From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Craig Atwood, founder and CEO of JangoBio.
The Fitchburg-based company is developing stem cell therapies to treat various diseases and conditions, including one product pipeline aimed at restoring the body’s hormone balance that becomes disrupted through aging.
“So that we can get our hormones back to youthful levels, so that we can mitigate diseases of aging and hopefully get that next 20, 30, 50 years of healthy longevity,” he said. “It’s a very ambitious program, but we are making great progress.”
While the development is still “relatively early on,” the path ahead requires pre-clinical data to get authorization to proceed with human clinical trials. The company has successfully created a stem cell product that produces target hormones, demonstrating its effectiveness in rodent models.
“This essentially means that we can treat what’s known as hypogonadism, that loss of ovarian and testicular hormones that everybody develops as they move through menopause in women and andropause in men,” Atwood said.
After tracking the treated rodents over their lifetimes, the company found an increase of about 33% to healthy longevity.
“This is quite a significant increase in reaching our goal,” he said.
With that proof-of-concept in hand, the next phase involves moving to a larger animal model — namely, dogs. Atwood noted about 90 million dogs live in the United States, and at least 70% of those have been reproductively sterilized, making for a prime research pool.
“We have the capacity to be able to not only generate data that’s required by the FDA to move into a human clinical trial, but we can also meet that market, getting hormones back up to youthful levels in dogs,” he said.
A second stem cell pipeline aims to initially treat osteoarthritis for dogs and eventually in humans as well. This joint disease can cause pain and inflammation, impacting mobility. Treating this condition represents a “quicker way” to start generating revenue to fuel the company’s scientific endeavors, Atwood said.
After treating 21 dogs, the company has seen “dramatic improvements” in both pain levels and mobility for all of the dogs it’s treated.
“It’s been very gratifying to see these dogs go from limping, and not being able to move really well because they’re just really in a lot of pain, to just running toward their owners,” Atwood said.
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— State health officials issued a warning to consumers after one person in Wisconsin was hospitalized due to contamination of alfalfa sprouts sold under the Everything Sprouts and Calco brands.
The Department of Health Services yesterday confirmed 17 cases of the dangerous “Shiga” toxin-producing E.coli and Salmonella bacteria in Wisconsin linked to eating sprouts from these Minneapolis-based brands. The cases are connected to a multi-state outbreak of these infections coming from alfalfa distributed to grocery stores and restaurants.
Just next door, Minnesota has identified 23 cases related to the outbreak. Meanwhile, federal health officials have reported 55 cases and four hospitalizations across fifteen states.
While a public health investigation is ongoing, DHS is warning state residents to throw away any alfalfa sprouts from the brands it’s identified. The agency warns anyone who’s eaten them already should look out for symptoms, including stomach cramps, diarrhea and bloody stool and sometimes fever.
While most people recover within a week, DHS notes these infections can cause a severe condition called hemolytic uremic syndrome that can lead to kidney failure.
See the release below, and see more in Top Stories.
— DHS today announced Wisconsin now has 41 confirmed and seven possible measles cases associated with the outbreak in southwestern Wisconsin.
Iowa County now has 35 confirmed cases, while Lafayette County has four confirmed and seven probable. Meanwhile, Grant County still has two confirmed cases.
The agency says no public exposures have yet been reported, though the investigation indicates the measles is spreading locally.
Top Stories
– US health agencies report 55 cases of E. coli and salmonella infections tied to alfalfa sprouts
– Alfalfa sprouts linked to food poisoning illnesses in Minnesota and Wisconsin
– SNAP enrollment dropping faster than expected. Here’s why
– Employer health costs projected to rise 9.5 percent
– How Moderna Nearly Tripled Its Stock Price in a Single Day
Press Releases
– Department of Health Services: Confirms E.coli, salmonella cases linked to alfalfa sprouts
