Gamma Therapeutics Founder & CSO, Dr. David Farrell, to Speak at American Heart Association Conf.

April 29, 2011 - PRLog -- April 29, 2011--Portland, Oregon-Gamma Therapeutics, Inc., an Oregon biotech venture
developing diagnostic test and surgical therapy solutions for the cardiovascular disease (CVD) industry, announced today that Dr. David H. Farrell, GT’s Founder and CSO, and a professor of medicine in the OHSU Division of Cardiovascular Medicine will present scientific research related to his three decades of research in fibrinogen, hemostasis and thrombosis in the human body at the Annual American Heart Association ATVB Conference in Chicago, IL, April 28-30, 2011.

Titled, “Genome-Wide Association Study of y’ Fibrinogen Levels in the Framingham Offspring Cohort (1),” Dr. Farrell’s talk focuses on Gamma Prime Fibrinogen, a naturally occurring clotting protein in human blood. Gamma Prime Fibrinogen is a carrier protein for Factor XIII zymogen; a thrombin binding site; forms clots that are resistant to fibrinolysis, and; has been shown to have a strong and significant correlation with cardiovascular and coronary heart disease.

The Framingham Heart Study, inaugurated in 1947, is currently the longest continuing study of cardiovascular disease risk in the world. The most recent studies by Dr. David Farrell, the Framingham investigators and Dr. Rehana Lovely, Missouri State University, was published in the Journal of Clinical Chemistry 2010:56:781-8, and titled, “y’ Fibrinogen: Evaluation of a New Assay for Study of Associations with Cardiovascular Disease.” (2)  

Leading cardiovascular disease research, such as the Framingham Heart Study (2), the Stockholm Coronary Artery Risk Factor Study (3), and the Penn State University CAD Study (4) continue to focus on coronary heart disease, heart attack, and their causes, with the goal of developing new diagnostic cardiac biomarkers, therapies, and preventative care programs to reduce mortality.    

Dr. Farrell has applied his CVD research and launched a new diagnostic test and surgical therapy venture start-up called Gamma Therapeutics with the goal of developing and commercializing a novel cardiovascular risk assay called GammaCoeur™, based upon the use of Gamma Prime Fibrinogen as a potential cardiac biomarker for heart attack and stroke.

According to Dr. Farrell, “We believe the GammaCoeur CVD Risk Assay will one day be a diagnostic test of choice for physicians, along with traditional tests in use today, assisting them in better predicting cardiac events and implementing preventative care programs to treat patient disease before costly drug regimens and invasive cardiac surgery are required.”  
 

About Gamma Therapeutics, Inc. Gamma Therapeutics (GT) is an Oregon early stage biotechnology venture developing a novel class of diagnostic test and surgical therapy solutions for the cardiovascular disease industry. Patented and patent-pending
GT products under development include the GammaCoeur CVD Risk Assay, the GammaSeal™ Surgical Incision Sealant, and the Gammarin™ Anticoagulant Blood Thinner.  Gamma Therapeutics is headquartered at  2611 SW Third Avenue, Suite 280N, Portland, Oregon 97201. For more information, go to the Gamma Therapeutics website at:
www.gamma-therapeutics.com

Media Contact:

David Eastman, CEO
deastman@gamma-therapeutics.com
503.222.2313

(1)   ATVB Presentation:  “Genome-Wide Association Study of y' Fibrinogen Levels in the Framingham Offspring Cohort, ” David H Farrell, Oregon Health & Science University;  Rehana S Lovely, Missouri State Univ, Springfield, MO; Qiong Yang, Joseph M Massaro, Ralph B D'Agostino, Boston Univ, Boston, MA; Christopher J O'Donnell, Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA; Jackilen Shannon, Oregon Health & Science Univ,

Study References:

(2)   Framingham Heart Study: Lovely et al. y' Fibrinogen: Evaluation of a New Assay for Study of Associations with Cardiovascular Disease. Clinical Chemistry 2010; 56: 781-8
(3)   Stockholm Coronary Artery Risk Factor Study: Mannila et al. Elevated Plasma Fibrinogen y’ Concentration Increases Risk of Myocardial Infarction: Effects of Genetic Variation in Fibrinogen Genes and Environmental Factors.  Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis 2007; 5: 766-73
(4)   Penn State University CAD Study: Lovely et al. Association of yA/y' Fibrinogen Levels and Coronary Artery Disease.  Thrombosis and Haemostasis 2002; 88: 26-31

.
™GammaCoeur, GammaSeal, Gammarin, the  products, and  Gamma Therapeutics, the company name, letter type and logomark, are trademarks of  Gamma Therapeutics, Inc., Portland, Oregon. All Rights Reserved ©Copyright, 2011

# # #

Gamma Therapeutics, Inc.,is an Oregon-based early stage biotech research and development venture developing products to address the need for diagnostic testing and surgical therapy products in the fast growing cardiovascular disease (CVD) market.