Bristol-Myers Squibb streamlined

Bristol-Myers Squibb streamlined

610 News & Comment describes the effects of antidepressant therapy on hippocampal plasticity in a primate model of chronic psychosocial stress. Trea...

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610

News & Comment

describes the effects of antidepressant therapy on hippocampal plasticity in a primate model of chronic psychosocial stress. Treatment with tianeptine prevented stress-induced changes in brain markers of neuronal viability, normalized the proliferation of adult hippocampal cells, and corrected the stressinduced changes in hippocampal volume. Tianeptine, an unusual antidepressant agent that is believed to promote rather than inhibit 5-HT uptake, joins the list of antidepressant drugs that have beneficial effects on neurogenesis. [Czeh, B. et al. (2001) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 98, 12796–12801]. AB

Bristol-Myers Squibb streamlined The acquisition by Bristol-Myers Squibb of DuPont Pharmaceuticals Company, the chemical arm of DuPont, was completed in October this year. The US$7.8 billion all-cash deal is one of several recent moves by Bristol-Myers Squibb to become a more focused pharmaceutical company, and to boost profits following the expiration of three key patents. In addition to this acquisition, which sees Bristol-Myers Squibb gain several important marketed and pipeline drugs, the company has also shed its Clairol hair-care and Zimmer orthopaedic implant businesses. DC

β-Adrenoceptor polymorphisms and vascular desensitization Several polymorphisms of the human β-adrenoceptor exist, some of which are associated with functional changes. The picture becomes even more complex when the strong linkage disequilibrium between certain polymorphisms is considered. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine investigated vasodilator responses to isoproterenol and desensitization in patients with three different genotypes for two common alleles at positions 16 and 27. The results indicated that the Glu27 polymorphism is associated with enhanced responsiveness to agonists, whereas the Arg16 polymorphism is associated with increased desensitization. The Glu27 polymorphism is found more often in white than African-American populations, and could contribute to the well-documented differences in vascular reactivity between the two racial groups. [Dishy, V. et al. (2001) New Engl. J. Med. 345, 1030–1035] AB http://tips.trends.com

TRENDS in Pharmacological Sciences Vol.22 No.12 December 2001

Japanese mad cow The Japanese government announced in mid-September that a five-year-old cow slaughtered in August carried bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Opinions differ as to the mechanism of infection. Some experts point to contaminated animal feed, imported from the UK in the early 1990s, whereas Asian officials say the imported animal feed was given only to chickens and pigs. Several countries have responded to the news by imposing immediate bans on the import of Japanese beef. In an effort to restore faith in the meat industry, the Japanese government has said it will run tests on one million cattle. AB

Attacking anthrax Researchers have recently described a molecule that counteracts the anthrax toxin produced by Bacillus anthracis. Isolated from a phage display library and modified to increase its effectiveness, the molecule attaches to the heptameric cell-binding subunit of the anthrax toxin, which interferes with the normal pattern of protein assembly, and effectively prevents the toxin from entering the cell. The inhibitor blocked toxicity in an animal model of anthrax intoxication, even when given after anthrax challenge – a notable finding because current treatments such as vaccine and antibiotics work only when given before infection or in the early stages of infection. With increased concerns over biological warfare, and reports of anthrax infections in the USA, these findings could not be more timely. [Mourez, M. et al. (2001) Nat. Biotechnol. 19, 958–961] DC

‘Nobelmen’ The 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to Leland H. Hartwell (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA), R. Timothy Hunt (former editor-in-chief of our sister journal TiBS) and Paul M. Nurse (both Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London, UK) for their discoveries of key molecules that regulate the cell cycle. An understanding of how cells replicate and divide is considered crucial for the understanding and treatment

of cancer, a disease caused by chromosomal alterations resulting from defects in cell cycle control. See the Nobel Foundation website (http://www.nobel.se) for more information. DC

Medicare fraud crackdown TAP Pharmaceuticals, a joint venture between Abbott Laboratories and Takeda Pharmaceuticals, agreed to pay a $875 million fine and plead guilty to one count of criminal conspiracy to violate the Prescription Drug Marketing Act. The indictment described a scheme in which TAP salespeople provided doctors with free samples of Lupron (leuprolide acetate), a prostate cancer drug, which were fraudulently billed to Medicare. According to the indictment, the company offered physicians generous ‘freebies’ to convince them to switch to Lupron. Six TAP employees and five physicians have been indicted. The US Government says Medicare rip-offs amount to as much as $100 billion per year, and has announced its intention to investigate other cases of alleged drug-pricing fraud. AB

Teaching schoolchildren about Ectasy The National Institute on Drug Abuse has made an information package on the pharmacology of MDMA (‘Ectasy’) available on its website. The package consists of 20 slides and a suggested outline for a talk that is intended to educate a teenage audience about the short- and longterm effects of the popular stimulant. The colourful slides detail the interaction of MDMA with the 5-HT transporter and show the various brain regions affected by longterm abuse. Positron emission tomography (PET) images from brains of former MDMA users are also provided. The slides can be viewed at www.drugabuse.gov. AB

This month’s In Brief articles were written by David Cutler ([email protected]) and Ann Barbier ([email protected]).

0165-6147/01/$ – see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.