Pharmaceuticals News and Research

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Genetic markers implicated in fatal side effects of schizophrenia drug

Genaissance Pharmaceuticals today announced results from its CARING (Clozapine and Agranulocytosis Relationships Investigated by Genetics) study, reporting the discovery of genetic markers that the Company believes predict who is at risk of developing clozapine-induced agranulocytosis

20 Dec 2004

Tentative approval for Topiramate Tablets

Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals announced tentative approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to manufacture and market Topiramate Tablets, 25 mg, 100 mg, and 200 mg. Total annual market sales for Topiramate were $1,184 million with sales of these three strengths of tablets totaling $1,129 million.

20 Dec 2004

Macugen approved for the treatment of neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration (AMD)

Eyetech Pharmaceuticals and Pfizer have announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Macugen (pegaptanib sodium injection) for the treatment of neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration (AMD), an eye disease associated with aging that destroys central vision.

20 Dec 2004

Ethical challenges ahead for neuroscience and society

Are we ready for a future where brain scans invade our private thoughts? Will we have to alter our brains chemically to keep competitive at our jobs? Could science determine that "souls" do not exist, and, if so, what does that mean for how we think of ourselves as human beings?

20 Dec 2004

Wine, fish, dark chocolate, fruits and vegetables cut the risk of heart disease

Scientists in this week's Christmas issue of the BMJ have discovered the 'Polymeal', a set of ingredients which cuts the risk of heart (cardiovascular) disease by 76% and significantly increases life expectancy.

20 Dec 2004

Celebrex suspension

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that it has suspended the use of COX-2 inhibitor celecoxib (Celebrex™ Pfizer, Inc.) for all participants in a large colorectal cancer prevention clinical trial conducted by the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

19 Dec 2004

Obesity drug codenamed AOD9604 highly successful in trials

An Australian-owned obesity drug, developed by Melbourne-based biotechnology company Metabolic Pharmaceuticals Limited, is set to enter final human trials next year after successfully completing a Phase 2b human trial which proved that the drug induces weight loss and is very well tolerated with no evidence of the side effects commonly experienced with existing obesity drugs.

16 Dec 2004

Millennium Pharmaceuticals discovers protein biomarkers that could play a role in the early detection of rheumatoid arthritis

Researchers at Millennium Pharmaceuticals today announced the discovery of a panel of protein biomarkers that could play a role in the early detection, prognosis and monitoring of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

14 Dec 2004

Scientists have identified a novel anti-tuberculosis (TB) compound

Scientists at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development have identified a novel anti-tuberculosis (TB) compound that works better and faster than the current standard of care in mouse models of TB infection.

14 Dec 2004

Ads for full-body scans to detect potential diseases, called into question

A burgeoning industry that sells full-body scans to detect potential diseases - without a doctor's referral - is running advertisements that frequently include unsubstantiated claims about the benefits of getting CT and MRI scans, while rarely providing information about the technology's limitations and risks.

13 Dec 2004

Successful human trial of obesity drug that mimicks metabolic effects of growth hormone

The AOD9604 molecule is a small orally active peptide modelled on one section of the human growth hormone molecule. Growth hormone naturally occurs in the body and has profound stimulatory effects on fat metabolism, with levels of the hormone typically becoming suppressed in the obese state.

13 Dec 2004

Interactive talking books delivered to Afghanistan

The United States Department of Health and Human Services has announced the delivery of thousands of interactive women's health books built with the LeapPad learning system technology to Afghanistan and an additional $6 million in aid to improve the health of the Afghan people.

13 Dec 2004

Molecular Achilles heel in the organism that causes pneumonia

Scientists have found a “molecular Achilles heel” in the organism that causes pneumonia, providing a target for the development of a new class of antibiotics that could eventually eradicate the disease.

13 Dec 2004

Labelling unhappy children as depressed may be harmful

Unhappiness among children seems to be rising, but labelling it as depression and prescribing antidepressants is ineffective and possibly harmful, warns a child psychiatrist in the BMJ.

13 Dec 2004

Pharmaceutical, biotechnology and drug discovery companies are increasingly turning their attention to cell-based assays

Pharmaceutical, biotechnology and drug discovery companies are increasingly turning their attention to cell-based assays, as these assays offer a more accurate representation of the real-life cell model than the traditional enzyme- or antibody-based assays.

13 Dec 2004

Greater risk of heart attack associated with Vioxx than Celebrex

In the first epidemiological study designed and executed specifically to determine the heart-attack risk associated with COX-2 inhibitors rofecoxib (Vioxx) and celecoxib (Celebrex), researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found a greater risk of heart attack associated with Vioxx than Celebrex, although neither of the two drugs showed a statistically significant elevated risk of heart attack relative to people who did not use the drugs.

8 Dec 2004

African health care systems: what went wrong?

The last century witnessed unparalleled improvements in the health indicators of many countries in the African Region, particularly reductions in child mortality.

8 Dec 2004

New malaria enzyme laid bare with help of computer calculations

Using only computers, a research team at Uppsala University in Sweden has managed to reveal both the structure and the function of a newly discovered enzyme from the most dangerous malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum.

8 Dec 2004

New insight into anticoagulation therapies

Anticoagulation therapies, or treatments that reduce the amount of clotting factors in the blood, are quite common and used for a variety of reasons.

6 Dec 2004

Electrochemical DNA chip that is able to detect DNA at very low concentrations

Toshiba Corporation has announced the development of a highly sensitive electrochemical DNA chip that is able to detect DNA at very low concentrations, a capability that will support advances in gene detection and analysis for individual treatment regimes, and the monitoring of healthy individuals for any predisposition to certain diseases.

6 Dec 2004