WASHINGTON, July 28 /EMWNews/ -- Genomas(R), a biomedical company

advancing DNA-guided medicine and personalized healthcare, announced its

participation in the symposium to be held today entitled Pharmacogenomics

of Statin Safety and Efficacy at the Annual Meeting of the American

Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC). Gualberto Ruano, MD, PhD,

President and CEO of Genomas, is the symposium's chairman and will talk

about The Pathway to DNA-Guided Statin Therapy.






    The symposium participants are:

    Ronald M. Krauss, MD

    Children's Hospital and

    Oakland Research Institute



    Stewart H. Lecker, MD, PhD

    Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and

    Harvard Medical School



    Georgirene Vladutiu, PhD

    School of Medicine and

    Biomedical Sciences

    SUNY at Buffalo

    Statins are the most prescribed drugs in the world. These drugs offer

effective strategies to reduce cardiovascular disease and improve survival.

Drugs in this class include atorvastatin, rosuvastatin, and simvastatin.



    However, there are clinically relevant safety risks for some patients.

Statin-induced neuromyopathy (SINM) may present as muscle aches (myalgia),

cramps, weakness, and muscle injury (myositis, monitored in serum by

elevation of certain enzymes). SINM is more frequent at the higher doses

required for treating advanced heart disease and varies in extent between

individual statins and from patient to patient.



    The symposium will describe the progress of DNA-guided medicine with

respect to statin therapy. The participants will describe class-wide and

drug- specific genetic associations with statin lipid lowering and

neuromyopathy, explore clinical relevance, and survey directions for future

research, particularly the utilization of total genome arrays.



    New research from an actuarial analysis supported by Genomas of over 4

million commercially insured persons from 2004 to 2006 will be presented by

Dr. Ruano. The incidence of SINM in new high-risk patients was 17% and the

incidence of SINM in new and existing patients with coronary artery disease

was 21%. Dr. Ruano will also discuss statin pharmacogenetic results from

the consortium including Genomas, Hartford Hospital, University of

California San Francisco and Rogosin Institute, which is funded by a

recently awarded $1.2 million NIH grant.



    "We are seriously motivated about the role we can play in addressing

what has been an underappreciated health issue that affects millions of

people," said Dr. Ruano. "This presentation at AACC is part of a series of

upcoming forums for Genomas to present its research and product development

efforts, and to engage with international thought leaders." The AACC Annual

Meeting is one of the premiere international forums for laboratory medicine

and the clinical diagnostics industry.



    ABOUT GENOMAS



    Genomas(R) Inc. is a biomedical company advancing DNA-guided medicine

and personalized healthcare. The company develops revolutionary

PhyzioType(TM) Systems for DNA-guided diagnosis and prevention of metabolic

disorders induced by drugs in cardiovascular and psychiatric medicine.

PhyzioType Systems provide physicians with the unprecedented capability to

select for each patient the safest drug treatment to enhance compliance.

Please access http://www.genomas.net .