Convivia by Bennu / Raptor Pharmaceuticals Corp. (Page 1 of 4)

I'm glad to hear this! I hope they progress with it!

Edit: I wonder what "followed by a phase 2b study with final reformulated product in the second half of 2008." means...

cant find any status updates after the phase IIa study, which started in April and ended in July.  ive read articles though that say that they are trying to push the product through the developement chain because 4-methylpyrazole, the compound used in convivia, is already approved by the FDA.  the only difference is in usage, since it is currently used for methanol poisoning.  i wonder how it is going too-

Here is an article about Raptor Pharmaceutical's plan to develop the product-

http://www.devicespace.com/news_print.a … tyId=74114

Anyone know of any news with Convivia?

Ahh fair play to them

Wonder how long it will take to hit the market in Asia...

I really really hope this comes soon.  Im desperate for a better treatment than pepcid ac.

Guys, I'd like to take a moment of your attention for what I have to say:

It is extremely important that we do not run from the fact that acetaldehyde (the toxin resulted from alcohol breakdown in the liver) is one of the most potent carcinogenic agents that could be found in a person's body. We all know this, for the side effects of drinking to all of us is so undeniably powerful. The excruciating headache, the bizarre redness, the abnormally pounding heart, the sudden feeling that you're under the sun of a desert at noon, the almost unbearable hangover that sometimes lasts for days to come. We must understand that drinking is extremelly harmful (it is already harmful to "normal" individuals) for us under these conditions.

That is why I am urging you guys to take interest in the new drug that is being developed by Raptor Pharma (Convivia). It is already in phase II of development with (so far) very positive results on tested Asians that have the ALDH2 defect. Nothing has ever come closer to free us from this awful condition. Only we know what it feels like being restrained from fun. And when trying to engage in it, to be ridicularized by the visible and awful side effects shown.

If you can, send a message of support to the developers of this drug; tell them your story, and how this miraculous drug would boost your self-esteem. I am afraid of this possibility of this drug not being approved. We should show our support.

http://www.raptorpharma.com/convivia.html

I would like to ditto Elephant's post above. I didn't know about the damaging effects of "asian flush" until recently and am quite disturbed by what I've read. That our bodies are exposed acetaldehyde for prolonged periods, especially in the mouth and GI. Also suprised about just how carcinogenic it is.
Now I've been drinking weekly for around 8 yrs, sometimes heavily. What I'm really concerned about is whether I've done irreparable damage to my body already. I am going to try to give up alcohol completely due to its carcinogenic effect on asian flush sufferers but i'm concerned that damage has already been done. Is there anyway to check etc?
I hope this forum realises how bad alcohol is for Alcohol flush sufferers. Zantac etc will help the visible effects but the carcinogenic effects are ever present. Cutting alcohol out is the only current solution. I really hope the Convivia drug comes out soon!

Saw this today, looks like things are moving along!

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/raptor … dist=msr_2

I have also emailed Raptor Pharmaceutical and I am on their news mailing list.
They seem to be pretty poor at responding to inquiries. I have no heard any recent news about Convivia.

Convivia sounds good, but I think that the real cure is Alda-1, which is a compound that was developed pretty recently to prevent damage to the heart during a heart attack.   I think it's better because it increases acetaldehyde metabolism, rather than slowing down alcohol metabolism.  If you think about it, using 4-MP, the active ingredient of Convivia, will make you much drunker than you usually would get- probably dangerously drunk after even a small amount.  So, I emailed Raptor to see if they'd considered Alda-1, and here was the reply:

"Yours is an excellent suggestion, which I, at least, had missed.  We appreciate your interest in the program.  One aspect of Alda-1 that gives very small companies pause is the expected time it would take before one could test it in humans.  One advantage of 4-MP is that it is already approved for use in humans for certain applications.  While that provides no comfort as to whether it would work in the Asian flush application, it does mean that a lot of toxicological work has already been done and risks reduced.  Alda-1, for its part, has compelling proof-of-principle that involves the actual mutated enzyme.  But from a chemist's perspective, Alda-1 looks to have some potential toxicological issues, especially for a long-term, repetitive-dosing application like Asian flush.  For example, a primary hydrolysis product of Alda-1 is 2,6-dichlorobenzoic acid, a known breakdown product of herbicides and a compound with some level of known toxicity.  As you probably already know, there are those who consider treatments for Asian flush to be enabling of alcoholism or, at a minimum, unworthy of biotechnology efforts.  The fairness of those assessments aside, they tend to increase the regulatory hurdles likely to be thrown up by the FDA, particularly with regard to long-term safety.

That said, we will keep Alda-1 in mind and thank you again for bringing it to our attention."

hope this is of some use-

This is just ridiculous nothing seems to be happening with the Convivia program this whole year, the dissapointments continue