Press Release Source: DARA BioSciences, inc. On Tuesday February 15, 2011, 9:00 am EST

RALEIGH, N.C., Feb. 15, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Despite years of efforts by the government and medical associations to educate the public about the dangers of diabetes and the need for a healthy lifestyle, the number of Americans afflicted by this potentially life-threatening disease keeps climbing.

recent statistics from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) show that almost 26 million Americans now have diabetes, a nine percent increase since 2008. Almost 79 million have “prediabetes.” the CDC has warned that if diabetes continues on its current course, it could affect one third of all adult Americans by 2050.

new Medicines Needed

“For people who have diabetes, a healthy lifestyle and the right medication should be an important part of any treatment regimen,” explains internist and nephrologist Steve Grossman, MD, a clinician with more than 25 years of drug development experience in cardiovascular, critical care and metabolic diseases, who is medical consultant to DARA Biosciences and Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the North Carolina School of Medicine. “But medicines currently available may treat only one part of the problem at a time — high cholesterol, or high triglycerides or elevated blood sugar. That requires the patient to take multiple drugs to control the problem, increasing the chances for drug interactions and side effects.”

one medicine in Phase 1 clinical development — DARA Biosciences’ DB959 — appears to have a positive effect on cholesterol and triglycerides while it also lowers blood sugar — without causing the weight gain seen with other drugs of its type. It is a PPAR (peroxisome proliferator activated receptor) agonist but is in a different chemical class from the PPAR agonist drugs currently on the market.

Although it is in the early stages of development, the pharmacologists working on it think the drug is quite promising. the Company plans to present detailed results about the drug at an upcoming scientific meeting in the first half of 2011.

with greater frequency, large pharmaceutical companies are turning to early stage development companies like DARA as an attractive and affordable option to grown-at-home drug discovery and development (which may cost as much as $1 billion dollars per drug and require more than 10 years from discovery to commercialization) or company acquisitions which may, in the end, have an even higher price tag in terms of financial arrangements, real estate expansions or sales, employee redundancies, operational revamping and drugs that simply don’t materialize.

In fact, the Federal government recently announced that, because of the slowness of new drug development and cutbacks in research by large pharmaceutical companies, a new government drug development center will be established.

“Diabetes is the disease most underrated by the U.S. public,” explains Richard a. Franco, who has been a pharmacist, senior strategist for a multi-national pharmaceutical giant, an entrepreneur and now, CEO/President of DARA BioSciences. “The general public doesn’t have the appropriate fear of diabetes because it can be silent for years — advancing without overt symptoms. but make no mistake about it — it can lead to heart disease, kidney disease, blindness, stroke and death.”

Franco cofounded DARA BioSciences in 2003, as a company devoted to identifying and licensing promising early stage development drugs that tackle some of the biggest disease threats. he says DB959′s ability to impact lipids and lower blood sugar is novel. Preclinical studies demonstrated a good safety and efficacy profile for DB959. a Phase 1 clinical study determined that single doses of the drug were safe and well tolerated, and that the drug will likely be a once-a-day drug.

For more information, visit darabiosciences.com

About DARA BioSciences, inc.

DARA BioSciences, inc. (Nasdaq:DARA – News) is a Raleigh, North Carolina based biopharmaceutical development company that acquires promising therapeutic candidates and develops them through proof of concept in humans for subsequent sale or out-licensing to larger pharmaceutical companies. Presently DARA has two drug candidates with cleared IND (Investigational new Drug) Applications from the United States FDA. the Company has a pipeline of diverse drug candidates at various stages of development, with 82 granted patents and 56 pending applications (US and foreign). the first drug candidate KRN5500 has successfully completed a Phase 2 clinical trial treating neuropathic pain in patients with cancer. KRN5500 met its primary endpoint and was statistically significantly (p=0.03) better than placebo. a second Phase 2 clinical trial is planned during the first half of 2011. the second drug candidate DB959 is a highly selective, non-thiazolidinedione (TZD), first-in-class dual PPAR (peroxisome proliferator activated receptor) delta/gamma agonist in development for type 2 diabetes. a Phase 1a clinical study for DB959 was successfully completed in 2010 with a multiple ascending dose trial planned for the first half of 2011. In addition, DARA owns CPT-1 inhibitors intended for topical application for patients with psoriasis, a library of DDPIV inhibitors and a diverse library of approximately 1800 PPAR agonists of various molecular modalities. PPAR receptors are found throughout the human body and recent publications report that PPAR agonists may be useful in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, cystic fibrosis, liver disease, and a variety of autoimmune diseases. because its diverse PPAR library has the potential to address the unmet medical needs of these diseases, the Company plans to explore several of these indications.

About Prediabetes

the American Diabetes Association defines prediabetes – blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. recent research has shown that some long-term damage to the body, especially the heart and circulatory system, may already be occurring during prediabetes.

Safe Harbor Statement

All statements in this news release that are not historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements are subject to factors that could cause actual results to differ materially for DARA from those projected. those factors include risks and uncertainties relating to DARA’s current cash position and its need to raise additional capital in order to be able to continue to fund its operations, the potential delisting of DARA’s common stock from the NASDAQ Capital Market, DARA’s limited operating history which may make it difficult to evaluate DARA’s business and future viability, DARA’s ability to retain its managerial personnel and to attract additional personnel, DARA’s ability to successfully develop and outlicense its drug candidates as anticipated, the current regulatory environment in which the company develops and sells its products, the market acceptance of those products, dependence on partners, successful performance under collaborative and other commercial agreements, potential product liability risks that could exceed our liability coverage, competition from other pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies and other research and academic institutions, the strength of DARA’s intellectual property, the intellectual property of others and other risk factors identified in the documents DARA has filed, or will file, with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Copies of DARA’s filings with the SEC may be obtained from the SEC Internet site at sec.gov. DARA expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in DARA’s expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such statements are based. DARA BioSciences and the DARA logo are trademarks of DARA BioSciences, inc.

What is Fatty Liver?

Fatty liver is otherwise called as the fatty liver disease (FLD). This is a reversible condition which is caused by the triglyceride fat accumulation in liver cells. it is seen world wide and it has multiple causes which mainly includes excessive alcohol intake.

Progressive inflammation of the liver occurs in accumulation of fat and it is called steatohepatitis. Contribution of this condition by alcohol is called alcoholic steatosis. Fatty liver is commonly caused either by alcohol or metabolic diseases (ex.diabetes, obesity) and other causes include nutritional, drugs and toxins, and other causes.

Metabolic: glycogen storage disease, lipodystrophy and wolman disease.

Other: Inflammatory bowel disease and Hepatitis C.

Fatty change represents the intra-cytoplasmic accumulation of triglyceride. in the beginning stage the hepatocytes present small fat vacuoles around the nucleus. in the later stage liver cells are filled with multiple fat droplets that do not displace the centrally located nucleus. in the later stages, the size of the vacuoles increases pushing the nucleus to the periphery of the cell giving characteristic signet ring appearance and it is called macrovesicular fatty change.

Inflammation is accompanied in severe fatty liver disease and this condition is called the steatohepatititis. Most of the affected individuals are asymptomatic. The fatty liver is noticed while undergoing incidental check ups and by abnormal liver function tests or the hepatomegaly is noted in unrelated medical condtions. There are cases where elevated liver biochemistry is found, this is applicable in 50% of patients with simple steatosis. Ultrasonography reveals a bright liver with increased echogenicity. Histological diagnosis by liver biopsy is sought when assessment of severity is indicated.

The treatment is based on treating the underlying causes and it depends on what is causing it. The process of steatosis is able to be reversed if implemented at an early stage. Fatty liver disease, unlike other diseases, it proceeds in a gradual and harmful way. in fact, fatty liver symptoms are very larger than other diseases. Recognizing the fatty liver disease is easier when it is known to them.

Fatty liver symptoms:

1. Fatty liver diseases in most of the cases experience no symptoms and especially in the early stage of the disease.

2. Mild form of fatty liver symptoms and its damage is not revealed in the liver tests. But, even a mild form of fatty liver disease affects two things which are dependent on the liver. One is the metabolism and another one is the drug clearing systems.

3. Several diseases are generated or manifested by the fatty liver diseases. they are such as diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity and it is due to low metabolism as well. Fatty liver symptoms and the disease may also cause frequent cold, rashes and allergies due to immune system deregulation.

4. The delicate or minute fatty liver symptoms are many as said earlier and they are very broad. Fatty liver disease symptoms include dizziness, coated tongue, (first fatty liver symptoms in most of the cases), tiredness, and the formation of circles under the eyes, a feel of bloating, headaches. The liver is enlarged in some cases. The enlarged liver may felt by pressing on the abdomen and by palpating. This enlarged liver is smooth normally during the earlier stages and it does not have any pain or tenderness.

5. Generally, when excessive alcohol intake is not stopped, or the underlying causes are not identified earlier, the liver gets changed, the liver can progress and lead to the development of other liver related diseases. These include alcoholic liver cirrhosis and alcoholic hepatitis.

6. Alcoholic liver cirrhosis is in its advanced stage, the liver becomes scarred, hardens and shrinked. in alcoholic hepatitis, the liver is inflamed and necrosis of liver tissue occurs due to alcohol. it is the fact that alcoholic cirrhosis and alcoholic hepatitis may occur together at the same time.

7. in the above disease, the skin and eyes become yellow in color, poor appetite, fatigue, weight loss and weakness appears. Pain originates from the right upper side of the stomach. in some cases bleeding occur, bruising, leg swelling (edema), swelling in abdomen (ascites) appears.

8. Portal hypertension is another symptom (increased blood pressure in the abdomen) and it causes the veins of the esophagus to swell. These swelling may result in burst and internal hemorrhage. The liver damage in severe cases causes failure to filter toxins from the blood resulting in brain damage called hepatic encephalopathy.

9. Advanced liver disease complications end in liver failure and kidney failure which are life threatening symptoms and in very rare cases liver cancer is caused.

Fatty liver treatment:

It is easy to start the fatty liver treatment once the disease is diagnosed. The fatty liver treatment could be classified in to four easy steps and the fifth one is optional.

1. The first step is very simple. it is nothing but removing the cause of the fatty liver disease symptoms. The causes may vary from individuals. it may be alcohol or caffeine. it may be a drug prescribed by the doctor. (A care should be taken before withdrawing the drug). Other than these things it may be due to recreational drugs or even homeopathic medicines.

2. The next step or the second one is with the diet and its adjustments. The diet should be modified for the patients who are having the fatty liver disease symptoms. The diet should have rich vegetables, fruits and it should have only a little quantity of animal products. These types of diet will reverse the liver damage. certain all other methods could only accelerate the process in advanced cases.

3. The third easy step in the fatty liver treatment is exercise. This third step is very helpful in burning the fat and as soon as the third step is started, it signals the liver to start burning the fat and the fat inside the cell is burnt.

4. The fourth step of the fatty liver treatment is using some herbal supplements. This enables the damaged liver to regenerate. The examples of herbal supplements are milk thistle, turmeric, ginger and many herbal products are available as supplements as well.

5. The fifth and final step in the fatty liver treatment is liver detoxification (reduction of the toxic properties of a substance and treatment designed to assist in recovery from the toxic effects of a drug). This detoxification would naturally helpful in kick-starting the healing programme of the damaged liver.

We hope this would help you in many aspects!! Comments are always appreciated!!