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Heme oxygenase (HO-2) is an enzyme mainly involved in the physiologic turnover of heme and intracellular gas sensing, and it is very abundant in the brain, testes, kidneys and vessels. Since 1990, when HO-2 was discovered, the scientific community has underestimated the role of this protein in health and disease, as attested by the small amount of articles published and citations received. One of the reason that have contributed to the lack of interest in HO-2 was the difficulty in upregulating or inhibiting this enzyme. However, over the last 10 years, novel HO-2 agonists and antagonists have been synthesized, and the availability of these pharmacological tools should increase the appeal of HO-2 as drug target. In particular, these agonists and antagonists could help explain some controversial aspects, such as the neuroprotective versus neurotoxic roles of HO-2 in cerebrovascular diseases. Furthermore, the discovery of HO-2 genetic variants and their involvement in Parkinson's disease, in particular in males, opens new avenues for pharmacogenetic studies in gender medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulatory agencies installed orphan drug regulations to stimulate research and development of new innovative treatments for life-threatening diseases with a low prevalence (rare diseases). We established a list of well-known food-related ingredients with clinical evidence for rare diseases in the open medical literature that obtained marketing authorization as an expensive "orphan drug", protected by intellectual property (IP) rights. We show that these ingredients are part of an established practice of medicinal compounding—a form of point of care manufacturing. We argue that these ingredients should be considered as "pharmaceutical commons", and that regulatory incentives for private companies and market protection mechanisms such as IP rights are not justified in this case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the journal is presented wherein the editor discusses various reports published within the issue including one on the importance of having predictive preclinical models for the proper study of Alzheimer's disease (AD) by P.R. Davis and E. Head, a study by Trovato Salinaro et al which highlights the link between the pathogenesis of AD and other diseases like glaucoma and another by C. Cornelius which examines the factors considered as common denominator of AD and osteoporosis.