finance are properlyworked out with respect to the split in equity according to the inputsand contributions of the partners.On a cheering note, however, a collaborator on the Acalypha project,Prof. Oyelami, has been improvising Acalypha ointment in thesuccessful treatment of fungal skin diseases in his practice. I do hopethat in the near future we will have him share the benefits of hisexperienceswith us.
http://www.oauife.edu.ng/faculties/pharmacy/aogund.pdf
Diamond Bank Tilts Towards Global Banking
11.25.2007
With 19.1 per cent already ceded to foreign investors, the bank’s current offering of $500 million Global Depository Receipts could push foreign equity to a neighbourhood of 40 per cent, Lucky Fiakpa writes
Diamond Bank Plc may just be on its way to becoming a truly global bank. The bank had its first major foreign equity capital injection in April 2007 when an international consortium led by Actis Capital LLP, as strategic investor, injected $134 million into the Bank. The investment gave Actis a 19.1 per cent stake in the Bank. Just last week, the bank further announced its intention to conduct an offering of $500 million Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) listed on the Professional Securities Market (PSM) of the London Stock Exchange (LSE), representing Diamond Bank’s ordinary shares listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The offer opened on Tuesday, November 20, 2007 in Nigeria. This could further increase foreign equity in the bank from 19.1 per cent to anything in the neighbourhood of 35 or more per cent.
Professor Charles Soludo, the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has said that all is well with foreign equity in Nigerian banks. But the apex bank he said will not allow a take over of any of the top 10 banks in the country by foreign investors.
The Diamond Bank Group already considers itself to be a true “universal bank” in Nigeria, offering financial services across the entire client spectrum and believes that it is well-placed to leverage its historical experience in the middle market to access the developing Nigerian retail market and expand into the existing market for large corporate clients.
The partnership with Actis is expected to also facilitate the Diamond Bank accessing long-term debt funding and Tier 2 capital, by leveraging on Actis international alliances and joint ventures. In addition, Actis will assist the Bank in maintaining very high standards of corporate governance in line with the CBN code of corporate governance and international best practice.
It is also expected that the partnership between Actis and Diamond Bank will facilitate the achievement of its business development objectives and maximisation of shareholder value/returns. This will boost the profile of the bank, which has attracted credit ratings from local and international rating agencies, i.e. A from Fitch Ratings, A+ from Agusto & Co. and AA- from Global Credit Rating Company.
Although GDRs are typically issued to international investors to afford them the flexibility of investing in equities of markets other than their own, Nigerian institutional investors may also participate in the Diamond Bank offer as $400 million out of the $500 million GDR offer by the bank has been set aside for Nigerian investors. The GDRs can be converted to ordinary shares of Diamond Bank by the investor upon allotment.
Morgan Stanley has been appointed as Global Co-ordinator and Bookrunner of the offering while Vetiva Capital Management Limited is acting as Domestic Co-ordinator and Joint Domestic Underwriter. The other Domestic Underwriters are IBTC Chartered Bank Plc, PlatinumHabib Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc, Ecobank Nigeria Plc, BGL Securities Limited, Afribank Capital Markets Limited, Fidelity Bank Plc, Greenwick Trust limited and Sterling Capital Markets Limited.
Diamond Bank Group’s Managing Director, Mr. Emeka Onwuka, is quite excited about the offer. “The London listing is an important next step in the evolution of Diamond Bank’s strategy and is aimed at raising capital for growth, attracting new shareholders and raising our international profile,” he said.
Diamond Bank has strategic relationships with international financial institutions and export credit guarantee agencies. This has helped to strengthen the bank’s structured trade/project finance capacity and enhancing its contribution to the development of the economy. The offshore financiers of Geometric Power Limited, an independent power company in Aba (Abia State) appointed the bank as the on-shore bank for 75 per cent of the offshore funds coming from the International Finance Corporate, European Investment Bank, and Emerging Africa Infrastructure Funds. The total project cost is estimated at $193 million.
During the year, Diamond Bank also handled the issuance of $10 million to the US-EXIM Bank to guarantee UPS Capital Credit’s supply of plant and machinery to Xechem Pharmaceutical Company for the manufacturing of sickle cell drugs. In addition, Nexim Bank provided $2 million for the same transaction. Similarly, the bank got approval for the issuance of $5 million to the US-EXIM Bank to guarantee Diebold Financial Corporation for the supply of ATM machines to ATM Consortium Limited by Diebold Corporation.
Diamond Bank also facilitated a $13.1 million US-EXIM loan guarantee to Drillog Petro-Dynamics Limited to enable the indigenous oil servicing firm to acquire state-of-art oil well measurement technology and services from US based Halliburton Energy Services. This development is a sign post of the bank’s avowed support to indigenous oil and gas companies and the bank’s role in advancing the Federal Government local content policy initiatives. To date, Diamond Bank has facilitated about $40 million transaction for Drillog Petro-Dynamics Limited.
Members of the Diamond Bank Group include one offshore banking subsidiary - Diamond Benin, which operates seven branches in the Republic of Benin and five non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs). The NBFIs are Diamond Securities Limited, which provides brokerage, asset management and registrar services; Diamond Pension Fund Custodian Limited - one of the four institutions licensed in Nigeria to provide custodian services under the new laws following pension reform in Nigeria in 2004; ADIC Insurance Limited and ADIC Life Assurance Limited, which provide life and non-life insurance services in Nigeria; and Diamond Mortgages Limited - a licensed mortgage company.
Diamond Bank has earlier declared an impressive half-year result, showing gross earning of N25.32 billion, an increase of 38 per cent over N18.30 billion posted for the corresponding period last year. The bank also recorded 71 per cent increase in profit before taxation posting N7.3 billion for the period ended October 31, 2007 from N4.2 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2006.
The remarkable performance of the Bank was as a result of the growth in business activities following the successful implementation of the bank’s business strategy post-consolidation. In recent times, the bank has introduced some innovative products and significantly enhanced its business model, gaining substantial mileage in the retail segment of the market. It has also strengthened its presence in the middle market where it has traditionally done very well.
The bank had in its full year performance for the 2006/2007 financial year recorded gross earnings amounting to N38.5 billion and profit before tax of N8.8 billion, representing growth of 77.3 per cent and 66.1 per cent respectively over the previous year.
Similarly, the bank’s subsidiaries that have been in existence for some time, i.e. Bank du Benin, S.A. and Diamond Securities Limited, improved their performances. Their total assets, customer deposits and profit before tax were N8.2 billion, N5.6 billion and N215.0 million, signifying increases of 70.7 per cent, 39.9 per cent and 40.4 per cent respectively above their achievements in the preceding year. These results were the outcomes of the steps taken by management to reposition the two subsidiaries last year and the bank expects higher growth in the years ahead.
The Bank recently introduced Diamond Reach, a non resident account designed to offer Nigerians resident abroad the opportunity of maintaining account in Nigeria. The bank also introduced a novel product called Diamond BusinessXpress Account. This is a specialized current account designed to support the growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with attractive features like free transaction cost and easy access to credit facilities.
In response to the need to facilitate effective payment for trade transactions between countries in the West African region, the bank launched Diamond NGN/CFA EasyTrade. The product is meant to facilitate payment for goods/services by the Bank’s customers and non-account holders involved in intra-regional cross border trade between Nigeria and the Francophone West African countries, especially Benin Republic. The Bank also added another aspect to international trade operations in Nigeria with the introduction of a document and transaction monitoring service tagged Diamond Trade Tracker. This is a web based service designed to provide corporate customers access to on-line, real-time information on their international trade transactions at no extra cost.
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are recognized worldwide as key drivers in national growth and development. Diamond Bank took major steps in furtherance of its resolve to be a major player in this sector by disbursing N100 million in equity and debt instruments to 10 start-up companies pioneered by entrepreneurs who emerged winners of the bank’s ‘Bright Ideas Campaign’ inaugurated in November 2005. Promoters of the 10 companies alongside 14 others had earlier been sponsored by the bank to an intensive Entrepreneurial Development and Mentoring training organised by Diamond Bank training partners – FATE Foundation and Enterprise Development Service (EDS). The bank has promised to continue to support these lucky winners while on the look-out for more of such entrepreneurs in fulfillment of its promise to “Give Life to Bright Ideas.”
Diamond Bank also entered into a strategic partnership with Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, and GroFin of South Africa to float a $30 million Fund branded Aspire Nigeria to serve as a catalyst for the development and growth of Nigerian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The Fund will build on the performance of other Grofin funds to enhance the operations of indigenous small and medium enterprises through the provision of much needed business development assistance and appropriate finance.
Aspire Nigeria is an innovative and important step towards creating sustainable growth of the Nigerian SME sector. The Fund will enable credible SME operators to access medium-term, competitively priced financing and business development assistance and would hopefully enable them to achieve their growth aspirations. The fund, which will be managed by GroFin Nigeria, is to be made up of $10 million contribution from Shell and $20 million from Diamond Bank.
To further demonstrate its support for the SMEs in the development of the real sector, the bank has reserved over N346 million for the sector. This is coming at a time the Central Bank of Nigeria has made contributions to Small Medium Enterprises Equity Investment Scheme (SMEEIS) optional for banks. Notwithstanding this directive, the bank still believes that its strong commitment to the growth and survival of SMEs as a key catalyst to the overall development of the country will continue to be its motivating factor.
http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=96151
Resolutions of the 51st National Coucil on Health Meeting: Further Responses
Friday, March 07, 2008
As I write this post, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in conjunction with the African Union is holding a conference dubbed "Science with Africa" in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This conference aims to bring to the forefront the indispensable link between science, innovation, research and sustainable growth in Africa. Asclepius, responding to an earlier discourse about the efficacy of Nicosan in sickle cell anemia sends an abstract of a clinical trial presented at this conference. I reproduce this below.
Evaluation of Niprisan (Herbal Medicine) for the Management of Sickle Cell
Anaemia
Charles Wambebe and Hadiza Khamofu, International Biomedical Research in Africa, Abuja, Nigeria, wambebe@yahoo.com, Joseph Okogun, Nathan Nasipuri and Karynius Gamaniel, National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, Abuja, Nigeria.
About 70% of all sickle cell anemia (SCA) subjects reside in Africa, estimated at over 12 million. The prevalence of SCA is estimated at over 2% while infant mortality is about 8% and survival rate of SCA babies in rural areas by five years of age is about 20%. These statistics indicate that SCA is probably the most neglected (and sometimes forgotten by health authorities) serious public health disorder with serious mortality and morbidity rates in Africa. The objective was to undertake pre-clinical and clinical assessments of a herbal extract vis-à-vis management of sickle cell anemia using Good Laboratory Practice and Good Clinical Practice principles respectively. In Africa, there is no standard treatment for sickle cell anemia, only palliative management is generally available.
In view of this situation, most SCA subjects use herbal medicines. NIPRISAN is a standardized extract from four medicinal/food plants: Piper guineenses seeds, Pterocarpus osun stem, Eugenia caryophyllum fruit and Sorghum bicolor leaves. Short term toxicity study indicated that NIPRISAN was safe in laboratory animals. Bio-activity guided fractionation show that vanillin and aromatic aldehydes may be the bioactive moieties. NIPRISAN reversed sickled red blood cells and protected them from being sickled when exposed to low oxygen tension. NIPRISAN dose- dependently delayed polymer formation of haemoglobin S. NIPRISAN induced 85% increased solubility of deoxy haemoglobin S.
The in vivo efficacy study was undertaken at Children Hospital of Philadelphia, USA. Histological examination of lungs of control Tg transgenic mice carrying human sickle haemoglobin showed entrapment of massive numbers of sickled cells in alveolar capillaries. NIPRISAN significantly cleared the lungs of sickled cells. Furthermore, NIPRISAN induced profound effect on the survival time of Tg mice under hypoxic conditions (p<0.0001).
The phase II clinical data indicated that all the subjects benefited from NIPRISAN with no serious adverse effect. About 80% of the subjects did not experience any crisis during the study (12 months). The subjects experienced significant reduction in hospital admission while attendance at school profoundly increased. Furthermore, there was no evidence of kidney or liver damage. NIPRISAN has been patented, licensed to an American company, registered and being manufactured at Abuja for global market.
http://advocatehealth.blogspot.com/2008/03/resolutions-of-51st-national-coucil-on.html
‘4m Nigerians have sickle cell’
I think this is a slightly different version?
‘4m Nigerians have sickle cell’
Written by Chris Agabi
Saturday, 23 February 2008
At least four million Nigerians are suffering from sickle cell anemia and about 80 per cent of Nigerian children born with the disease die before the age of five, representing the worst case in the world.
Speaking during the visit of the Minister of State for Science and Technology, Dr. Alhassan B. Zaku, to the Sheda Science and Technology Complex (SHESTCO) in Abuja, the Managing Director, XECHEM Pharmaceuticals Nigeria Limited, Mr. Ireti Oniyide, said NICOSAN, a drug by XECHEM, was not a complete cure for the disease but it has a high success ratio to effectively manage it.
Currently, he said XECHEM, located in the technology village, produces 50,000 capsules of the drug daily which will likely increase to one million.
He said the economic benefits of the drugs was really enormous, adding that local farmer’s need to farm sorghum which is the primary raw material.
He said the products are being marketed in Dubai and the United States.
The minister praised the efforts of the company and urged them to make cheaper drugs.
Meanwhile, the minister has called on the private sector to partner with government on mass producing local inventions for commercial benefits.
"Our problem is linking our research with industries. We have to have a public private partnership. Our job is to research and develop while the private sector should produce and sell. We hope individuals will come here and work with us."
He noted that government "spends so much money on research and development which the private sector has to complement by commercialising the inventions for the benefit of Nigerians."
The minister also expressed concern over the situation where several government departments develop similar technologies and research on similar products, saying that a committee has been set up to coordinate all the various government research institutions to collaborate on researches to aviod duplications.
http://dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3299&Itemid=59
Cough Gasp Choke Wheeze Huh? SayWhaaaat?
That is truly a most important statement imo
At this point, any news that talks about sickle cell in Nigeria is a positive thing......
The International Biomedical Research in Africa (IBRIA)
Super find Fox, thanks!
The International Biomedical Research in Africa (IBRIA) was founded by Professor Charles Wambebe, OFR, FAS, in 2002 together with late Dr Ebi Kimanani and Prof Shingu Gamaniel, PhD, MON. Since 1991, Professor Wambebe has served as a member of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) expert panel on traditional medicine as well as the World Health Organization’s Scientific Research Group. Between 2002 and 2005, Professor Wambebe worked with the WHO as a short term professional and provided technical guidance for the research and development of traditional medicines in 46 countries under the WHO’s regional office for Africa. Furthermore, Professor Wambebe represented the World Health Organization at the Board of the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP). In 2005, Prof Wambebe was appointed Pioneer Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Bingham University in Nigeria.
Prior to his position at the World Health Organization, Professor Wambebe was Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), Abuja Nigeria. He assumed duty as the Pioneer Chief Executive in 1989. Professor Wambebe directed the research activities of NIPRD to developing plant derived medicines which are currently at various stages of clinical/scientific evaluation. During his 12-year tenure, the Institute attracted millions of dollars in grants and donations. The Institute was recognized as a Center of Excellence in the Industrial Utilization of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in Africa by the United Nations Development Program and United Nations Industrial Development Organization. In recognition of his contributions to medical science, Professor Wambebe was elected Fellow of the Third World Academy of Science in 2001 as well as Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Sciences. During his tenure at NIPRD, Professor Wambebe led a team of biomedical researchers to develop one plant-based medicine (NIPRISAN) for the management of sickle cell disorder. The critical milestones in the research and development of NIPRISAN include ethno medical survey, observational study, pilot clinical trials, randomized and multicentre placebo-controlled clinical trials. Subsequently, the Federal Ministry of Health licensed the product to an American company, XECHEM Inc. Furthermore, both the United States Food and Drug Administration and European Medicine Evaluation Agency granted orphan drug status to NIPRISAN in 2004 and 2005 respectively. NIPRISAN (now renamed NICOSAN) was registered by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and was officially launched by President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria in July 2006.
Professor Wambebe has won many worldwide awards including the Chemistry Prize (Nigeria, 1968), graduate fellowship at the State University of Groningen (Holland, 1977) and International Sleep Research Fellowship (Japan, 1996). In 1997, he received the Third World Academy of Science Award in Basic Medical Sciences which recognized his contributions in the development of drugs from indigenous medicinal plants. In 2000 he received the Millennium Award for significant contributions to medical research by the Nigerian Medical Association. Professor Wambebe has published more than 150 articles in peer-reviewed journals encompassing the fields of Neuropharmacology, Ethno pharmacology and Clinical Medicine.
In December 2005, President Olusegun Obasanjo decorated Prof Wambebe with national honours, Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR).
http://ibria.org/dynamicdata/Management1.aspx
Thanks for the confirmation Fox. In the video I noted the commendation for a presentation well done and also the FDA member who spoke to the positive side of a neutral stance imo. All who spoke appeared to be affirmative of the study, offering only slight and polite 'observations', and as you point out, unanimous acceptance. Thanks also to Raven for eyeballing Dr. Kwafu Ohene-Frempong attendance at the Florida Symposium (post 176112), referencing mine (post 176093). It will likely be several months before Xgem 'uses' any info from this as I suspect the quiet period will last into the summer imo.
2nd Annual Sickle Cell Disease Research and Educational Symposium
MHS.net
“Groundwork for Evidence-Based Practice Guidelines”
February 20-22, 2008
FORT LAUDERDALE GRANDE HOTEL & YACHT CLUB
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA
http://www.memorialregional.com/pdf/SymposiumProgram2008.pdf
While this is something Dr. Pandey might have attented, there is no representation from Xechem. We do not know if Nicosan might have been mentioned in some of the sections that held promise at this Symposium.
Raven, thanks for the PM and link. Difficult to understand what is going through the minds of some at NAFDAC and NG levels... may be a case of 'knowing' someone of influence. I think that partly because it is not a large $ amount... <$50k. Certainly from my perspective, my neck is sore from shaking my head in disbelief.
Great job Fox, thanks for the link. I am presuming this was the study that Xechem received the NIH grant for some time ago? Can you confirm - or deny this? TIA
...call this number and ask that question
1.732.205.0500
Xechem has regularly sold some/most of prior year's losses for cash.
...but your cumulitive paper losses scenario as of date of purchase for the new-co, by law, would be difficult to accomplished.
NIH: Hydroxyurea Is Underused for Sickle Cell Disease
BETHESDA, Md -- February 28, 2008 -- An independent panel convened this week by the National Institutes of Health concluded that more adolescents and adults should use hydroxyurea for sickle cell disease. Although it was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for adults with sickle cell anaemia in 1998, concerns by providers and patients about side effects have hindered its use, depriving many patients of its proven benefits.
Research has shown that patients with sickle cell taking hydroxyurea have fewer pain crises and hospital admissions, and the panel has therefore advocated increased use of this drug with appropriate monitoring. Additionally, the panel concluded that the risks of serious side effects of hydroxyurea appear to be lower than previously thought -- and these risks are acceptable when compared with the risks of untreated sickle cell disease in adolescents and adults.
"The compelling benefits of hydroxyurea warrant increased adoption of this drug as a frontline therapy in adults with sickle cell disease," reported Otis Brawley, MD, conference panel chair, Professor of Hematology, Oncology, Medicine, and Epidemiology, Emory University, Atlanta, and Chief Medical Officer of the American Cancer Society.
For younger patients, data on safety and efficacy are limited but still supportive of hydroxyurea treatment. Although the panel was unable to definitively recommend broad paediatric use of the drug at this time, results from ongoing clinical trials may help to resolve any remaining questions about use in adolescents.
The panel also called for Medicare or Medicaid coverage of sickle cell patients of all ages. Surveys indicate that a large proportion of patients with sickle cell disease are ethnic minorities, poor, and from underserved communities. For many, limited resources and lack of culturally competent clinicians set the stage for suboptimal care. Recurring pain crises associated with the disease can severely limit individuals' ability to sustain employment or educational efforts, aggravating problems with insurance coverage and subsequent healthcare costs.
"This disease illuminates the limitations of our current healthcare system," Dr. Brawley noted. "The best way to achieve optimal care for patients with sickle cell disease is for them to be treated in clinics specialising in the care of this disease." The panel recognised that many patients lack a single healthcare provider to direct their sickle cell management. Instead, there is heavy reliance on emergency and acute care facilities to treat pain. Dr. Brawley added that "all sickle cell patients should have a principal healthcare provider, and that provider, if not a haematologist, should be in frequent consultation with one." Additionally, patients often "fall through the cracks" when transitioning from paediatric to adult care. Contributing to this problem is a lack of providers armed with the knowledge, skills, and experience to effectively manage adults with sickle cell disease.
The conference was sponsored by the NIH Office of Medical Applications of Research (OMAR) and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, along with other NIH and Department of Health and Human Services components. It was conducted under the NIH Consensus Development Program, which convenes conferences to assess the available scientific evidence and develop objective statements on controversial medical issues.
SOURCE: National Institutes of Health
http://www.docguide.com/news/content.nsf/news/852571020057CCF6852573FD006F2F62
Health Insurance Scheme to Cascade Into Private Sector
Daily Trust (Abuja) Nigeria
26 February 2008
Ruby Rabiu
Plans are underway by the Federal Government to compel all private sector organizations operating in Nigeria, to enroll their employees in the National Health Insurance Scheme to boost the resource base of the scheme, Executive Secretary of the scheme, Dr M.B.W Dogo Muhammad, has said.
He said the government believes that it would guarantee easy and affordable access to healthcare for persons working in the private firms.
The executive secretary, who made this known to Daily Trust in an interview yesterday, said the NHIS had requested the Corporate Affairs Commission(CAC) to furnish it with a comprehensive list of all registered companies in the country as a first line measure to engage these organizations.
He said about 2.5miliion Nigerians, most of them employees of the Federal Government, have been enrolled under the programme.
He however said the scheme identified that over 70 per cent of the working population was employed in the private sector, and there was an urgent need to capture this huge section of the population if the poor health indices being recorded in Nigeria is to change.
"According to our operational guidelines, any employer of labour of ten or more employees should be covered by the scheme which is a social health insurance.
"The world over, it is supposed to be mandatory, even if you are in the organized private sector, even if you will not access the care, it is mandatory on you to contribute to the social health insurance pool because it is that type of quantum of money that will be used to cross subside for those who cannot afford the care," he said.
Dogo added that NHIS will play its regulatory role over any form of pre- payment for healthcare services in the country, adding that the NHIS would work out modalities on how best to engage the organized private sector considering the fact that some of them had already one form of health insurance scheme or the other.
According to him, the integration of the private sector was important because it will expand the pool of resources available to the NHIS and the citizens of the country will benefit from the economy .
Muhammad explained that since about 70 per cent of Nigerian live below the $1 per day financial marking, and have vulnerable groups such as women, children under five, the indigent, the prisoners, the aged members of society who cannot afford to pay for their health insurance, it is the responsibility of the government to explore avenues of help these group of Nigerians.
He said there has to be some kind of safety net to address the health problems of this vulnerable section of the population who do not control 10% of the economy, but have 90% of the disease burden.
_______________________
FG May Compel Private Sector to Join Insurance Scheme
This Day (Lagos) Nigeria
26 February 2008
Onwuka Nzeshi
Abuja
The Federal Government appears set to compel all private sector organisations operating in Nigeria to enrol their employees in the National Health Insurance Scheme to boost the resource base of the scheme and guarantee easy and affordable access to healthcare for persons working in the private sector.
Already the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has requested the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC)to furnish it with a comprehensive list of all registered companies in the country as a first line measure to engage these organisations.
Executive Secretary, NHIS, Dr. Dogo Mohammed who disclosed this in a chat with THISDAY said that so far about 2.5million Nigerians, most of them employees of the Federal Government have been enrolled under the programme.
He however remarked that the scheme has identified that over seventy per cent of the working population. were employed in the private sector and there was an urgent need to capture this huge section of the population if the poor health indices being recorded in Nigeria is to change.
Mohammed noted that the scheme was deliberately kick-started with the federal civil servants because of the need to test the programme before taking it into the informal sector.
"According to our operational guidelines any employer of labour, of ten or more employees should be covered by the scheme which is a social health insurance. The world over it is supposed to be mandatory, even if you are in the organised private sector, even if you will not access the care, it is mandatory on you to contribute to the social health insurance pool, because it is that type of quantum of money that will be used to cross subside for those who can not afford the care," he said.
NHIS, Mohammed said, will endeavour play its regulatory role over any form of pre- payment for healthcare services in the country, adding that the NHIS, would work out modalities on how best to engage the organised private sector considering the fact that some of them already have one form of health insurance scheme or the other.
According to him, the integration of the private sector was important because it wil expand the pool of resources available to the NHIS and the citizens of the country will benefit from the ecomnomy ofr scales. He hinted that in addition to the private serctor organisations a number of state government have also started enrolling in the scheme.
Mohammed explained that since about 70 per cent of Nigerian live below the $1 per day financial marking, and has vulnerable groups such as women, children under five, the indigent, the prisoners, the aged members of society who can not afford to pay for their health insurance it is the responsibility of the government to explore avenues of helping these group of Nigerians, adding that there has to be some kind of safety net to address the health problems of this vulnerable section of the population who do not control 10% of the economy, but have 90% of the disease burden.
"Until we address their problems, the poor health indices will not change, so that is why the extra sourcing of funds by the government is very important and all three ties of government, we had the opportunity of visiting a country, which is operating this social insurance Mexico last year. We found out 8% of their annual budget is constitutional declared for the poor, this is in addition to what they budget for health. And it is simply to access care, this 8%, and I can see in Nigeria many ways we can mobilise extra resources, which will be used for the poor, we can always be depending on outside assistance which is not sustainable, we must look in wards as Nigeria and see what resources we can put aside for this for Nigerians, and even though the aspiration of Nigeria to be one of the top twenty economies by 2020 remains a mirage until and unless you ensure that they are healthy," he said.
_________________________
Banks, Telecom Firms, Others to Contribute Pre-Profit Tax to NHIS
Vanguard (Lagos) Nigeria
25 February 2008
Inalegwu Shaibu
Lagos
THE National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has revealed a working arrangement that will make banks, telecommunication companies, and other corporate organizations in Nigeria contribute part of their pre-profit taxes to the scheme.
Executive secretary of NHIS, Mr. Mohammed Dogo, at an interactive session with journalists in Abuja said the plan would also include getting financial and technical support from the three tiers of government so as to enable the scheme register over 70% of Nigerians yet to be registered.
He added that even though about 2.5 million people are already on the scheme, the very poor people who are carrying the greatest disease burdens because they could not afford medical bills are those left out.
He said, "Yes, we have been brainstorming for over a year now. We are looking at what we call "Valuable Group Funding", where groups and people will come together to pool money for the poor who cannot pay for healthcare services.
"We have done a lot of public relationship efforts with the financial dons and the banks. I'm glad to say that all the banks when they hear of this say they are ready to support it a 100%.
"But, we are telling them to set aside some money from their profit before tax, so that we don't have to keep looking for money from every source. If Nigeria succeeds in addressing the funding gap for the poor, then half of maternal and child deaths would have been addressed."
THE NEED TO CONTROL SICKLE CELL DISORDER
Molineaux et al.13in 1979 correctly summarized thesituation when they wrote:There is no other known inherited disorderpresent at such high frequency in a largepopulation and of comparable severity as sickle cell anaemia in Africa. With risingstandards of living and control of malaria,sickle cell anaemia will become an immensemedical, social and economic problemthroughout the continent.The need for control of sickle cell disorder inNigeria and other tropical African countries istherefore unmistakable.It is also clear that despite the uniformly high birthprevalence of SCD, the need for its control cannot beuniformly felt throughout any single African country.
This is because of the remarkably low level ofawareness in many communities in which deprivationhas ensured a low prevalence of survival beyond earlychildhood of those with sickle cell disorder.Awareness is dependent on recognition of thecondition, which in turn is dependent on the evidentsurvival of affected persons. In the deprived areas,infant and child mortality rates are high enough toaffect virtually all the children who are born withsickle cell anaemia.
DEVELOPING A NATIONAL CONTROL PROGRAMME
Every country should develop an appropriateprogramme guided by strategies already shown to beeffective in other countries (see box 2). There is nodoubt that the task of designing and implementing aneffective control programme for an inherited conditionas prevalent and as complex as SCD, in the large andpopulous sub-Saharan region of Africa, would beimmense. It would require meticulous planning,adequate research, and efficient mobilization-cum-co-ordination of resources within each affected country.
It is important to appreciate the enormity of the taskright from the outset so that the right attitudes andperspectives are adopted. The sickle cell problem inAfrica is too immense to be amenable to quick-fixsolutions. A frequently canvassed quick-fix ‘solution’has been mass Hb genotype screening of thepopulation and prohibition or discouragement ofmarriage between couples who both carry the sicklecell trait.
The Military Administrator of Oyo State inNigeria, had, in 1995, proposed a punitive edict aimedat prohibiting such marriages but the conference of the solicitors–general in all the 36 states of Nigeriathwarted its introduction by declaring that it wasunconstitutional and offended the human rightscharter to which Nigeria is a signatory.
http://indexmedicus.afro.who.int/iah/fulltext/sickle%20cell.pdf
Epidemiology: the changing pattern of sickle cell disease worldwide
Haematologica, Vol 92, Issue 7, 865-871 doi:10.3324/haematol.11474
Copyright © 2007 by Ferrata Storti Foundation
The hemoglobinopathies are the commonest, life-threatening, monogenic disorders in the world. Fairly recent estimates suggest that 7% of the world population are carriers and that 300,000–400,000 affected children are born every year.4 The majority of these (approximately 250,000) have sickle cell disease. The highest frequency of sickle cell disease remains in tropical regions, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, India and the Middle East.4 Migration of substantial populations from these high prevalence areas to low prevalence countries in Europe began more than 50 years ago but has dramatically increased with greater geographic mobility over the last 10–15 years5–7 such that in some European countries sickle cell disease has now overtaken more familiar genetic disorders such as hemophilia and cystic fibrosis.7,8 In most endemic countries there are no accurate figures of disease prevalence. A recent WHO report estimated that around 20 per 1,000 births in Nigeria were affected by sickle cell anemia, giving a total of 150,000 affected children born every year in Nigeria alone.9 The carrier frequency ranges between 10% and 40% across equatorial Africa, decreasing to 1–2% on the north African coast and <1% in South Africa.9 There is marked variation in carrier frequency, not only between countries (Table 1) but also between regions within individual countries, the Baamba tribe in western Uganda, for example, having a carrier frequency of 45%.7,9,10 This variation means that accurate data are essential for characterizing the burden of disease and hence resource allocation, particularly in poorly-resourced countries. Some progress has already been made in thalassaemia through micromapping1 and in sickle cell disease through the pioneering work of Graham Serjeant in Jamaica,11 but there remains a huge task to complete. This work has implications not only in traditionally endemic countries, but also for the low prevalence countries to which many affected populations migrate.
The high frequency of carriers, historically due to malaria-resistance, together with the improvement in life expectancy, even in poorer countries, means we can expect the prevalence of sickle cell disease to continue to increase for several generations, particularly in countries where migration is relatively recent and the migrant population is young. Recent work in Jamaica22 also confirms predictions by Lucio Luzzatto more than 30 years ago that even if malaria was to be eradicated it would take 300 years for the frequency of HbS to reduce by 50%.23 Further, as the study published in this month’s journal from Telfer and colleagues in east London suggests, as services for affected children improve,24 mortality in the first two decades may continue to fall such that the vast majority of children receiving optimal medical care will survive into adulthood with both direct implications for the prevalence of the disorder and possibly indirect ones (eg a reduction in uptake of prenatal diagnosis).
http://www.haematologica.org/cgi/content/full/92/7/865
A SCD Clinical Trials Network to provide an adequate number of subjects...
Also from that SCD forum you provided, this caught my eye...
RECOMMMENDATIONS FOR ADVANCING THE RESEARCH AGENDA
To effectively address these scientific priorities, NIH should develop and support a Comprehensive SCD Research Program that includes four distinct but highly interactive components:
A SCD Clinical Trials Network to provide an adequate number of subjects for the timely completion of investigator-initiated collaborative clinical trials in SCD. To conduct multiple clinical studies, especially phase III trials in both children and adults, it is likely that a patient population of 20,000 or more would be required initially, given the stratification of the population by such factors as genotype (SS vs. SC, etc), age, gender, ethnic background, complications (e.g., ~10% of SCD-SS patients with stroke), concurrent therapy, geographic locale, etc. Participation of individual centers in the Network should be based on demonstrated and sustained ability to contribute subjects and high quality data to collaborative SCD trials. Some trials may require and benefit from international collaboration. Once established, the Network could complete meritorious trials previously initiated by the CSCC Clinical Trials Consortium and the SCD Clinical Research Network and would support the development, prioritization and implementation of investigator-initiated epidemiologic and phase I, II and III trials. This Network also could be an efficient vehicle for important health services, psychosocial, and outcomes research. An efficient and accountable Network infrastructure would require mechanisms to ensure appropriate prioritization and peer review of proposed protocols and scientific leadership of trials by the investigators that develop them. Collaborative support from other Institutes may be required to conduct the number of meritorious studies that will be needed during the next 5-10 years to move basic and translational observations through phase I, II and III trials and to develop evidence-based treatments.
http://www.sicklecelldisease.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5087
Thanks for that affirmation... one thing I am convinced of is that the size of the new Nigerian Xechem production facility is way huge for just little old Nicosan. One million caps per day is only 20x today's reported daily volume which we know is coming from the old pilot plant. So it would appear there is much planning for the future, possibly for 5M+ caps in 8 or 10 years and/or other phytomedicines requiring similar production methodology. This is all quite exciting to me, especially considering Xechem is setting up shop in the heart of Africa.
Fox, I've been really appreciating your DD depth of late, and it is certainly helping. I also have many thanks for your time and sharing in this (as well as the considerable effort Raven has been excerting in getting the Nicosan word out to blogs and forums). I like the connection between 5-HMF and MX-1520, also in that some of the same people are involved.
I have no concerns regarding XPNL & Nicosan (or 5-hmf for that matter). My question is only about XI and it's management (BOD) intention... i.e. are we (u & i) along for 'ride' (as investors) - or not.
Br J Haematol. 2005 Feb ;128 (4):552-61 15686467 (P,S,E,B) 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural modifies intracellular sickle haemoglobin and inhibits sickling of red blood cells.
[My paper] Osheiza Abdulmalik, Martin K Safo, Qiukan Chen, Jisheng Yang, Carlo Brugnara, Kwaku Ohene-Frempong, Donald J Abraham, Toshio Asakura
Division of Hematology, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. abdulmalik@email.chop.edu
In an attempt to find new types of anti-sickling agents that specifically bind to intracellular sickle haemoglobin (HbS) without inhibition by plasma and tissue proteins or other undesirable consequences, we identified 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural (5HMF), a naturally occurring aromatic aldehyde, as an agent that fulfils this criterion. Preliminary studies in vitro showed that 5HMF forms a high-affinity Schiff-base adduct with HbS and inhibits red cell sickling by allosterically shifting oxygen equilibrium curves towards the left. Further studies with transgenic (Tg) sickle mice showed that orally administered 5HMF was rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream from the gastrointestinal tract without being destroyed, traversed the red blood cell membrane and specifically bound with, and modified, HbS molecules at levels as high as 90%. Pretreatment of Tg sickle mice with 5HMF inhibited the formation of sickle cells and significantly prolonged survival time under severe hypoxia, compared with untreated mice, which died within 15 min because of sickling-dependent pulmonary sequestration. These results indicate the feasibility of 5HMF as an attractive potential candidate for therapy of sickle cell disease.
Mesh-terms: Anemia, Sickle Cell :: complications; Anemia, Sickle Cell :: prevention & control; Animals; Anoxia :: complications; Antisickling Agents :: blood; Antisickling Agents :: therapeutic use; Biological Availability; Cells, Cultured; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Erythrocytes :: drug effects; Erythrocytes :: metabolism; Furaldehyde :: analogs & derivatives; Furaldehyde :: blood; Furaldehyde :: therapeutic use; Hemoglobin, Sickle :: chemistry; Hemoglobin, Sickle :: drug effects; Hemoglobin, Sickle :: metabolism; Ligands; Mice; Mice, Transgenic; Models, Molecular; Oxygen Consumption :: drug effects; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.; Survival Analysis;
http://lib.bioinfo.pl/auth:Abdulmalik,O
Br J Haematol. 2004 Jun ;125 (6):788-95 15180869 (P,S,E,B) Anti-sickling effect of MX-1520, a prodrug of vanillin: an in vivo study using rodents.
[My paper] Chaojie Zhang, Xiang Li, Lurong Lian, Qiukan Chen, Osheiza Abdulmalik, Vasco Vassilev, Ching-San Lai, Toshio Asakura
Division of Hematology, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Summary Vanillin, a food additive, covalently binds with sickle haemoglobin (Hb S), inhibits cell sickling and shifts the oxygen equilibrium curve towards the left. These effects would potentially benefit patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). However, vanillin has no therapeutic effect if given orally because orally administered vanillin is rapidly decomposed in the upper digestive tract. To overcome this problem, a vanillin prodrug, MX-1520, which is biotransformed to vanillin in vivo, was synthesized. Studies using transgenic sickle mice, which nearly exclusively develop pulmonary sequestration upon exposure to hypoxia, showed that oral administration of MX-1520 prior to hypoxia exposure significantly reduced the percentage of sickled cells in the blood. The survival time under severe hypoxic conditions was prolonged from 6.6 +/- 0.8 min in untreated animals to 28.8 +/- 12 min (P < 0.05) and 31 +/- 7.5 min (P < 0.05) for doses of 137.5 and 275 mg/kg respectively. Intraperitoneal injection of MX-1520 to bypass possible degradation in the digestive tract showed that doses as low as 7 mg/kg prolonged the survival time and reduced the percentage of sickled cells during hypoxia exposure. These results demonstrate the potential for MX-1520 to be a new and safe anti-sickling agent for patients with SCD.
http://lib.bioinfo.pl/auth:Abdulmalik,O
Vanilla Medicine
Introduction
Sickle-cell disease is a blood disorder that affects tens of thousands of Americans and millions worldwide. A modified form of vanilla may someday help treat it.
Turning vanilla into a drug. I'm Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.
Aside from flavoring cakes, cookies, and trendy new colas, vanilla has serious potential as a medicine. Scientists have long known that vanillin, the main flavor compound in vanilla, can fight a blood disease called sickle-cell anemia.
According to Toshio Asakura, a research hematologist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the problem is that it works only in test tubes.
Asakura:
If you give the vanillin or vanilla to patients with sickle-cell disease, all vanillin is destroyed in the stomach, because we have enzymes to destroy vanillin.
So eating a pint of vanilla ice cream won't do a sickle-cell patient any good. But now, a San Diego company called Medinox has made a modified form of vanillin that resists digestion.
Dr. Asakura's team recently tested the compound in mice—with good results. He says it could be a promising alternative to hydroxurea, the only sickle-cell drug on the market.
Asakura:
Although hydroxurea is beneficial for many patients, some patients have strong side effects from hydroxurea, and cannot take it. My goal is to find a very safe and very effective new drug that can be used by all patients.
It's hoped that the vanilla-based drug will be just one of many. I'm Bob Hirshon for AAAS, the Science Society.
Making Sense of the Research
This study shows how much time can pass between the steps in a scientific discovery. It's been known for decades that vanillin has the potential to fight sickle-cell disease. But it took until now for someone to figure out how to get vanillin to work in the body.
Sickle-cell disease is caused by a malfunction in a protein called hemoglobin, which gives blood its red color. In a sickle-cell patient, the defective hemoglobin can cause a normally round red blood cell to collapse into a bent sickle shape. Unlike normal red blood cells, the bent sickle cells are too stiff to pass through capillaries and into smaller blood vessels. As a result, they clog and damage the blood vessels. The results can include severe pain, stroke, anemia, life-threatening infections, and damage to the lungs and other organs.
The modified version of vanillin described here, which has the catchy name MX-1520, is called a prodrug. A prodrug is a drug that turns into an active drug in the body. Dr. Asakura found that MX-1520 turns into vanillin in the mouse bloodstream. Once there, it binds to the defective hemoglobin and prevents sickle cells from forming. If you just fed the mouse vanilla cake frosting, on the other hand, the vanillin would be completely digested before it ever reached the bloodstream.
The chemical hasn't been tested in humans yet. Dr. Asakura guesses that if it works, patients would have to take the prodrug one to several times per day, because the vanillin would probably clear from the body after several hours. The first step in testing a new drug like this on people is to test for safety. Only after the drug is proven safe can additional experiments be approved to test its effectiveness. The good news is that vanillin itself is already known to be safe to eat, so there's a good chance that the prodrug will be safe too.
Now try and answer these questions:
What is sickle-cell disease? How does vanillin help fight it?
Why has vanillin not been used as a medicine?
What is a prodrug? Why is it useful?
Why is it important to keep looking for new treatments for a disease, even if an effective treatment already exists?
http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/sci_update.cfm?DocID=238
Testing NIPRISAN in Clinical Trials
The first issue relates to the use of the bio-active compound for further development into amarketable medicine. The two bioactive compounds so identified are vanillin 19 and 5 hydroxy methylfurfural 20. The fact that the total extract manifested more bioactive property than the single compound guided us to use the former. The highest dose used in the animal studies, which failed toelicit toxic symptoms is about 500 times higher than the effective clinical dose. This wide gapbetween the clinically effective dose and the toxic dose (high therapeutic index) provides a strongethical basis to evaluate NIPRISAN in humans without compromising on the safety and well being ofthe trial participants.
The efficacy studies indicate that NIPRISAN improved oxygenation of these animals and protectedthem from death in a dose dependent manner when they were exposed to low oxygen tension. SinceSCD patients can die from acute chest syndrome without warning, it is significant that NIPRISAN prevents such sudden deaths in animals, thereby providing a scientific basis to use NIPRISAN as aprophylactic medicine21.
Three separate clinical trials were conducted using NIPRISAN and SCD patients. The clinical datafrom these three trials are in agreement with one another. All three studies clearly demonstrate animprovement in the quality of life of all study participants, thereby providing ethical justification forthe use of NIPRISAN in humans.
http://www.theparliament.com/NR/rdonlyres/F46A1A12-0A1A-41DA-9F5D-A11486CA9BFA/0/Nigerian_Case.pdf
Fox, I wonder about the various forms of 5-HMF and how that might impact the 'connection' between 'our' 5-HMF and Niprisan's 5-HMF. From my limited knowledge, these were/are not the same/identical. ?
You may well be able to enlighten me/us on this. Looking at Wiki and Google on the subject of different 5-HMF compounds suggests considerable variety in application(s) imo.
Hydroxymethylfurfural
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Hydroxymethylfurfural
IUPAC name 5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-furaldehyde
Hydroxymethylfurfural, HMF or 5-(Hydroxymethyl)furfural is an aldehyde and a furan compound formed during the thermal decomposition of sugars and carbohydrates.[1] HMF has been identified in a wide variety of heat processed foods including milk, fruit juices, spirits, honey, etc. Recent studies proved HMF is also found in cigarettes.
Just like the production of furfural, HMF can be produced from biomass.
In 2006 a chemical and biological engineering professor from University of Wisconsin-Madison claimed to have discovered a new way of producing HMF from fructose:[2][3]
In this new method, fructose is reacted with hydrochloric acid in an aqueous phase and the formed HMF (very water-soluble) is then continuously extracted into Methyl isobutyl ketone as an organic phase at 180°C (think pressure cooker). The water phase is modified with DMSO and PVP, reducing the amount of side product to a minimum. The organic is modified with 2-butanol in order to improve the amount of HMF in the organic phase. In an optimized system for fructose (but not raw biomass), conversion is 77% with half the HMF ending up in the organic phase. Removing the (high boiling) solvents remains an issue.
June 2007 - Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) claim to have discovered an easy, inexpensive process (using chromium chloride as catalyst) to directly convert both fructose (yielding 90%+) and glucose (yielding 70%+) into an HMF, leaving very little residual impurities.[4] This discovery has great relevance for the manufacturing of plastics and synthetic fuels directly from biomass, since glucose can be derived directly from starch and cellulose, both widely available in nature.[5]
Uses
HMF is identified as a biofuel with great potential. Organic oxidation of this compound also gives 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid which may replace terephthalic acid as a monomer in the production of plastics.
5-HMF is under investigation as a treatment for sickle cell disease.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroxymethylfurfural
'Official' shelf life appears to be two years. I take this from the expiry date printed on the product package...