Sticky Situation

VISUAL: Sticky Situation. Professor Peter Little AM has set his sights on a big target: reducing the number of deaths claimed each year by the world’s biggest killer – cardiovascular disease. RMIT University logo.

VISUAL: Professor Peter Little AM speaking to the camera. The title at the bottom of the screen reads: Professor Peter Little AM, Head of Pharmacy, School of Medical Sciences, RMIT University.

Professor Peter Little: Cardiovascular disease is the largest single cause of death in modern societies. Interestingly, in the last century rates of cardiovascular disease were decreasing ...

VISUAL: Close up of a person holding a burning cigarette to his mouth and inhaling.

Professor Peter Little: ... due to reduced rates of smoking and better treatment ...

VISUAL: Close up of person’s hand as they stub out the used cigarette and squash it on a railing.

Professor Peter Little: ... of high blood pressure. The diabetes and obesity ...

VISUAL: Video of an obese female – torso only is shown standing under the shade of trees in a park. Other people’s legs can be seen in the background walking on the grass.

Professor Peter Little: ... epidemic has turned this around and cardiovascular ...

VISUAL: Video of an obese male – torso only is shown as he walks towards the camera along a pavement. In the background are other people’s legs also walking on the pavement.

Professor Peter Little: ... disease is increasing in the community at the moment.

VISUAL: Professor Peter Little AM speaking to the camera.

Professor Peter Little: The major underlying cause of cardiovascular disease is atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries.

VISUAL: Computer animation of red blood cells moving through an artery, the atherosclerotic plaque (which appears like honeycomb sponge) on the lining of the artery is gradually getting thicker and half filling the screen.

Professor Peter Little: In this, cholesterol in your blood sticks in your blood vessel wall and forms a thing called an atherosclerotic plaque.

VISUAL: Computer animation of the plaque rupturing through the wall into the artery with the blood cells moving through it. The blood cells and the plaque rupture mix together and appear to start to clog together in the artery.

Professor Peter Little: Later on that plaque can rupture causes a heart attack or a stroke.

Greg Johnson: What we currently do with ...

VISUAL: Greg Johnson speaking to the camera. Title at the bottom of the screen reads: Greg Johnson, CEO, Diabetes Australia, Victoria.

Greg Johnson: ... to treat and try to prevent cardiovascular disease is we use drugs that are lipid lowering, that reduce the circulating ...

VISUAL: Four packets of lipid lowering drugs. The first two packets are Pravachol and Lipitor.

Greg Johnson: ... level of lipids, like cholesterol, in our bloodstream.

VISUAL: Video close up of four capsule tablets lying on a table.

Greg Johnson: And that may be a good thing ...

VISUAL: Greg Johnson speaking to the camera.

Greg Johnson: ... but at best, that's only likely to prevent around 30% of all heart attacks and strokes.

VISUAL: Video as camera pans across Professor Peter Little sitting at his desk looking at his computer screen, camera is side on to him.

Professor Peter Little: So what we're working on is to ...

VISUAL: Close up of Professor Peter Little’s hands typing on his keyboard.

Professor Peter Little: ... discover additional drugs that can be ...

VISUAL: Close up of Professor Peter Little looking at his computer screen, the camera is behind him looking over his left shoulder at the computer screen which is a flow chart with a heading: Imatinib (or related agent) might prevent diabetes AND CVD. (The titles on the diagram are too small for typist to read). Then the computer screen changes to four graphs on the computer page with the heading Imatinib can prevent atherosclerosis. (The headings on the graphs are too small for the typist to read).

Professor Peter Little: ... used with cholesterol to increase what we call their efficacy.

VISUAL: Professor Peter Little AM speaking to the camera.

Professor Peter Little: So specifically, we're working on drugs which modify proteoglycans.

VISUAL: Computer animation of molecules falling slowly down from a vessel wall which is across the top of the screen.

Professor Peter Little: Proteoglycans are protein carbohydrate molecules in your vessel wall and the carbohydrate component is sticky for cholesterol.

VISUAL: Computer animation of the molecules falling down from the top of the screen and landing on a white vertical rod with branches sticking horizontally out of it from top to bottom (looking a little bit like a tree).

Professor Peter Little: You take a statin to lower your cholesterol level, but what we want to do is prevent the cholesterol sticking in your vessel wall. We've been fortunate enough to receive funding ...

VISUAL: Professor Peter Little AM speaking to the camera.

Professor Peter Little: ... from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, the National Heart Foundation of Australia and Diabetes Australia Research Trust.

VISUAL: Video of a male researcher wearing gloves and a lab coat placing small vials into a small metal cabinet (name unknown as label on outside of machine is too small for typist to read) in the lab and then closing the door of the small cabinet.

Professor Peter Little: We have worked our research through from a cellular stage to an animal stage and, of course, later on to a human stage. We've been able to ...

VISUAL: Video of the same male researcher wearing his lab coat and sitting at his desk looking at a computer screen which is filled with data that is changing on the screen.

Professor Peter Little: ... discover drugs that modify the synthesis of proteoglycans in a vessel wall, lower cholesterol ...

VISUAL: Professor Peter Little AM speaking to the camera.

Professor Peter Little: ... and reduce atherosclerosis in a mouse model ...

VISUAL: Close up of a white mouse eating a food pellet.

Professor Peter Little: ... where a genetically modified mouse fed a high fat diet gets ...

VISUAL: Professor Peter Little AM speaking to the camera.

Professor Peter Little: ... atherosclerosis in about 20 weeks.

VISUAL: Video of another male researcher wearing blue gloves and a lab coat sitting at a bench in a lab filling vials with a blue liquid from a syringe. Professor Peter Little is standing beside the bench watching him.

Professor Peter Little: We give one of our test drugs and we can reduce the atherosclerosis in the mouse by about 50%.

VISUAL: Close up of the male researcher’s fingers wearing blue gloves holding a vial and half filling it with a blue liquid squirted out of a syringe that he is holding in his other hand. He then places the vial into a tray with other vials.

Greg Johnson: One of the keys things here is the link between diabetes and cardiovascular disease and, in fact, often that's not understood.

VISUAL: Greg Johnson speaking to the camera.

Greg Johnson: What kills people early with diabetes, if it's not identified and managed, is heart attacks and strokes, that is cardiovascular disease.

VISUAL: Close up of an obese person – torso only sitting on a bench in a park.

Greg Johnson: And it can take 10 to 15 years off the ...

VISUAL: Close up of an overweight person – torso only sitting on a towel on the sand at the beach. Other people can be seen swimming and playing in the sand in the background.

Greg Johnson: ... life expectancy of people with diabetes ...

VISUAL: Close up of a person’s mouth as they take a bite of a hamburger.

Greg Johnson: ... and that's a major problem in Australia because now ...

VISUAL: Close up of the half eaten hamburger in the person’s hand.

Greg Johnson: ... diabetes is the epidemic of the 21st Century.

VISUAL: Close up of the person’s mouth taking another bite of the hamburger, camera is side on to their mouth.

Greg Johnson: We have over one million Australians who are ...

VISUAL: Close up of an overweight male – torso only standing and facing the camera. Crowds of people are walking in different directions in the background.

Greg Johnson: ... known and diagnosed with diabetes and another two million Australians ...

VISUAL: Close up of an overweight female – torso only walking towards the camera. People are walking in the background.

Greg Johnson: ... who are at high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes in the next five years.

VISUAL: Greg Johnson speaking to the camera.

Greg Johnson: So the numbers are staggering and the implications for cardiovascular disease in Australia are staggering.

VISUAL: Professor Peter Little speaking to the camera.

Professor Peter Little: So the ultimate outcome of our research is ...

VISUAL: Three shelves of about 20 different packets of pharmaceutical products on each. Professor Peter Little walks up to the shelves and removes the Lipitor box from the bottom shelf and walks off screen holding it.

Professor Peter Little: ... a two product tablet: a tablet containing a statin to lower your blood cholesterol, what I'll call ...

VISUAL: Close up of four capsule tablets in the palm of Professor Peter Little’s outstretched hand.

Professor Peter Little: ... a proteoglycan inhibitor to stop cholesterol from your blood ...

VISUAL: Professor Peter Little speaking to the camera.

Professor Peter Little: ... sticking in your blood vessel wall.

VISUAL: RMIT University Logo and website www.rmit.edu.au.

[End of video]

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