Kidney Disease

Q: All of a sudden, my 14-year-old dog is drinking a lot of water and losing weight. Aren't these signs of kidney failure? A: The symptoms you describe could indicate a number of problems, including kidney or liver disease, diabetes or hormone imbalance. You are correct that the first signs of kidney disease are often loss of appetite and increased water consumption. The animal also may act depressed, become dehydrated, have a bad odor to its breath and start vomiting or having diarrhea.

Amgen said it has started preparing for a $50-million offering of subordinated convertible debentures to investors overseas, mainly in Europe. A convertible debenture is an unsecured bond that ultimately may be exchanged for stock in a company. Amgen, a Thousand Oaks biotechnology company, is being assisted in preparing the offering by Morgan Stanley International. Earlier this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of Amgen's biotechnology drug erythropoietin, a long-awaited protein that treats chronic anemia in patients with kidney disease.

Biogen Inc. and Creative BioMolecules Inc. agreed to work together to develop a treatment for kidney disease from a class of proteins known as OP-1 that scientists believe may help prevent damage to the kidney and possibly even regenerate damaged tissue. Biogen will pay Hopkinton, Mass.-based Creative BioMolecules $28 million, including $18 million to buy its shares at $11.67 each. It will also provide $10.5 million over three years and a $15-million line of credit.

A 50-year-old with Type 2 diabetes will lose an average of six years of life as a result of the disease, only one less than would be lost by a long-term smoker of the same age, researchers reported Wednesday. He or she is more than twice as likely to die of cardiovascular disease as someone without diabetes and 25% more likely to die of cancer, according to the report, an international study of more than 820,000 people published in the New England Journal of Medicine. People with Type 2 diabetes are also more likely to die from kidney disease, liver disease, pneumonia, infectious diseases and even intentional self-harm, according to the study, which was conducted by the Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration, based at the University of Cambridge in England.

More than 400 gourmets are expected to taste the "best-of-the-best" at the fourth annual Great Chefs of L.A. National Kidney Foundation benefit May 1 from 3 to 6 p.m. at Le Bel Age Hotel, 1020 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood. Thirty of Los Angeles' finest restaurants along with 25 California wineries will participate. The public is invited to sample an array of hors d'oeuvres, entrees, desserts and wines among the elegant carvings of the Sculpture Garden at the hotel.

A major class of blood-pressure medication works as well in black patients as their white counterparts and could spare kidney function in those who take it, doctors reported last week. For years, ACE inhibitors have been studied in large populations, but few blacks were ever included among the thousands of patients in clinical trials.

A Newport Beach businessman has donated $250,000 to support the research of a UC Irvine professor who studies cardiovascular problems in patients with chronic kidney diseases, officials announced Friday. Dr. Nick Vaziri, a professor of medicine and chief of UCI's division of nephrology, has been conducting research on the issue since 1974 and has published more than 300 articles on the subject.

A panel of U.S. kidney disease experts Thursday called for less-aggressive treatment of kidney disease patients -- a move that could hurt sales of lucrative anemia drugs that boost red blood cell levels but have come under scrutiny over safety concerns. The National Kidney Foundation said its work group on kidney disease outcomes now believed that hemoglobin levels should be kept in a range of 11 to 12 grams per decaliter (gm/dl), compared with a previous range of 11 to 13 gm/dl.

Utah researchers have isolated the gene responsible for a form of inherited kidney disease called Alport syndrome, they report today in the journal Science. The debilitating disease, which affects about one person in 5,000, leads to loss of the kidney, necessitating dialysis or a kidney transplant. The discovery of the defective gene will quickly lead to genetic counseling for members of families carrying it, experts said, and may lead to the development of new therapies.