International Symposium on Albuminuria to Build Consensus on the Validity of Albumin as Important Disease Marker.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 11, 2004

Thought leaders will gather to discuss the significance of

albuminuria in the identification and treatment of

kidney and cardiovascular disease

The National Kidney Foundation and the International Society of Nephrology announced today that the three-day Symposium titled, "The Role of Albuminuria in Health and Disease; Predicting Outcomes and Targets for Therapy," to take place May 16-18, 2004 will present global evidence of the role of albuminuria as an independent marker as well as an independent therapy target for primary and secondary prevention of renal and cardiovascular disease progression. In addition, the Symposium will lay the foundation for a Consensus Conference to be held in Europe in 2005 which will aim to draw a consensus on albuminuria as a target for treatment.

Microalbuminuria, an excess of the urinary protein albumin in urine, is increasingly recognized as a novel and early sign of the onset of diabetic nephropathy, the damage caused to kidneys by diabetes. Invited opinion leaders in cardiology, nephrology, endocrinology and epidemiology will gather to discuss this important marker. The Symposium is being chaired by Dr. Dick de Zeeuw, Professor and Head of the Department of Clinical Pharmacology at the University Medical Center of Groningen in the Netherlands.

The event is structured into seven key topic areas and will be comprised of a series of presentations. A discussion of each topic area will be chaired by a recognized field specialist. The following topics will be discussed:

-- Albuminuria Predicting Outcome in the General Population

Session Chair--Robert C. Atkins, MD, MS, DSc, Professor of Medicine and the Director of the Department of Nephrology at Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne, Australia and Past President of the International Society of Nephrology. Dr. Atkins will chair a discussion regarding the relevance of an increased urinary albumin excretion rate in the general population. Evidence from three studies will be presented during this session which will investigate the relationship between urinary albumin, case mortality and mortality caused by cardiovascular disease and non-cardiovascular disease.

-- Albuminuria Predicting Outcome in Diabetes

Session Chair--Hans-Henrik Parving, MD, DMSc, Chief Physician at the Steno Diabetes Center, Copenhagen, Denmark. Dr. Parving will chair the discussion which will focus on the important evidence that patients with diabetes mellitus have a high risk of cardiovascular disease and end stage renal disease, the global impact of which is expected to be doubled by 2025. Discussions will include urinary albumin leakage as a potential predictor for both cardiovascular as well as renal disease progression and intervention aimed at lowering blood pressure as well as albuminuria potentially reducing the cardiovascular risk.

-- Albuminuria Predicting Outcome in Heart Disease

Session Chair--Marc Pfeffer, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Senior Physician in Cardiology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Pfeffer will chair discussions that will include data from three landmark epidemiology studies that have also investigated the role of albumin in predicting cardiovascular disease as well as the effect of specific interventions to reduce albuminuria. These include: The LIFE (Losartan Intervention for Endpoint reduction in hypertension), HOPE (Heart Outcomes and Preservation Evaluation), and INSIGHT (International Nifedipine GITS Study: Intervention as a Goal in Hypertension Treatment) studies.

-- Mechanism and Measurement of Albuminuria

Session Chair--Giuseppe Remuzzi, MD, FRCP, Head of the Division of Nephrology and Dialysis, Ospedali Riuniti, Italy. Dr. Remuzzi will chair this session that will discuss cellular and mechanical differences between macroalbuminuria and microalbuminuria addressing the biochemistry and mechanism of the Glomerular, which is composed of capillary blood vessels that are actively involved in the filtration of the blood. Differing types of albuminuria and outcomes of these varying forms as well as the propensity of damage of each urinary protein will also be discussed. In addition, evidence will be presented that there are different techniques available to measure albumin in the urine and that these may give different results in predicting cardiovascular and renal outcomes.

-- Albuminuria Predicting Outcome in Renal Disease

Session Chair--George L. Bakris, MD, FACP, Vice Chairman, Department of Preventative Medicine, Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Bakris will chair this session that looks at the role of albuminuria in predicting renal outcome. These include: the REIN trial (Ramipril Efficacy In Nephropathy) involving a European proteinuria population, the RENAAL trial (Reduction of Endpoints in NIDDM with the Angiotensin II Antagonist Losartan) and the IDNT trial (Irbesartan Diabetic Nephropathy Trial) involving world wide type 2 diabetes as well as the AASK (African American Study of Kidney Disease and Hypertension) involving hypertensive African Americans.

-- Albuminuria as a Therapy Target for Renal-CV Protection

Session Chair--Robert Toto, MD, Professor of Internal Medicine, University of Texas, Southwestern. Dr. Toto will chair this discussion dedicated to the topic of treatment options, with the goal being reduction of albumin in urine. Evidence will be presented from the PREVEND-IT (Prevention of Renal and Vascular Endstage Disease Intervention Trial) which was designed to assess the effects of ACE inhibitors, fosinopril and pravastatin on cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in microalbuminuric subjects without hypertension or hypercholesterolemia. The session concludes with a discussion over the pharmacoeconomics of prevention, with data from the RENAAL and IRMA2 trials indicating that both early and late intervention with strategies that lower blood pressure and albuminuria have a significant beneficial economic impact, and that earlier detection is key.

-- Inclusion of Albumin as a Target in Therapy Guidelines

Session Chair--Thomas H. Hostetter, MD, Director of the National Institutes of Health's National Kidney Disease Education Program. Dr. Hostetter will chair the final session which will focus on the requirement of combination guidelines which join the fields of Nephropathy and Cardiology. The session closes with the topic of how governmental bodies should address this new marker as an indicator of disease and a target for therapy. Presenters from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMEA) will provide points of view.

The event is supported by the American Diabetes Association, American Society of Hypertension, Inc., American Society of Nephrology, European Society of Hypertension, International Diabetes Federation, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the following councils of the American Heart Association: Council on Clinical Cardiology, Council on Cardiovascular Nursing, Council on High Blood Pressure Research, and the Council on Kidney in Cardiovascular Disease. It is made possible by an educational grant by AusAm Biotechnologies, Inc.

The National Kidney Foundation is a major voluntary health organization which seeks to prevent kidney and urinary tract diseases, improve the health and well-being of individuals and families affected by these diseases, and increase the availability of all organs for transplantation.

Since its foundation in 1960, the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) has pursued the worldwide advancement of education, science and patient care in nephrology. This goal was achieved by means of the Society's journal and the organization of international congresses and symposia. In order to reach its colleagues and patients in economically less developed countries, the ISN expanded its activities as of 1980 by a large number of specific programs aimed at these regions.

AusAm Biotechnologies, Inc. is a biotechnology research and development company commercializing both diagnostic and therapeutic products to identify and treat major diseases. Accumin(TM), AusAm's FDA-cleared diagnostic for the detection of intact albumin in urine, is the first direct test to measure a potential indicator of the beginning stages of kidney disease and it is currently offered by several reference laboratories and hospitals in the United States. For more information, visit www.ausambiotech.com.