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People with first-episode psychosis may benefit from medication treatment changes, study finds

Many patients with first-episode psychosis receive medications that do not comply with recommended guidelines for first-episode treatment, researchers have found. Current guidelines emphasize low doses of antipsychotic drugs and strategies for minimizing the side effects that might contribute to patients stopping their medication.

5 Dec 2014

Study: PET scanning strategy could help predict effectiveness of TB drugs

Sophisticated lung imaging can show whether or not a treatment drug is able to clear tuberculosis (TB) lung infection in human and macaque studies, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and their international collaborators.

5 Dec 2014

UH professors receive NIH grant to combat drug-resistant bacteria

Addressing the relentless game of cat and mouse played between antibiotics and bacteria, a pair of University of Houston professors recently received a $519,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health.

5 Dec 2014

Phase IIb trial shows platinum-resistant ovarian patients treated with PM1183 live longer

Zeltia announces today that its pharmaceutical division PharmaMar has data from a group of 33 randomized patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer demonstrating that PM1183 shows a significantly superior median overall survival compared to topotecan.

4 Dec 2014

Melbourne researcher wins Sornchai Looareesuwan Medal for research on malaria

Melbourne researcher Professor Alan Cowman has won the Sornchai Looareesuwan Medal 2014 for his significant contributions to understanding how the malaria parasite causes disease and for his search for potential malaria vaccines.

4 Dec 2014

CorMedix seeks QIDP designation from FDA for Neutrolin Catheter Lock Solution

CorMedix Inc., a pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapeutic products for the prevention and treatment of cardiac, renal and infectious disease, has filed a request with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for designation of its lead product candidate, Neutrolin Catheter Lock Solution, as a qualified infectious disease product (QIDP) pursuant to the Generating Antibiotic Incentives Now (GAIN) title of the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act.

4 Dec 2014

Mylan gets tentative approval from FDA for two pediatric dosages of abacavir/lamivudine tablets

Mylan Inc. today announced that its subsidiary Mylan Laboratories Limited has received tentative approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its New Drug Applications (NDAs) for two dosages of abacavir/lamivudine tablets for oral suspension for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in pediatric patients.

4 Dec 2014

Pharmacyclics wins 2014 Society for Medicines Research Award for Drug Discovery

Pharmacyclics, Inc. today announced that it has won the prestigious 2014 Society for Medicines Research Award for Drug Discovery for its discovery of ibrutinib (IMBRUVICA). The award was presented by The Society of Medicines Research at its biennial award lecture in Kensington, London.

4 Dec 2014

BeyondSpring Pharmaceuticals plans to initiate Plinabulin Phase 3 pivotal trial in NSCLC patients

BeyondSpring Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of innovative cancer therapies, today announced that it plans to initiate a Phase 3 pivotal trial of lead product candidate, Plinabulin, in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the first quarter of 2015.

4 Dec 2014

Scientists undertake multiple strategies to tame Ebola virus

The Ebola epidemic in West Africa has pushed the decades-long search for a treatment to a frenetic pace. Somewhere in the virus' deceptively simple structure is a key to taming it. To find that key, scientists are undertaking multiple strategies, some of which are being fast-tracked for human testing, according to an article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society.

4 Dec 2014

Non-ergot derived dopamine agonists may be safe for the heart

Non-ergot derived dopamine agonists used to treat Parkinson's disease may be safe for the heart, according to preliminary research presented at EuroEcho-Imaging 2014 by Dr Hilal Erken Pamukcu, cardiologist at Ankara Diskapi Education and Research Hospital in Turkey.

4 Dec 2014

New technology reveals cellular gene transcription process in detail

A new technology that reveals cellular gene transcription in greater detail has been developed by Dr. Daniel Kaufmann of the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre and the research team he directed. "This new research tool offers us a more profound view of the immune responses that are involved in a range of diseases, such as HIV infection. At the level of gene transcription, this had been difficult, complex and costly to do with current technologies, such as microscopy," explained the University of Montreal professor.

4 Dec 2014

Study explores association between statin use and cataracts

Few classes of drugs have had such a transformative effect on the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) as have statins, prescribed to reduce total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

4 Dec 2014

New light-triggered strategy can provide accurate control over aptamer-based therapeutics

While aptamers—single-stranded nucleic acids—offer promise as drug-delivery tools for cancer treatment, it has proven difficult to get them to tumor cells at therapeutic levels.

4 Dec 2014

UAB research suggests potential therapeutic target for patients with frontotemporal dementia

Drugs that boost the function of a specific type of neurotransmitter receptor may provide benefit to patients with the second most common type of dementia, according to research by scientists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham published today in the Journal of Neuroscience.

4 Dec 2014

Researchers identify biochemical mechanism that could lead to 'chemo brain'

UNC School of Medicine researchers have found for the first time a biochemical mechanism that could be a cause of "chemo brain" - the neurological side effects such as memory loss, confusion, difficulty thinking, and trouble concentrating that many cancer patients experience while on chemotherapy to treat tumors in other parts of the body.

4 Dec 2014

Scientists uncover potential ammunition in fight against malaria

Scientists have released details of a raft of new chemicals with potent anti-malarial properties which could open the way to new drugs to fight the disease.

4 Dec 2014

Study reports effective treatment approach to inhibit herpes virus infection

A multi-institutional study reports an effective treatment approach to inhibit and keep latent viruses like herpes simplex from reactivating and causing disease. The work, whose lead author is the late James Hill, PhD, LSU Health New Orleans Professor and Director of Pharmacology and Infectious Disease at the LSU Eye Center, is published in the December 3, 2014, issue of Science Translational Medicine.

4 Dec 2014

PulmoFlow's nebulized drug and device combination gets FDA approval for cystic fibrosis

On Tuesday, the FDA granted final approval of PulmoFlow, Inc.'s New Drug Application for Kitabis Pak – a co-packaging of generic tobramycin inhalation solution with a PARI LC PLUS Nebulizer. This is the first nebulized drug and device combination to be approved for patients with cystic fibrosis.

3 Dec 2014

New MHA report calls on the country to address mental health issues

Our country is failing those in need of mental health services, according to a new report released by Mental Health America, the nation's leading community-based mental health advocacy organization. MHA for the first time has provided overall rankings for all 50 states and the District of Columbia on mental health status and access, and calls on the country to address mental health before Stage 4.

3 Dec 2014