National Marfan Foundation Benefit to be Held on April 17 at Cipriani 42nd Street

PORT WASHINGTON, NY, March 27, 2008 – The National Marfan Foundation will hold its annual benefit, Heartworks: The Marfan Gala, on Thursday, April 17, 6pm, at Cipriani 42nd Street. At the gala, the NMF will honor Merck & Co., Inc., and Harry C. Dietz, III, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, with a Hero with a Heart Award.

The corporate host for the evening is Karen Murray, president of Nautica Men’s Sportswear and Nautica Jeans Co. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Johns Hopkins alum, is honorary chair for the 7th consecutive year. Ann Reinking, the Tony Award-winning choreographer and Broadway star, serves as a Dinner Chair, along with Benjamin Carpenter, Vice Chairman of RBS Greenwich Capital, Randy Falco, Chairman & CEO, AOL LLC, Susan Falco, NMF Board of Directors, and Victor A. McKusick, MD, University Professor of Medical Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The evening will feature entertainment by Jennifer Holliday and Broadway Kids. Hoda Kotb, from NBC-TV, will serve as master of ceremonies.

Heartworks has raised more than $5 million for the NMF to date. The proceeds from the event are earmarked for Marfan syndrome research, support for individuals and families affected by the disorder, and public awareness and education.

"This year’s Hero with a Heart Award recipients, Dr. Hal Dietz and Merck & Co., are similar in their commitment to innovation and patient care,” said Murray. “They are recognized leaders in their respective fields, providing the highest level of services and care to patients. In the medical area, they are second to none and exemplify the true nature of a hero with a heart."

Hero with a Heart Award Recipients

Dr. Dietz is a long-time clinician and researcher on Marfan syndrome. He is the Victor A. McKusick Professor of Medicine and Genetics at the Institute of Genetic Medicine, Professor of Pediatrics, Medicine, Molecular Biology and Genetics, and Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and an Investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He also serves as the Director of the William S. Smilow Center for Marfan Syndrome Research at Johns Hopkins.

A member of the team that identified the gene for Marfan syndrome in 1991, Dr. Dietz published breakthrough research in 2006, in the journal Science, which showed that an already-FDA-approved medication, losartan Merck’s Cozaar) prevented and even reversed aortic enlargement in mice with Marfan syndrome. Soon after the publication of the study, the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute and the Pediatric Heart Network launched a clinical trial to study this medication in people with Marfan syndrome. If the results are positive, the use of losartan in Marfan syndrome could eliminate the life-threatening aspect of the condition and change the course of treatment for generations to come.

A member of the NMF’s Professional Advisory Board (PAB) since 1993 – and chair of the PAB from 1999-2004 – Dr. Dietz is widely published on Marfan syndrome. He is an invited speaker at conferences internationally and has received numerous honors from organizations including the Society for Pediatric Research, the American Heart Association and the American Society of Human Genetics. He participates in the NMF’s annual patient conference each summer as a presenter and workshop leader and is well-respected as a preeminent clinician and researcher, as well as a friend, to the Marfan community.

Merck & Co., Inc., was established more than 100 years ago and has become a global research-driven pharmaceutical company that is dedicated to putting patients first. The company devotes extensive efforts to increase access to medicines through far-reaching programs that not only donate Merck medicines but help deliver them to the people who need them.

Among Merck’s broad array of cardiovascular products, is losartan (Cozaar), which is providing great hope for the Marfan community.

Said Carolyn Levering, NMF President and CEO, “Without Merck’s generous donation of losartan, it is unlikely that this trial could have been launched and conducted with the expediency that was truly needed.”