FINDINGS

Diabetes-Virus Link Found in Lab Animals

One of the most widely used animal models for Type 1 diabetes has been found to carry a virus that has been shown to produce diabetes in other rodents, a finding that offers the possibility of new treatments for the widespread disorder.

The BioBreeding, or BB, rats naturally develop diabetes at about two months of age, and researchers have attributed the disease to genetics.

The findings suggest that the rats have a genetic susceptibility to diabetes, but the precipitating event is a viral infection.

Swedish virologist Bo Niklasson of Uppsala University discovered the Ljungan virus in voles in 1999. Niklasson and geneticist William Klitz of the Public Health Institute in Oakland, Calif., previously reported that infections with Ljungan virus can induce diabetes in voles and laboratory rodents, and that the disease can be reversed if the animals are treated with antiviral drugs before the destruction of insulin-secreting islet cells becomes widespread.

In the new study, reported in the current issue of the journal Diabetologia, they examined 26 BB rats, finding that all were infected with Ljungan virus and that the infection tended to concentrate in the pancreas.

FDA Rejects Merck's Successor to Vioxx

The Food and Drug Administration rejected Merck & Co.'s request to market a successor to its withdrawn arthritis drug Vioxx in the United States.

The decision was widely expected after a panel of FDA advisers two weeks ago voted 20 to 1 against approving the drug Arcoxia.

Arcoxia is in the class of anti-inflammatory drugs called Cox-2 inhibitors, which are touted as less likely to cause stomach bleeding but have been linked to heart risks.

Vioxx, which has become a poster child for drug safety problems, was also a Cox-2 inhibitor.

Merck pulled Vioxx from the market in September 2004 after research indicated that it doubled risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Despite safety concerns in the United States, Arcoxia is sold in 63 other countries. Merck spokesman Ron Rogers said the company would not discuss whether it will drop efforts to get Arcoxia approved domestically.

-- From News Services