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Thanks Peg! What would I, or I should say we, do without you. Greg Peggy Willocks <[log in to unmask]> wrote: Greg W I appreciated all of your promising comments about PD research. I, too, feel like we truly are "5-10" years away from a cure. It just takes so doggone long to get a treatment approved! (That's why we both volunteer through the patient-dominated PD Pipeline Project - and we need more help - see www.pdpipeline.org ,if interested. I wanted to make a correction about the Spheramine clinical trials. . . They are not yet in Phase III; they are still in Phase II, recruiting around 8 more people to complete the 68 needed for the double-blind study. (See www.pdtrials.org or http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/show/NCT00059007?order=1 The results to be released by 2006 is the final reporting on the original 6 volunteers after 5 years. I was one of the 6 and am covinced I wouldn't be walking, driving, and maintaining a pretty active life without having had the surgery. The original 6 had the transplanting of retinal cells into our brains (substantia nigra) one side only, to produce dopamine. These cells came from a donated eye with one eye potentially able to treat thousands of patients. Even if something happens in the latter phases of te trial, the technology used (CCM - cell-coated microcarrier) for trasplanting the cells will no doubt be applicable for other delivery system operations. The CCM method encapsulates the donor cells with a gell-like substace, making immunosuspression therapy not necessary as there have been no rejections from the participants. And Phase II volunteers have had transplants on BOTH sides of the brain during the procedure . (For the Spheramine history, see www.titanpharm.com/products/spheramine_product.html. This report was part of a recent financial update on Titan Pharmaceuticals, NJ: Spheramine is a novel cell therapy product in development for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. Enrollment in a randomized, controlled, blinded, multi-center Phase IIb clinical study of Spheramine in advanced Parkinson's disease is continuing. We estimate that initial results from this study will be available in the second half of 2006. Our corporate partner for the development of Spheramine, Schering AG, Germany, is funding this study. In 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Fast Track designation for Spheramine for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. In June 2005, Schering AG sponsored a symposium on Spheramine at the International Congress on Parkinson's Disease and Related Disorders in Berlin. In the keynote address, Ray Watts, M.D., Professor and Chairman, Department of Neurology, University of Alabama Birmingham, presented 48-month follow-up data for the six patients in our pilot clinical study of Spheramine. The data presented indicate that Spheramine is well tolerated and that patients demonstrated 43% average improvement in motor function, four years after treatment. The final 5-year post check-ups of the original 6 volunteers in Phase I are now being conducted. That is the report we will receive later in 2006. It certainly sounds promising! The following comes from the Germany-based website: For this reason, we are investigating a new therapy approach in cooperation with the US company Titan Pharmaceuticals: human epithelial cells from the retina, which produce dopamine at their original site in the eye. These are applied to microscopically small gelatine particles and subsequently implanted in the brain of the patient. There they can emit dopamine locally, rather like "intelligent bioreactors". Variations in dopamine level, which are responsible for complications in therapy, are avoided as only that amount of dopamine is released which is needed by the patient at the time, stimulated by messenger substances in the brain. The efficacy of this approach is being investigated in a study which is currently running. See the Schering site (www.schering.de/scripts/en/30_rd/areas/neuro/parkin.php) , for additional info. Peggy Celebrate Life! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn