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GW Expands Cannabinoid Research In The Field Of Diabetes And Metabolic Disease
"GW Metabolic Research Laboratory" established in conjunction with Professor Cawthorne and the Clore Laboratory, University of Buckingham
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Opinion Pieces Comment On Obama's Notre Dame Speech, Abortion Debate
Several newspapers recently published opinion pieces regarding President Obama"s commencement address at the University of Notre Dame. Summaries appear below.~ Cal Thomas, Washington Times: "Put aside the question of whether" Notre Dame should have invited President Obama to speak at its commencement ceremony on Sunday and "[f]ocus, instead, on [his] remarks and whether he is serious, or can be made so, about actually reducing the number of abortions in America," syndicated columnist Thomas writes in a Washington Times opinion piece. "Don"t put aside, however, the argument that there is only one reason to even want to reduce the number of abortions and that is that what is being killed, terminated, evacuated (choose your term) is, in fact, human life," Thomas adds. "In speaking of "original sin," the president hit upon why abortion has been so easily tolerated for so long," he writes, adding that Obama "spoke of "self-interest" and "crass materialism" but did so in the context of economics, not abortion." Thomas reports that Obama called for making adoption ""more available"" and providing ""care and support for women who do carry their children to term."" Thomas notes that Obama"s speech also included "an appeal for discussion and respect for people with different views," which was "a good beginning, but the ending is what counts, and the initial actions of this president when it comes to abortion and stem cell research have not been pro-life" (Thomas, Washington Times, 5/19).~ Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times: After his commencement address at Notre Dame, "it"s now clear that the president is the rhetorical equivalent of a "money player,"" which is the "kind of competitor who steps up and delivers in the big games," Rutten writes in a Los Angeles Times opinion piece. Notre Dame"s invitation for Obama to speak at commencement and receive an honorary degree "bec[a]me an engine of controversy" because of protests from "reductionists," or conservative Catholics "who insist on bringing the broad sweep of Catholic social morality down to a single issue -- abortion," Rutten writes. However, Obama "negotiated the situation with remarkable ease," Rutten continues, adding that Obama was "speaking … to three audiences far from South Bend on Sunday." The first audience was the "crucial bloc of Catholic voters who seem to be looking for ways to remain in the Democratic Party," he writes. In addition, Obama was speaking to "those Catholic Democrats in public office ... who are under intense pressure from the reductionist bishops in their home dioceses" and to the U.S. Senate, which will likely ask Obama"s Supreme Court nominee about his or her views on abortion during confirmation hearings, Rutten continues. He concludes, "Even in Washington"s charged partisan atmosphere, it will be hard to ignore the president"s call for civility at Notre Dame" (Rutten, Los Angeles Times, 5/20).~ Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune: Obama "appropriately promoted" the "ability of adversaries to work together on mutual interests" in his commencement address, Page writes in a Tribune opinion piece. Page adds that the speech was "classic Obama the pragmatist: Look past ideology, try to ignore disagreements and work together on mutual interests." Obama said that "at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable," Page writes, adding that it is "because Americans hold no values more dear than "life" and "choice."" Page adds that "[i]n the abortion debate, those values clash head-on." However, Obama"s "eloquent come-together oratory enabled him to leave the university like a hero, even though he glossed over the thorny specifics that drive wedges between people of goodwill when words are hammered into law," Page continues. "For now, by focusing on civility, the president apparently hopes to defuse the abortion powder keg long enough to address his higher priorities," Page writes, concluding, "The economy, national security and health care are going to be tough fight
News of the day
NIH Announces Final Guidelines For Federally Funded Embryonic Stem Cell Research
NIH on Monday announced final guidelines for assessing whether newly created embryonic stem cell lines can be used for federally funded research, as well as clarifying how old lines will be evaluated, CongressDaily reports (CongressDaily, 7/7). In March, President Obama overturned former President George W. Bush"s policy limiting federal funding of embryonic stem cell research to 21 lines. Obama asked NIH to develop new guidelines that would govern such research going forward. The agency received about 49,000 comments on a draft version of the guidelines announced in April (Vergano, USA Today, 7/7). The final guidelines, which take effect on Tuesday, state that stem cell lines used in federally funded research must come from embryos discarded after in vitro fertilization procedures. In addition, donors must have been informed that the embryo would be destroyed for stem cell research and made fully aware of other options, which include donating the embryo to other individuals for use in infertility treatments. Lastly, donors cannot be paid for an embryo, and no threats or other inducement can be part of the decision to donate (Vedantam, Washington Post, 7/7).Raynard Kington, acting director of NIH, said that lines developed before Tuesday likely would be approved if they were created in the spirit of the new rules, even if they do not follow them to the letter (Harris, New York Times, 7/7). NIH"s Advisory Committee to the Director will review such lines on a case-by-case basis. NIH also will create a registry of qualifying stem cell lines for use by researchers (Los Angeles Times, 7/7). Kington said, "Many of the lines already in existence may have met very rigorous standards of informed consent but may have been implemented in ways not consistent with the present guidelines." He added, "It"s unreasonable to retroactively apply procedures intended for future use" (New York Times, 7/7). Kington also said of the new guidelines, "We think this is a reasonable compromise to achieve the president"s goal of both advancing science while maintaining rigorous ethical standards. We believe that judgment is necessary" (Los Angeles Times, 7/7). Broadcast CoverageNPR"s "Morning Edition" on Tuesday reported on the stem cell guidelines (Shapiro, "Morning Edition," NPR, 7/7).
Oncology

CEL SCI Collaborators Demonstrate Novel L.E.A.P.S. Vaccines Immunize Mice Against Tuberculosis Antigens And Suggest Potential To Treat Swine Flu

CEL-SCI Corporation (NYSE AMEX: CVM) announced that its collaborators at the University of Hawaii reported on data at the annual American Society for Microbiology in Philadelphia, PA. This data demonstrates that vaccines utilizing its L.E.A.P.S.(TM) (Ligand Epitope Antigen Presentation System) vaccine technology with specificity for particular Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) antigens can elicit immune responses that would be protective against tuberculosis and have the potential to treat swine and other H1N1 influenzas. The investigators presented data that showed that blood cells from immunized mice produced gamma interferon in response to the vaccine, while the blood cells from mice in the various control groups did not. Gamma interferon, a cytokine that helps regulate the body"s immune response, is considered to be a good indicator of protection against TB and other diseases. The production of too many pro-inflammatory cytokines is thought to be a cause of death in the case of H1N1 influenza. It is for this reason that CEL-SCI believes that the L.E.A.P.S. technology, which induces an effective protective immune response without causing excessive amounts of pro-inflammatory cytokines, may be effective against H1N1 influenza. In prior tests involving L.E.A.P.S. herpes simplex vaccines, CEL-SCI and other researchers showed that the production of gamma interferon was a good indicator for protection against herpes simplex as well. Dr. Borthakur, of the University of Hawaii, reported at the Microbiology Conference that mouse blood cells taken from L.E.A.P.S. TB immunized mice made detectable amounts of gamma interferon within one day of treatment. Dr. Daniel Zimmerman, the inventor of the technology believes that the data presented by Dr. Borthakur"s group will also be beneficial in developing more improved TB vaccines, perhaps ones including the L.E.A.P.S. conjugates known to elicit protective cytokines such as IL-12, a precursor to producing gamma interferon, and gamma interferon itself. The L.E.A.P.S. technology combines a small peptide that activates the immune system with a small peptide from a disease-related protein, such as a herpes simplex virus (HSV) glycoprotein to make a vaccine that induces a defined immune response. Last month Dr. Kenneth S. Rosenthal, Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Biochemistry at Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy and colleagues showed that CEL-SCI"s L.E.A.P.S. vaccines can activate and cause human immature dendritic cells from blood monocyte cells to become dendritic cells that secrete the IL-12 cytokine. The dendritic cells that result initiate a protective cell mediated and antibody immune response. These results were obtained for L.E.A.P.S. vaccines against HSV and HIV. The use of the L.E.A.P.S. vaccine technology may thus open a whole new way of maturing dendritic cell vaccines for infectious diseases such as pandemic flu and cancer. The cytokine IL-12 is the first step in gamma interferon production which is known to be protective with many viruses and pathogens. "It is very exciting to see the effect of L.E.A.P.S. vaccines on isolated human immature dendritic cells using a simple molecule, in two different instances," said Dr. Zimmerman. "I am hopeful that other L.E.A.P.S. vaccine candidates, such as CEL-2000 being developed as a vaccine for rheumatoid arthritis, can also be used with comparable results in humans. The lack of proinflammatory cytokine production in responses to the L.E.A.P.S. vaccines is especially important for an immunotherapy aimed at rheumatoid arthritis, since these cytokines cause much of the damage seen in rheumatoid arthritis patients, and has important implications for our ability to develop an effective treatment for swine flu and other H1N1 flu viruses." L.E.A.P.S. technology is a novel T-cell modulation platform technology that enables CEL-SCI to design and synthesize proprietary immunogens. Any disease for which an antigenic sequence has been identified, such as infectious, parasitic, malignant or autoimmune diseases and allergies, are potential therapeutic or preventive sites for the application of L.E.A.P.S. technology. CEL-SCI Corporation is developing products that empower immune defenses. Its lead product is Multikine(R) which is being readied for a global Phase III trial. The Company has operations in Vienna, Virginia, and Baltimore, Maryland. When used in this report, the words "intends," "believes," "anticipated" and "expects" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include: an inability to duplicate the clinical results demonstrated in clinical studies, timely development of any potential products that can be shown to be safe and effective, receiving necessary regulatory approvals, difficulties in manufacturing any of the Company"s potential products, inability to raise the necessary capital and the risk factors set forth from time to time in CEL-SCI Corporation"s SEC filings, including but not limited to its report on Form 10-K/A for the year ended September 30, 2008. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revision to these forward-looking statements which may be made to reflect the events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. CEL-SCI Corporation


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