GLEN ALLEN, Va., Feb. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Rock Creek
Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Star Scientific, Inc. (Nasdaq:
CIGX) announced that on February 4 a provisional patent
application was filed with the Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”)
for administering a pure form of a single isomer of anatabine,
“S-(-)anatabine”. This isomer can be administered in a composition
containing a therapeutically effective dose of anatabine to treat
chronic low-level inflammation. Low-level chronic
inflammation has become an increasingly significant area of
scientific research during the past decade. Time
magazine, in a February, 2004 cover story entitled “The Secret
Killer – The Surprising Link Between Inflammation and Heart
Attacks, Cancer, Alzheimer’s and Other Diseases”, described chronic
inflammation as the “engine that drives many of the most feared
illnesses of middle and old age.”
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http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090317/STARSCIENTIFICLOGO)
The provisional patent application discloses that
S-(-)-anatabine is useful in reducing the inflammatory activity
that results in elevated blood levels of inflammation markers such
as C-reactive Protein (“CRP”). Inflammatory markers like CRP
can be used by physicians to aid in deciding a course of treatment
for an individual at risk for an inflammatory disorder or disease,
as well as in determining doses of anatabine to be administered and
in monitoring treatment of various inflammatory diseases.
S-(-)-anatabine has the potential to be particularly useful
for treating disorders involving inflammation that is associated
with Nuclear Factor-KappaB (NF-kB) mediated transcription.
NF-kB is a transcription factor that operates in cells and
participates in the immune response. NF-kB mediated
transcription is a
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