GLEN ALLEN, Va., June 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Star Scientific, Inc. CIGX announced today that the results of a successful animal study supporting the potential thyroid benefit of nutritional supplementation with Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals' anatabine supplement, Anatabloc®, were presented on Tuesday, June 26, in Houston, Texas, at ENDO 2012, the annual international meeting of the Endocrine Society.

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The independently funded research team at Johns Hopkins conducted and completed a study of anatabine nutritional supplementation in a mouse model of autoimmune thyroiditis, entitled "Anatabine, a Tobacco Alkaloid, Reduces Disease Incidence and Severity in a Mouse Model of Autoimmune Thyroiditis."

Studies performed in the immunopathology laboratory of Dr. Patrizio Caturegli utilized female mice, placing half of them on dietary supplementation (drinking water) with anatabine, and the other half on plain water. All mice were injected with mouse thyroglobulin in Freund's adjuvant, a procedure that reliably induces autoimmune thyroiditis with histopathological features and thyroid gland dysfunction similar to Hashimoto's thyroiditis in humans.

Anatabine dietary supplementation significantly reduced the incidence and severity of experimental autoimmune thyroiditis. Thirty-one of thirty-two control mice developed thyroiditis (97%), as compared with twenty-one of twenty-nine (72%) anatabine treated mice (P<0.007). More importantly, the anatabine treated mice that did develop thyroiditis had lower histopathological severity of inflammation, lower anti-thyroid antibody levels early in their disease, and lesser declines in serum thyroxine.

The results of the full study, which was preliminarily reported in a poster presentation last fall at the Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid Association, led Dr. Paul W. Ladenson, Director of Endocrinology and Metabolism at Johns Hopkins, to comment, "Our finding that anatabine reduces the incidence and severity of autoimmune thyroiditis in this mouse model justifies human studies of whether this nutritional supplement may be effective in preserving thyroid health in people with Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Consequently, a human trial to test this hypothesis (the ASAP Thyroid Study) was designed and is now being carried out."

Dr. Curtis Wright, Senior Vice President and Medical/Clinical Director of Star Scientific's wholly owned subsidiary Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals Inc., stated, "We started our research with the simple goal of developing a useful nutritional supplement. The possibility, now supported by external research findings that one of our products could help maintain thyroid health, is very exciting to us, and is ample reward for the efforts of Rock Creek's research team in designing and conducting the ASAP Thyroid Study with the oversight assistance of an independent scientific committee. The current impressive results achieved by the Johns Hopkins team strongly support the first look at the thyroid data in man, which we anticipate will be available in the third quarter."

Rock Creek is pursuing additional clinical studies of anatabine for nutritional supplementation in disorders associated with unhealthy levels of inflammation in cardiac disease, Alzheimer's disease and joint and muscle health.

Anatabine, which was the focus of this study, is the principal ingredient (in the form of anatabine citrate) in Rock Creek's Anatabloc® nutritional supplement, which can be purchased in all GNC corporate and franchise stores, as well as online at www.gnc.com or www.anatabloc.com.

Certain statements contained in this release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to statements identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "intends," "plans," "targets," "projects" and similar expressions. The statements in this release are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of our company's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Numerous factors could cause or contribute to such differences, including, but not limited to, results of clinical trials, the challenges inherent in new product development initiatives, including the continued development and market acceptance of our nutraceutical and low-TSNA tobacco products, our ability to license and protect our intellectual property, our ability to raise additional capital in the future that is necessary to maintain our business, changes in government policy and/or regulation, including with respect to our nutraceutical and low-TSNA tobacco products, as well as other risks discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without limitation, our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011. We undertake no duty to update any forward-looking statement or any information contained in this press release or in other public disclosures at any time.

About Star Scientific

Star Scientific, Inc. is a technology-oriented company with a mission to promote maintenance of a healthy metabolism, as well as to reduce the harm associated with the use of tobacco at every level. Over the last several years, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals, Star Scientific has been engaged in the manufacturing, sale, and marketing of two nutraceutical dietary supplements, and the development of other nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals. The company also has continued to pursue the development, implementation, and licensing of the technology behind its proprietary StarCured® tobacco curing process, which substantially prevents the formation of carcinogenic toxins present in tobacco and tobacco smoke, primarily the tobacco-specific nitrosamines, or TSNAs and related low-TSNA dissolvable tobacco products.  Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals has scientific and research offices in Gloucester, MA, and a regulatory office in Washington, DC.  Star Scientific has a Corporate and Sales Office in Glen Allen, VA, an Executive, Scientific & Regulatory Affairs office in Bethesda, MD, and a manufacturing facility in Chase City, VA.

Contact:
Talhia T. Tuck
Vice President, Communications and Investor Relations
Star Scientific, Inc.
(301) 654-8300
ttuck@starscientific.com

SOURCE Star Scientific, Inc.