Health Highlights: April 30, 2005

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Tougher Steroid Penalties Sought in Baseball

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig has asked players to agree to a 50-game suspension for a first-time steroid offense and a lifetime ban for a third violation under what he called a "3-strikes-and-you-are-out" approach to doping.

In a letter sent this week to union head Donald Fehr, Selig proposed a 100-game ban for a second offense, the Associated Press reported Saturday. He also asked the union to ban amphetamines, to have more frequent random tests and to appoint an independent person to administer the major league drug-testing program.

"Third offenders should be banned permanently. I recognize the need for progressive discipline, but a third-time offender has no place in the game," Selig wrote to Fehr. "Steroid users cheat the game. After three offenses, they have no place in it."

Under the rules that began this season, a first offense gets a 10-day suspension, with the penalty increasing to 30 days for a second positive test, 60 days for a third and one year for a fourth. For a fifth positive, the penalty is at the commissioner''s discretion.

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Diabetes Drug Derived From Lizard Wins FDA Approval

A drug derived from the saliva of the Gila monster lizard was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday as a way for type 2 diabetics to better control their blood sugar levels.

Byetta (exenatide) is the first among a new class of diabetes drugs called incretin mimetics -- synthetic medications that mimic action of a hormone that spurs insulin production after a person eats and blood sugar levels rise above a certain threshold. Traditional diabetes drugs that promote insulin production do so even if glucose levels aren''t high enough, which could cause a dangerous low blood-sugar condition called hypoglycemia.

Byetta, derived from the lizard''s saliva, mimics that action of the human hormone GLP-1, which prompts the body to secrete insulin and is also thought to play a role in deciding when a person feels full.

In a statement, makers Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly & Co. said the drug was initially approved to be used in combination with older oral medications that control diabetes. They said they soon expect to apply for FDA approval of Byetta as a stand-alone treatment.

Common side effects of the drug were nausea and decreased appetite. The companies said Byetta should be available in pharmacies by June 1.

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Garlic Cuts Heart Risks, Research Finds

Garlic supplements appear to dramatically cut the build-up of fatty deposits in the arteries, new German research claims.

In laboratory tests, the formation of early deposits, or "nanoplaques," was cut by up to 40 percent and the size of existing deposits was cut by 20 percent after exposure to a powdered garlic supplement, according to news reports.

The findings were presented Friday at the American Heart Association meeting in Washington DC.

Prof. Gunter Siegel, from the University of Medicine in Berlin, who led the study, said the results would have to be confirmed in a clinical trial. But, he added, "We expect this research to further garlic''s role as significant in helping medical professionals develop effective natural therapies for reducing cardiovascular risk."

Garlic contains allicin, which is known to thin the blood, inhibit clotting and reduce levels of the harmful form of cholesterol, Nanoplaque formation, the first stage of the deposit build-up that leads to narrowing of the arteries, is triggered when LDL or "bad" cholesterol binds to the cells lining blood vessel walls.

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Eli Lilly Halts Trial of Pediatric Sepsis Treatment

Eli Lilly has ended a pediatric study of its sepsis treatment Xigris, saying the drug appeared to offer little benefit for children who had the bloodstream infection.

Lilly announced the move in a letter written last week to researchers and other medical professionals. The letter was released Friday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Associated Press reported.

Xigris (drotrecogin alfa) was approved in 2001 for adults with severe sepsis at high risk of dying from the blood infection. The FDA had requested additional research of the drug''s effects on children. The just-ended study involved 400 children, half of whom were given the drug and the other half a non-medicinal placebo. Children already treated will continue to be tracked to see how they fare, Lilly said in its letter.

Sepsis kills more than 200,000 Americans each year, the AP said.

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Experts: U.S. Should Hear Radiation Fallout Claims

The U.S. government should begin to hear claims from people in all 50 states who think they were affected by nuclear fallout from 1950s weapons tests in Nevada, a panel of experts has suggested.

However, cancer victims would have the difficult task of proving that the nuclear fallout actually caused their illnesses, the experts commissioned by the National Research Council said.

Data obtained since 1990 suggest that people as far away as the East Coast of the United States could have been exposed to radiation carried by wind and other weather patterns from Nevada test sites, the Associated Press reported.

Fifteen years ago when it apologized to local victims of the Nevada fallout, the federal government set up a compensation fund that made people eligible for lump-sum payments of $50,000 to $100,000. It wasn''t immediately clear from the expert panel''s recommendations, which were issued on Thursday, whether they would encourage Congress to expand eligibility for the compensation fund, the AP said.

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Glaxo Corrects Defects in Two Drugs

Drug company GlaxoSmithKline has signed a consent decree with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that it has corrected the causes of manufacturing defects in the antidepressant Paxil CR and the diabetes drug Avandamet.

The agreement means that the two drugs could be back on the market by the middle of this year, months earlier than expected, The New York Times reported.

In February, Glaxo recalled some batches of Paxil that were splitting apart. In March, the FDA shut the Cidra, Puerto Rico, plant that makes Paxil and Avandamet and also seized inventories of the two drugs stored in Knoxville, Tenn.

The defective Paxil CR tablets that split apart had one half a tablet with no medication and another half with no buffering product. Some Avandamet pills contained inconsistent doses of medicine, the Times reported.

The company also agreed to put an independent observer at the factory in Cidra.