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Man arrested for selling fake crystal ... Police investigating reports of shots fired in west Medford ... Our View: Holder leaves mixed civil rights legacy ... Man arrested for selling fake crystal ... Police investigating reports of shots fired in west Medford ... MEDICINE Medford clinics testing experimental treatments Two research clinics are testing dozens of new drugs or treatments to combat conditions such as chronic pain, low testosterone, dust mite allergies, diabetes and more. By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune Posted Aug. 31, 2014 @ 2:00 am By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune Posted Aug. 31, 2014 @ 2:00 am Study targets cat allergies --> Despite suffering from itchy eyes and skin, sneezing, coughing, rashes and even asthma, many people with cat allergies hate the idea of giving up the family pet. A new... » Read more X Study targets cat allergies Despite suffering from itchy eyes and skin, sneezing, coughing, rashes and even asthma, many people with cat allergies hate the idea of giving up the family pet. A new shot could provide relief for millions of people who are allergic to cats. “It's a special dilemma when you find you're allergic to the family pet,” said Dr. Edward Kerwin, who treats patients with allergies at t he Allergy and Asthma Center of Southern Oregon and studies investigational drugs at the affiliated Clinical Research Institute of Southern Oregon in Medford. The institute conducted a clinical trial of a cat allergy shot made by the British pharmaceutical company Circassia last winter. The institute is enrolling patients for another clinical trial of the shot that will start in October. To more clearly measure the shot's effects, the cat allergy studies are done in the winter when people are suffering fewer symptoms from pollen allergies, Kerwin said. “So far everyone has had a good response. We didn't see bothersome side effects," he said. "Most patients are able to hold their cats more and play with their cats." To be eligible, patients must be allergic to cats and have at least one cat at home, Kerwin said. Approximately 10 million Americans are allergic to cats, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. Cats are kept in 27 percent of homes in the United States and dogs are kept in 32 percent. Yet people report twice as many allergies to cats as to dogs, the American Lung Association said. People with cat allergies have immune systems that overreact to proteins found in cat saliva, sweat, feces, urine and flecks of skin called dander that flake off, the association said. The British drug company has broken cat dander into tiny fragments that are injected into patients once a month for eight months, Kerwin said. Cat allergy shots have been available for years, but patients have had to go to a doctor's office for weekly shots for 18 to 25 weeks as doses are increased over time. The shots sometimes caused itching and swelling, he said. "It's fairly laborious and time-consuming," Kerwin said. The new shots deliver a high dose right away that doesn't cause allergy symptoms but does increase tolerance to cat proteins, he said. Kerwin said injecting fragments of cat proteins into people is similar to training a guard dog to recognize and not attack family members. The shots decrease the immune system's overreaction to allergens. While only people with cats at home can enroll in the clinical trial, Kerwin said people without pets also suffer from cat allergies. "Cat dander is not just in homes. Grocery stores, shops and schools all have cat dander," he said. "Everyone is exposed to cat dander out in the environment." That's also why telling people with cat allergies to get rid of the family pet doesn't solve the problem, he said. "I as an allergist see people with allergies to their pets. I would hardly ever ask them to get rid of their pets," Kerwin said. If the cat stays in the home, keep it out of the bedroom of anyone with allergies or asthma. Do not allow the pet on furniture and keep it away from carpets. Clean the home often and do not allow dust to accumulate, the American Lung Association recommends. In households where a family member has pet allergies, the best way to protect indoor air quality is to remove the animal from the home, the association said. Pet allergens may stay in the home for months after the pet is gone. Allergy and asthma symptoms may take weeks or months to improve, the association said. For more information about the clinical trial of the cat allergy shot, call Kerwin's office at 541-858-1003. Reach reporter Vickie Aldous at 541-776-4486 or by email at [email protected] . » Social News A device being tested in Medford that sends electricity through the brain could help relieve pain in patients suffering from fibromyalgia. It's just one of dozens of new medical treatments and drugs being tested by two clinical research centers in Medford. The treatments could ease suffering from a variety of conditions, including chronic pain, low testosterone in men, dust mite allergies, diabetes and chronic pulmonary obstructive disease, commonly known as COPD. "It's an exciting time in medical research," said Dr. Edward Kerwin, medical director of the Clinical Research Institute of Southern Oregon on Crater Lake Avenue and founder of the Allergy and Asthma Center of Southern Oregon. "Sometimes we think America is not making progress the way it used to. But the U.S. and other countries are making great improvements." Sunstone Medical Research, which also conducts clinical trials in Medford, is testing the fibromyalgia device at its center on East Barnett Road. "It sends a mild electrical current across the brain," said Dr. Chris Alftine, a primary principal investigator with Sunstone. "It's been successful in Europe in treating mild depression. The voltage is less than an AA battery." Researchers believe patients with fibromyalgia have higher levels of neurotransmitters in the brain that signal pain. The brain's pain receptors also overreact to pain signals, according to the Mayo Clinic, which has campuses across the nation. Alftine said magnetic resonance imaging shows dramatic differences in the pain areas of fibromyalgia patients' brains compared to people who don't have the disorder. "They literally experience more pain," he said. Sunstone also has conducted clinical trials on an innovative drug that could replace opioid painkillers. Concern about opioids is rising in the Rogue Valley and across the nation because of their addictive nature and side effects that include sedation, constipation and sometimes lethal respiratory depression. Prescription opioids can also serve as a gateway drug to street narcotics such as heroin. "The possibility we could move away from opioids exists," Alftine said. A class of pain medication called monoclonal antibodies works by attacking proteins that are part of the body's ability to detect pain from chronic conditions, he said. "They wipe out the body's ability to sense needless pain. The antibody finds the protein in the bloodstream and binds to it. The body clears it out as foreign," Alftine said. The antibodies showed powerful pain-relieving effects when tested at Sunstone, he said. "We gave the drug to people with chronic, severe back pain and it evaporated without them having to use narcotics," Alftine said. The Food and Drug Administration stopped trials of the drug after higher rates of hip arthritis and replacements occurred in patients, he said. Alftine believes patients may have had underlying hip problems that worsened when they suddenly increased their physical activity after experiencing pain relief. He hopes trials of the drug can continue in the future. Alftine said Sunstone conducts clinical trials of drugs that have been tested for initial safety in humans. The drugs previously have been tested on animals and then on human volunteers without the medical problems being studied. At Sunstone, drugs are given to participants with the diseases being studied, Alftine said. Sunstone's job is to recruit subjects, know clinical trial protocols, administer trial treatments, collect data and monitor the health of subjects. To ensure research is neutral or "blind," Sunstone doesn't analyze the data, he said. Government agencies, foundations and other organizations, individuals and pharmaceutical companies usually pay for clinical trials, according to the National Cancer Institute. Common side effects during trials at Sunstone include nausea, rashes and yeast infections, Alftine said. While the majority of study participants receive research drugs, a minority will receive placebos, he said. "Our primary problem is patients don't feel a benefit and want to stop participating because the drug is not working or they're getting the placebo," Alftine said. Study participants can drop out of trials whenever they want, he said. He said patients experience improvements in more than half of studies when given test medications. While some people enroll in studies because they believe they will get cutting-edge medical care, Alftine cautioned clinical research should not be confused with medical treatment. "We don't do trials to treat people. We do trials to test drugs. If patients benefit, that's a bonus," he said. Helen, a Phoenix resident who asked that her last name not be used, has enrolled in several clinical trials at Sunstone as she battles COPD. Affecting an estimated 24 million Americans, COPD is an umbrella term for progressive lung diseases characterized by increasing breathlessness, according to the Washington, D.C.-based COPD Foundation. Reliant on Social Security payments, Helen, 79, uses money she earns from the trials to pay for car repairs and other needs. "I think of it as a part-time job," Helen said. Study participants often are reimbursed for their time and travel expenses. A former smoker, she uses supplemental oxygen while sleeping, driving, shopping for groceries and doing small chores such as cleaning her cats' litter boxes. She has to pay someone else to do chores like vacuuming. "After I clean the litter boxes and walk down the hall, I'm gasping for air," Helen said. During one drug trial with Sunstone, she said she felt no different and believes she may have received a placebo. Helen said she felt better during other trials. "I wasn't as out of breath. I felt like I was breathing better," she said. She has experienced various side effects, including hoarseness when she would blow into a device to measure her lung function, as well as a deep cough. Helen doesn't expect a cure from the trials. She also has congestive heart failure and hopes her heart gives out before she reaches the end stages of COPD, when patients can experience gasping and a sense of suffocation. "Dying of COPD is not very pleasant," she said. "It's going to kill me. Smokers beware. You can get COPD through secondhand smoke, too." Alftine said various classes of COPD drugs being tested by Sunstone work in different ways. They can dilate the airways by relaxing muscle tissue lining the airways, or suppress airway inflammation, which leads to less mucous production and fewer spasms. The Clinical Research Institute focuses on trials related to COPD, asthma and allergies. The institute plans to test inhaled insulin — which could replace insulin injections for diabetics — to see whether it's as effective in people with COPD and asthma, Kerwin said. Another trial tests whether a pill placed under the tongue could relieve dust mite allergies, he said. A new inhaler that combines three different medicines could be an improvement over current dual-medicine inhalers, Kerwin said. Sunstone conducts more wide-ranging clinical trials, including pill and injectable treatments for men with low testosterone, drugs for overactive bladder, a gel for diabetic foot ulcers and drugs to counteract constipation caused by opioid painkillers. Kerwin said there is exciting research going on in the Rogue Valley that could have widespread benefits. "We're working with very novel treatments," he said. Reach reporter Vickie Aldous at 541-776-4486 or by email at [email protected]. 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