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Vivus Pharmaceuticals, who are developing the experimental slimming drug Qnexa, have announced that they have been issued with three new patents for the drug.

The three new patents now mean that the firm has 4 patents for the medication, which is being developed as an investigational new candidate for the treatment of obesity. One provides the company with protection over broad composition of matter, while another provides expanded protection over how Qnexa is used with overweight patients.

The final patent is regarding the dosage of the medication, the formulations for controlled released and how other conditions, such as sleep apnoea, can be treated with the drug.

Clinical trials have shown that as well as treating obesity, Qnexa could also be used to help sufferers of sleep apnoea, a frustrating condition where the nasal passages narrow during sleep, causing sufferers to wake up regularly with a snore. As well as being irritating, it can cause high blood pressure and other health problems.

The president of Vivus, Peter Tam, said that by having the patents granted, the intellectual propretty coverage afforded to Qnexa was considerably expanded and added that they believed the grandint of the patents indicated that the Patents Office recognised the unique aspects of the treatment.

The patents mean that should Qnexa be approved by the regulators, it will be protected until 2020.  

A new study has mapped out a person’s sexual life expectancy, with an average man of 30 years able to look forward to a further 34.7 sexually active years and a woman 30.7 years.

The study examined data taken from a variety of surveys involving over 3,000 people. In one, 84% of men aged between 57 and 64 had been sexually active during the previous year, regardless of whether they were married or living with someone. 62% of women said that had been sexually active.

When older people were asked, those in the 75 to 85 age bracket, the number fell to 39% of men who said they had engaged in sexual activity, compared to 17% of women. 71% of the men who were sexually active said that they were having good sex, with again a lower number of women (51%) saying the same thing.

Almost 50% of those who took part in the survey said they felt they were in excellent health and those who were feeling well were twice as likely as those in poor health to be sexually active.

It was suggested that men stay sexually active for longer because they tend to marry younger women. It was also pointed out that women tend to outlive their partners, meaning that while men in their 70s and 80s may be with their partners women at the same age are more likely to be widows.

Coinciding with today’s national No Smoking Day, fire officials have released figures showing that cigarettes are the cause of a third of deaths in accidental house fires.

Despite the shocking figures, a poll taken for the day showed that over half of all smokers were unaware of the danger and did not know that smoking is the biggest cause of all fatal house fires.

The Chief Fire and Rescue advisor for the Government, Sir. Ken Knight, said: “"People need to be aware of the risks of smoking in the home."

No Smoking Day has also seen a quit-smoking app launch on Facebook which promises to ‘make quitting fun’. The application will let users create rewards when they succeed, challenge friends to do the same thing, and even quit for charity, raising money through sponsorship when they succeed. When they trip up, they can also set up forfeits for themselves.

No Smoking Day has been running for 27 years and receives funding from a combination of government bodies, charities and not-for-profit organisations.

The president of No Smoking Day Duncan Bannatyne said his team believed that quitting is a challenge and that rather than being a chore,  it should be enjoyable and inspiring, hence the positive message of the Facebook app.

Well, we’re not sure if quitting will ever be enjoyable, but we wish the very best of luck to all those who are making the attempt. There are so many ways you can get help, from counselling groups to nicotine replacement to Champix, but the main thing is having the will power and the belief that your life can be better without cigarettes!

Those trying to lose weight are generally told to avoid alcohol, due to its high calorie content. However scientists from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston in the U.S have claimed that women who drink moderate amounts of wine are less likely to gain weight than those who stick to mineral water.

Studying data provided by over 19,000 women the scientists discovered over 13 years, all the women tended to gain weight but the 37% of respondents who said they never drank tended to gain the most weight.

The women’s weight also went up or down according to which alcohol they preferred, with those drinking red wine gaining the most weight and those choosing beer and spirits putting on the most.

The results from the study suggest that calories from alcohol are less detrimental to weight than those in other foods. It also could mean that our body’s mechanism for digesting alcohol is more complex than scientists previously realised.

Some researchers have posited the theory that people who regularly drink alcohol will see their liver’s develop a separate pathway to break down alcohol, turning excess energy into heat rather than fat.

The report has been published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. To celebrate its publication, I will be opening a bottle of Merlot, safe in the knowledge that with every slug I’m getting thinner.

Even the president of the U.S is not immune to the health problems that afflict most of us as we get older – apparently Barack Obama has slightly raised cholesterol.

Reporters were surprised when after taking the presidential motorcade to give a speech on Monday, the President chose to walk back to the White House through Layfayette Park in Washington. He told them that he was trying to walk of his cholesterol, which he attributed to the year spent campaigning.

He revealed that after having a physical exam on Sunday his doctor told him that the levels of the ‘bad’ cholesterol LDL in his blood had risen to the borderline level (meaning they were becoming a concern) since his last exam in 2007.

White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs said that the rise was a result of too many cheeseburgers and desserts. He joked with reporters that though they all thought Obama was very conscious about his health and ‘carried arugula in his pocket to snack on’, the president actually has a very sweet tooth.

He said that as Obama has access to kitchen staff and a pastry chef, sweet foods were more available so the president was more likely to indulge his love of desserts.

It is not known whether the president will be starting on statins to lower his cholesterol.

The physical also revealed that President Obama has still not managed to quit smoking, though he has previously spoken about his struggles to give up. Mr. Gibbs said that he was very aware of the example he sets to America’s youth and knows that his addiction is not a ‘good thing’ for either his children or those throughout the States to see.

An 85-year old man has had his dying wish granted to him – that the hearse bearing his coffin should display the sign, ‘Smoking Killed Me’.

Dick Whittamore wanted the bleak message to act as a warning to youngsters who might be tempted to take up the habit. As the hearse drove through Dover towards the cemetery, passers-by stopped to watch.

Mr Whittamore, who worked as an assistant theatre manager, for many years suffered from the lung disease emphysema. The illness is painful and sufferers experience difficulty breathing and is caused by the toxins in cigarette smoke.

Friends said that while working for the Hippodrome theatre, Mr. Whittaker proved himself an inspired publicist, hence the bold move to make people more aware of the dangers of cigerettes.  He was a heavy smoker when he was younger and was eager to prevent people making the same mistakes.

He designed the sign to look like the warnings displayed on cigarette packets and the funeral directors, Sullivan and Sons,  were instructed to also leave the sign on his grave for a week.

The stop-smoking charity Quit applauded Mr. Whittacker’s actions, saying that he sent out a strong message to others to prevent them suffering.

An American man who for 30 years sold diet pills he promised would lead to effortless weight loss has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

During his career, Frank Sarcona was served with orders from numerous judges across America but continued to pay for lurid adverts in newspapers and magazines claiming the pills would make fat just disappear.

Copy included promised like, “Blast up to 49 pounds off you in only 29 days!” and “Amazing Fat-Fighting Super Pill Devours Fat!” and while thousands desperate to lose weight believed the fabulous claims, they were based on nothing but lies.

Sentencing Sarcona, U.S District Judge said that the number of people taken in by the fraud was ‘astronomical’. District Attorney Kerry Baron described how Sarcona and his partner made over $10,000,000 from 130,000 people between 2000 and 2004. Some people were promised they would be part of a clinical study, while his adverts for the Lipoban Clinic featured a Mexican doctor unliscensed in the U.S.

Mr. Sarcona claims that despite his 62 charges of fraud and the lengthy jail term, he is the victim of the government, who do not share his belief in diet pills, describing himself as a ‘champion’ for dietary supplements.

Investigators previously convicted him for a massive fraud involving pills called ‘Slim America’, where the doctor touted as his spokesperson was actually revealed to be suffering from dementia in a nursing home.

Then, Sarcona was ordered to post a $5m bond, but it was never done. However eventually the millions he made was discovered in a Bahaman bank account and the money was returned to consumers.

We at the Online Clinic think the significant jail term is an excellent step towards cracking down on the criminals who raise hopes and create false beliefs in obese patients when they promise ‘magic’ solutions. No diet pill can melt fat away and with any slimming pill, diet and exercise will always be needed for the pill to work.

The UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency have successfully carried out a raid in Bristol, resulting in the seizure of a large load of counterfeit medications.

Police from the Safer Stronger Neighbourhood team supported their collegues at the MHRA and carried out the raids at three properties, in the Newtown, Redfield and Hotwells areas of the city.

In total, the team seized counterfeit medications worth £180,000. They included the erectile dysfunction medications Viagra, Levitra and Cialis, as well as the anti-anxiety medication Diezepam. The officers also discovered a large amount of cannabis plants at one of the properties, thought to have a street value of £40,000.

Further investigation also resulted in the seizure of 1000 tablets which officials believe to be counterfeit.

So far, a 23-year old man has been arrested on suspicious of cultivating cannabis. A 28-year old man has also been arrested on suspicious of supplying counterfeit medication.

A spokesperson for the Safer Neighbourhood team, police sergeant Jon Ames, said that the branch was committed to stamping out the trade in counterfeit medication and asked for the public to contact them if they had any further information about illegal activity.

The head of enforcement for the MHRA Mike Deats warned that people who purchased medication from any other sources other than a registered pharmacy were putting their health at risk, possibly taking doses that were too high or low or even imbibing dangerous substances.

He added that those dealing in counterfeit drugs didn’t care about consumer’s health and were only interested in making money.

A new sexual health study has indicated that British women are neglecting to get themselves tested for HIV.  It is hoped that this new research will act as a ‘wake-up call’ to women in Britain, particularly to the 63% of the participants who believed that they did not need to get tested because they were in a long term relationship.

The study by the Mac Aids Fund was developed to investigate British women’s attitudes towards condoms. The results were worrying; with 82% of British women admitting to having sex without a condom, and a further 35% claiming that they trusted that their partner did not carry the HIV virus.

Despite the fact that cases of HIV and AIDS have tripled in the last ten years a total of 62% of those interviewed claimed they did not consider the disease to be a threat in their community.

Nancy Mahon, executive director of MAC Aids Fund expressed her concern at the findings and claimed that the results indicated the divergence between the perception of the disease and the reality of its prevalence in the UK.

The lack of condom use in Britain has also led to an increase in other sexually transmitted diseases. Cases of gonorrhoea, genital herpes and syphilis have all risen in number in the last decade as have cases of the symptomless condition Chlamydia.

A high profile advertising campaign highlighting the risks of unprotected sex is currently airing on TV and is hoped to raise awareness of the importance of practising safe sex to young people in Britain.

We tend to think of junk food, obesity and high cholesterol as a problem of the modern age – but apparently the ancient priests of Egypt caused as much damage to their health as we do today/

According to Egyptologists and scientists writing in The Lancet the priest’s diet, rich in fatty foods, alcohol and red meat, meant that they suffered from heart disease and tended to die early.

In ancient Egypt, the priests were expected to placehuge plates of food before the statues of the gods three times a day, in order to appease them.The gods were offering massive quantities of roasted birds, cakes, bread and oceans of beer and wine – but then the food would be divied up between the priests for them to take home to their families.  Much of the menu was extremely high in saturated fat.

The University of Manchester scientists combined translations of inscriptions on the temple walls with analysis of the priest’s mummified remains, to work out how bad their atheroscelerosis (or build up of fatty plaques in the arteries) was.

They showed that the priests were suffering from high cholesterol long before Macdonalds and fried chicken became such a problem. Of the 16 mummies they examined, 9 showed signs of atheroscelerosis. It is thought that for the peasants who made up the majority of the population, living off cereals and vegetables, high cholesterol was very far from being a problem.

Some unscrupulous priests could even be accused of deserving everything they got, after inscriptions indicated that they would take the food without even offering it to the gods.

Professor Tony Heagerty said that the findings showed that the modern plague of cholesterol is ‘nothing more than history revisiting us’, as unequivocally ‘atherosclerosis is a disease of ancient times.’