Friday, 15 June 2012
Researchers at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Göteborg have
managed to implant a blood vessel made from a patient’s own stem cells
in a ten year old, sick girl. One year after surgery she now is doing
pretty fine making the researchers to hope that this could be a method
to assist patients who need bypass surgery.
The process involves approach, in making the vein perform better
took three to four weeks, according to Michael Olausson, a professor at
the Transplantation Center at the hospital. The vein for the girl was
obtained from a donation from a deceased person, reports radio Sweden. “Then we have
removed all cells and all the genetic material, and after that we have
brought stem cells from the patient who will receive the blood vessel
and then grow this vessel out again,” says Michael Olausson, Professor
and Director of the Transplant Center at the Sahlgrenska University
Hospital in Gothenburg to radio Sweden.
At the moment, Michael Olausson and his team believe that the approach
could be of great help to many people with plug formation in their
blood vessels and that they need to undergo a so-called "bypass
surgery".
Asked how important is it that the patient's own stem cells are
included in the vein? Michael Olausson replied that it has to do with
the immune system recognizing the tissue as its own and thus will not
reject it. For him and the patient, it's a big advantage. All the
medications that are normally given to avoid the body rejecting the new
cell is very powerful and can cause side effects, so it is desirable to
avoid them.
He adds that this new method is also very important so that “we’ll be
able to solve problem around such things as hearts or kidneys in the
future. The next big step for us is probably a work around to get
arteries to function well. This opens the door and then maybe, be able
to produce whole organs,” says Michael Olausson.
By Scancomark.se Team
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Denmark winning the Scandinavian leadership battle of Pharmaceutical development
Monday, 06 February 2012 While the
Swedish pharmaceutical industry is waning, worker here are gradually
moving south to Denmark where the sector there is booming and had over
taken Sweden. It had now be
contented that the Pharmaceutical sector is a sector that will bring
Denmark back to its best because of the design f the sector in Denmark
characterised by its smaller holder schemes and various forms of
funds and foundation led research. This is not so
in Sweden where there it has the tradition to rely on big money and
sprawling establishments that makes shareholder to pressurise such
establishment with traditionally have the tendency to harbour
uncertainty. In Sweden they are forced to produce results by all means.
As Astra Zeneca
recently announced the dismissal of many workers, the Danish
pharmaceuticals such as Lundbeck are making impressive in route into
gaps being lost by the Swedish giants. As such they are attracting
Swedish medical researchers who are living on the border and crossing
to the Denmark to work daily. According to
the Öresund Institute, today some 700 Swedes commute to work within the
Danish biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, which is growing fast. Since 1998, the
two big companies, Novo Nordisk and Lundbeck, have increased their
workforce by 70 percent to over 15 000 people. Within the same period,
the two big pharmaceutical in Sweden, Astra Zeneca and Pharmacia
Upjohn, have declined by almost 20 percent to 12 000 reports radio
Sweden. The Danish
success has been driven according to Jan Edling, an analyst at state
innovation agency, Vinnova, by long-term and stable ownership. There is encouragement, growth and no shareholders putting pressures on the rather smaller cap companies here. As such
research and development in Denmark is ahead of Sweden. In the current
situation, the Danes have 140 products in ‘Phase 1 tests, compared with
about 75 in Sweden. In Denmark, it
is believed that there is stable ownership of the pharmaceuticals
development because they are kept in funds and foundations which have
an impact on the ownerships putting limited pressures on things like
prices. Some companies
have sought other options which instead of merging with others to grow
big with the aim of gaining competitive advantage and eliminate
competitors, have perhaps made contract to share the risk when it comes
to producing a drug in the late phase. Looking at alternative solutions
instead of becoming a huge business, something Sweden always wants to
be is not a common feat in Denmark and this explains their success. By Scancomark.se Team
