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December 31, 2004
I Hate To Say This...
But if I was a financial counselor, I could not recommend investing in pharmaceutical companies this year.
Why? Well, they are now in the culteral cross-hairs with several groups targeting them. This will mean depressed stock prices, but more importantly - investors will gamble less of their money into pharmaceuticals. This means less research and more small drug companies unable to raise the money needed to stay alive.
So who is targeting the pharmaceutical industry?
Some on the FDA staff & anti-pharmaceutical groups - You may have seen the testimony last month, a FDA staffer appeared before a congressional committee arguing that several drugs should be pulled from the market due to side effects. What you may not have seen was others, testifying before the same committee, disagreeing strongly with that staffer. What's the big deal you say? After all, we all want safe drugs! The big deal is that they arguing for more long-term testing and slowing the rate that it takes (now 5-10 years) for a new drug to come to market. Ours is just one community that would see more deaths due to these delays.
Lawyers - Many prominent law firms are sharpening their knives at the prospect of suing pharmaceutical companies. Ultimately this will cost the industry billions. Some of the law firms are funding groups that are mentioned in the last paragraph. This generates positive articles in the press and more sympathetic juries.
Michael Moore - It seems each movie he releases is more popular than his previous one. He has a strong fan base. He is also a master at generating publicity and his latest target appears to be the pharmaceutical industry. There are reports that he is now doing his on-camera ambushes at various pharmaceutical companies.
I didn't see his last film, "Fahrenheit 9/11" though I know it has its fans & critics, but let me tell you about one that hit close to home - "Bowling for Columbine". I live near Columbine High School and I saw his distortions. I would even call them lies. Some examples that I can confirm from local coverage: The killers didn't go bowling, the Lockheed plant makes rockets for satellites not WMD's, he lied about the plaque & the plane, and many who appeared in the film state they were deceived by him.
Having seen his work first hand, my belief is his pharmaceutical movie will be filled in a similar, misleading way. That can't be good for the industry.
Am I overly concerned? Maybe, but I don't think so. Pharmaceutical stocks dropped 10% in 2004 while the S&P 500 rose 9%.
Posted by Dave at 05:39 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 30, 2004
There's No Such Thing...
As an "former" Marine. Once a Marine, always a Marine.
This one is trying to raise awareness for Huntington's Disease. An excerpt:
Chris Prinopolos, 29, first learned something was wrong when police pulled him over after suspecting him of driving drunk.They took my license away for medical reasons, and then I found out why they took it away," he said. "It led me to find out what was going on here."
Police noticed that the former Marine was unsteady on his feet and his speech was slurred. Hours of research by Prinopolos and his mother, Chy Weed, whittled the cause to Huntington's disease, so they were prepared when tests confirmed it.
Posted by Dave at 03:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 29, 2004
Huntington's Impairs Ability To Smell
Just a single sentence, but its mentioned in this article on Alzheimer's and the sense of smell. The quote:
Beverly J. Cowart, a psychologist who directs the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, said doctors will probably always need more than the scent test for diagnosis because the sense of smell is also impaired in Parkinson's and Huntington's disease and in old age in general.
Posted by Dave at 06:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 28, 2004
Maybe Not The Best HD PR
The good news is...Huntington's Disease is part of the plot of a movie.
The bad news is...the movie sucks.
A movie review of "Darkness" includes this:
The tag for "Darkness" is: "Some secrets should never come to light." Well, some movies should never come to light, either, and "Darkness," bearing a 2002 copyright, might well have been better left on the shelf.Maria (Olin) and Mark (Iain Glen) and their children, Regina (Paquin) and Paul (Stephan Enquist), have settled into a large turn-of-the-last century house in a vaguely American Colonial Revival style — not the kind of structure one would expect to find about 10 miles from Barcelona.
Mark was born in Spain, but when he was a child, his mother took him to America after divorcing his father, Albert (Giannini).
They've left the U.S. seeking quieter surroundings for Mark, who has suffered from Huntington's disease but is apparently in remission.
Doesn't sound promising.
UPDATE: Here's another review...they didn't like it either. A quote:
To the film's credit, I gave it the benefit of the doubt for a while, as it appeared in opening scenes to be a thinking person's horror film. That impression certainly didn't last.
Posted by Dave at 07:58 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 27, 2004
Name To Remember
It's because of young people like this that I am so positive of about the future. From the Northwest Indiana Times:
Michelle Blessing is working with her siblings, Elizabeth and Robert, to organize a third benefit for the Huntington's Disease Society of America. Huntington's Disease (HD), a rare neurological disorder, has afflicted their family for decades. Their mother has battled the disease since 1998. HD has already robbed them of their grandfather and aunt."Huntington's Disease affects a person emotionally, physically and socially," she said. "We felt instead of sitting back and watching these negative effects on a person carrying the HD gene, we wanted to be able to help in some way, and raising money for research is one way we can help."
The first Blessing/Degnan HDSA Fund-raiser Picnic raised almost $3,000. Last year the event benefiting HD research raised $17,000 - more than tripling their goal. The Blessings are hoping again for an overwhelming response - in attendance as well as in donations from area merchants. "We do hope the public is as generous as last year with donations - that's how we were able to raise so much money," she said thankfully.
Posted by Dave at 06:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 26, 2004
I'm Back!
My unplanned break is over and I'll be posting regularly again.
For those who are wondering, my health and energy are finally starting to bounce back and I'm looking forward to once again bringing you the latest news that affects our community.
Thanks for all the kind comments and concerns. I appreciated them all!
Posted by Dave at 07:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Making Headway
A very interesting and easy to read article on oligonucleotides and how they may be effective in treating Huntington's Disease. This article also references Tapestry Pharmaceuticals. An excerpt:
Parekh-Olmedo discovered that some of the oligonucleotides that Kmiec and his group synthesized seem to be able to break down the aggregate proteins that appear in Huntington's Disease, a degenerative neurological condition.This also may have implications for other neurological diseases, like Parkinson's or Alzheimer's.
Although it's in the early stages, the therapy is promising enough for Kmiec to have begun to collaborate with a doctor at Harvard, who will help test it.
"It just happened," Kmiec said of his discoveries. "We didn't expect it. We followed the data."
Posted by Dave at 07:43 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 20, 2004
What Would You Say...
To the man in love with an 'at-risk' woman?
Scroll through the comments to this post to find a question from a man who is dating a woman who has a chance of inheriting the HD gene. He asks the questions (mostly of himself) that myself and many others have asked when dating someone with a medical condition in the family.
Please post your comments or suggestions to this post or that one.
Posted by Dave at 06:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 13, 2004
What's Going On?
I received an email this weekend asking about what was going on with this website. I gave a quick answer to the email but here is a longer response to all of you...
I've made a point to try to post at least once a day to this website for nearly a 1 1/2 years. I am grateful that I've had the opportunity to do so. But...I'm sick and tired. Literally. I've been sick the last couple of weeks and I've been drained at the end of the each day. It's nothing serious and I'm (hopefully) getting better.
I'm also at one of the many crossroads that we reach in our lives. The crossroads, this time, involves a dear, dear friend who is HD gene-positive (and the inspiration for this website). I must respect her privacy, so there is little I can say here. If you are a religious person, I ask that you pray for her. Her family wants her and Loves her, but she does not believe this to be true as there has been a terrible miscommunication.
One thing I have found out the last couple of weeks is that HD is "in my blood". While I am not "at risk" but my attachment to the HD community couldn't be stronger. I also agree with my girlfriend said to me...
"HD is Evil"
And, typically, she is right.
But, HD is now being beaten. We are now in the last generation of Huntington's Disease.
We...can't...stop...now.
Posted by Dave at 06:44 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack