Dorough lost his sister, Caroline, to lupus in 1998. At that
time, Caroline's doctor approached Howie with the idea that
he could help lead the charge in fighting this mysterious yet
debilitating and often deadly disease. In collaboration with
his family, Howie founded the non-profit Dorough Lupus
Foundation, whose mission is to raise money for lupus
research, education and for financial assistance for those
who cannot afford treatment.
As part of the new alliance with Veritas Medicine, reciprocal
web site links have been established between
www.veritasmedicine.com and
www.doroughlupusfoundation.org/.
"We are pleased to announce that the Dorough Lupus
Foundation will join forces with Veritas Medicine to further
our common goals of building awareness for Lupus and
educating the public about this disease," said Dorough.
"Establishing Web links between Veritas Medicine and the
Dorough Lupus Foundation will create a better source of
information on what kinds of clinical trials and treatments are
available."
There is no cure for lupus, a disease that causes the
immune system to attack the body's own tissue. Lupus most
commonly affects women between the ages of 15 and 44,
and resultant kidney disease is a leading cause of sickness
and death. Kidney complications occur in up to 75 percent
of patients with lupus, resulting in loss of kidney function,
kidney failure and the need for chronic dialysis and
aggressive drug treatment.
The new link will make it easy for visitors to the Dorough
Lupus Foundation Web site to learn more about lupus,
current treatment options and cutting-edge clinical research
now underway to fight the disease. Through Veritas
Medicine's secure and confidential matching technology,
users can pre-qualify for specific lupus clinical trials taking
place nationwide or in their area.
Users may opt to receive additional information about
clinical trials, assistance with initiating enrollment through
the Veritas Medicine Patient Support Center and the
bi-weekly Veritas Medicine Viewpoint email newsletter for
updates on new research and clinical trials in the field of
lupus.
"Though lupus affects an estimated 1.4 million people in the
U.S. and millions more of their loved ones, national
awareness and useful information about this condition is still
lacking," said John Yee, M.D., chief medical officer at
Veritas Medicine. The need for clinical research is profound,
as there has not been a new treatment introduced for Lupus
in 30 years. "By linking to www.doroughlupusfoundation.org,
Veritas Medicine is able help bridge this information gap
and assist patients with enrollment in important new
research."
About Veritas Medicine
Based in Cambridge, Mass., Veritas Medicine is the first
comprehensive online medical resource developed to
address the needs of patients, physicians and other
healthcare professionals and pharmaceutical sponsors
through a centralized and highly secure online resource that
provides expert, reliable and up-to-date information about
clinical trials and innovative treatments. Veritas Medicine
adheres to the strictest standards protecting the
confidentiality of its users. It is a member of Hi-Ethics
(Health Internet Ethics) and subscribes to the principles of
the Health On The Net Foundation (HONcode). These are
two of the leading organizations for ensuring privacy,
security, credibility and reliability of medical and health
information on the Internet. The company is backed by Burrill
& Company, BioAsia Investments, Cambridge Innovations,
Seaflower Ventures and MDS Capital. Veritas Medicine is
located on the Web at www.veritasmedicine.com.
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Produced for Veritas Medicine
Contacts:
Schwartz Communications
Brian Thomas Littrell ~ The Golden Voiced Backstreet Boy
- Established Jan 1999 -