Commercial Launch of HYLENEX for use in Pediatric Rehydration anounced by Baxter

a new drug for use in Pediatric Rehydration

the question is  with all drug  how long must the clock tick before it becomes available in the most neediest of places, at a price point that makes it  affordable to be subsidized by agencies. Perhaps we should have a site that is a  virtual wall of  timers each labeled with a drug count the years before the neediest op people are able to benefit.

excerpt  from from the press release found in  press room room of BAXTER

HYLENEX

BOSTON – October 5, 2009— Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX) today announced the commercial launch of HYLENEX recombinant (hyaluronidase human injection) for use in pediatric rehydration at the 2009 American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) scientific assembly (Boston). HYLENEX, an enzyme, allows fluids to be administered under the skin (subcutaneously) rather than through a vein. This allows for rapid treatment initiation and delivery of intravenous (IV)-like fluid rates, which can help lead to successful rehydration of children in a less invasive manner. Additionally, data from Baxter’s Increased Flow Utilizing Subcutaneously-Enabled (INFUSE) PEDS 1 study are debuting today in the preeminent pediatric journal, Pediatrics. The study was designed to assess the efficacy, safety and clinical utility of HYLENEX recombinant-facilitated subcutaneous rehydration in mild to moderately dehydrated children ages two months to 10 years. This approach was found to be effective, easy to use and well-tolerated. 1 Baxter licensed HYLENEX, the first and only recombinant human hyaluronidase, from Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: HALO)…..

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Yale School of Medicine gets $1.8 million from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for oral rehydration solution ( ORS) study

New Haven, Conn. —  http://media-newswire.com/release_1100879.html

To improve treatment of acute diarrhea, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently gave a two-year, $1.8 million grant to the Yale School of Medicine to design clinical trials to test the effectiveness of a major modification of oral rehydration solution ( ORS ) in the treatment of acute diarrhea in children in developing countries.

After working together on various aspects of this project for more than 15 years, a team of scientists — Dr. Henry J. Binder, professor of medicine and of cellular and molecular physiology at Yale, and his two collaborators Dr. B.S. Ramakrishna, professor of gastroenterology at Christian Medical College, Vellore, India, and Professor Graeme P. Young, head of the Flinders Centre for Cancer Prevention and Control, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia — have proposed a modified ORS, based on the addition of a starch that reduces fluid loss.

“The development of ORS to treat diarrhea more than three decades ago has been considered one of the most important milestones in therapeutics during the last century,” says Binder. But although oral rehydration therapy has been responsible for a substantial reduction in infant mortality in the developing world, Binder says, “It is not used as much as it should be for many reasons, including the failure of mothers and caregivers to appreciate its effectiveness. Although ORS corrects dehydration, it does not reduce diarrhea.”

Since diarrhea can be caused by bacterial, viral and parasitic infections, an improvement in current therapies will have far-reaching impact, say the scientists. The primary objectives of this two-year planning grant are to establish a network of sites to collaborate in a series of clinical trials in developing countries, and to identify the most effective starch to be used in these trials.

background

Resistant starch – 0verview

Amylase – overview

related articles

• Amylase-Resistant Starch plus Oral Rehydration Solution for Cholera NEJM
• A Randomized Controlled Trial of Glucose versus Amylase Resistant Starch Hypo-Osmolar Oral Rehydration Solution for Adult Acute Dehydrating Diarrhea PLOS