Engineering Digestive System Tissues: Significant Progress

Researchers at Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine have reached important milestones in their quest to engineer replacement tissue in the lab to treat digestive system conditions — from infants born with too-short bowels to adults with inflammatory bowel disease, colon cancer, or fecal incontinence. Reporting today in Stem Cells Translational Medicine, the research team verified the effectiveness of lab-grown anal sphincters to treat a large animal model for fecal incontinence, an important step before advancing to studies in humans. And last month in Tissue Engineering, the team reported success implanting human-engineered intestines in rodents. Read more.

Source: Science Daily, July 5, 2017

Consider Acupuncture for Incontinence

Acupuncture, a 3,000-year-old healing technique, received mixed reviews in two new studies from China — one focusing on incontinence and the other on a cause of female infertility. A research team found acupuncture did improve symptoms of stress incontinence — an involuntarily loss of urine, such as when a woman sneezes or coughs. But in a separate study, another team of researchers determined that acupuncture did not help women who were infertile because of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Women with PCOS have a hormonal imbalance that keeps them from releasing an egg (ovulating) during the menstrual cycle. Read more.

Source: HealthDay News, June 27, 2017

RDD Pharma Receives Orphan Designation for RDD-0315 in Spinal Cord Injury Patients

RDD Pharma, a leader in developing treatments for anorectal disorders, announced today the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products has granted orphan designation for RDD-0315, an investigational drug for the treatment of fecal incontinence in patients with spinal cord injury. The committee recognized that RDD-0315 may be of significant benefit to spinal cord injury patients affected by fecal incontinence. “We are pleased the EMA recognized the clinically significant benefit that RDD-0315 may offer spinal cord injury patients,” stated Jason Laufer, Chief Executive Officer, RDD Pharma. ‘We have the potential to positively impact the health, well-being and quality of life in this patient population. ‘ Read more.

Source: PRNewswire, July 5, 2017

Astellas Submits Supplemental New Drug Application for Mirabegron

Astellas Pharma Inc. (TSE: 4503, President and CEO: Yoshihiko Hatanaka, “Astellas”) announced today the submission of a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking approval for the use of mirabegron in combination with solifenacin succinate 5 mg for the treatment of overactive bladder (OAB) with symptoms of urge urinary incontinence, urgency and urinary frequency. In the United States, mirabegron and solifenacin succinate are marketed as Myrbetriq^® and VESIcare^®, respectively. Each is approved by the FDA as a monotherapy for the treatment of OAB with symptoms of urge urinary continence, urgency and urinary frequency. Read more.

Source: PRNewswire, June 29, 2017

Identifying Overactive Bladder Syndrome

An interview with Dr Michael Kennelly, urologist and Medical Director for the Charlotte Continence Center at Carolinas Medical Center, conducted by April Cashin-Garbutt, MA (Cantab) What are the main symptoms of overactive bladder syndrome (OAB)? Symptoms of OAB include leakage, the strong sudden need to “go right away,” and going to the bathroom too often. Read more.

Source: News-Medical.Net, June 28, 2017

Essity: A Hygiene And Health Powerhouse Is Spun-Off

Sweden’s Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget or SCA dates back to 1929 as a holding company for ten forestry businesses. Over the proceeding decades, SCA began acquiring various hygiene businesses although they remain the largest private land owner of forest land in Europe holding roughly 2.6 million hectares (6.4 million acres). Separating these two businesses made sense and hopefully will allow the true value of each to be realized. In 2016, Essity (OTC:ESSYY) accounted for 86% ($11.5 billion) of SCA’s total revenue so while SCA was originally founded as a forest products company, in reality, it was a health and hygiene business and had been for many years. It earned around $480 million and generated $790 million in owner earnings last year. Read more.

Source: Seeking Alpha, June 19, 2017

GTx Announces Preliminary Results with Enobosarm

GTx, Inc. (Nasdaq: GTXI) today announced release of preliminary clinical data from its ongoing, open-label, Phase 2 clinical trial of enobosarm 3 mg (GTx-024) in postmenopausal women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI). An abstract entitled “Kegels In A Bottle”: Preliminary Results Of A Selective Androgen Receptor Modulator (GTx-024) For The Treatment Of SUI In Post-Menopausal Women, summarizing clinical data from the first seven patients completing 12 weeks of treatment with enobosarm, is now available on the International Continence Society’s website. This proof-of-concept clinical trial is the first of its kind to evaluate an orally-administered selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM) for SUI. Read more.

Source: BusinessWire, June 12, 2017

Low Estrogen May Contribute to Incontinence in Women

Significantly lower levels of oestrogen in peri-menopausal and post-menopausal women could increase their risk of stress urinary incontinence, according to Austrian researchers. They noted that sex steroid levels changed markedly during menopause, and oestrogen deficiency after menopause caused changes within the urogenital tract. Their study included 47 women with stress urinary incontinence who were matched with 47 controls. The findings suggested that low levels of circulating sex steroids might have a negative impact on the function of the lower urinary tract and on mechanisms involved with continence. Read more.

Nursing Times, June 8, 2017

2017 John J. Humpal Award Presented to Professor Christine Norton at Innovating for Continence Conference

The John J. Humpal award was presented to Professor Christine Norton at the Simon Foundation for Continence’s sixth biennial Innovating for Continence: The Engineering Challenge conference, hosted April 19-21 at the Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel, in Chicago, IL, USA.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS (PRWEB) JUNE 01, 2017

Christopher Payne, MD, Emeritus Professor of Urology at Stanford University presented the John J. Humpal award to Christine Norton, PhD, MA, RN. Dr. Payne asked the conference attendees, “What makes a young, talented nurse scientist choose the field of fecal incontinence? While I don’t have the exact answer to that question, we are certainly lucky that she did. I first met Christine at the WHO International Consultation on Incontinence in 2005 and was struck by the clarity and insightfulness of her committee’s findings. Christine achieved the classic goal for medical faculty with major contributions in teaching, education, and clinical care. In fact, there is practically nothing in the entire field to which she has not contributed. For this she was awarded an endowed professorship. I’m a bit jealous, but very proud to be her colleague, and to present her this well-deserved award.”

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New Genomic Analysis Promises Benefit in Female Urinary Incontinence

Urinary incontinence in women is common, with almost 50% of adult women experiencing leakage at least occasionally. Genetic or heritable factors are known to contribute to half of all cases, but until now studies had failed to identify the genetic variants associated with the condition. Speaking at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics today (Monday), Dr Rufus Cartwright, MD, a visiting researcher in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Imperial College, London, UK, will say that his team’s investigations hold out the promise that drugs already used for the treatment of other conditions can help affected women combat this distressing problem. Read more.

Source: Medical Xpress, May 29, 2017