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Latin America facing an alarming increase in cancer rates

Latin America is facing an alarming increase in cancer rates, and unless urgent action is taken to prevent cancers, improve health-care systems and facilities, access to vital medical care, and treatment of poor people, the region threatens to be overwhelmed by the burgeoning epidemic, say the authors of a major new report on cancer control in the region, published in The Lancet Oncology, and launched at the Latin American Cooperative Oncology Group (LACOG) 2013 conference in São Paulo, Brazil.

26 Apr 2013

First Edition: April 26, 2013

Today's headlines include reports that some Democratic senators have concerns about the health law's roll out as well as other news about the measure's implementation.

26 Apr 2013

Calcipotriol drug offers a potential treatment option for fibrotic diseases

Liver fibrosis results from an excessive accumulation of tough, fibrous scar tissue and occurs in most types of chronic liver diseases. In industrialized countries, the main causes of liver injury leading to fibrosis include chronic hepatitis virus infection, excess alcohol consumption and, increasingly, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

26 Apr 2013

New Haven Pharmaceuticals gets venture loan facility from Horizon Technology Finance

Horizon Technology Finance Corporation ("Horizon"), a leading specialty finance company that provides secured loans to venture capital and private equity backed development-stage companies in the technology, life science, healthcare information and services, and clean-tech industries, today announced it has closed a $2 million venture loan facility with New Haven Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("NHP"), a developer of prescription pharmaceuticals that utilize currently marketed drugs or active pharmaceutical ingredients generally recognized as safe for use in therapeutic applications.

26 Apr 2013

Increasing unsustainable prices for leukemia drugs represent larger issue across all cancers

The increasing cost of treatments for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in the United States has reached unsustainably high levels and may be leaving many patients under- or untreated because they cannot afford care, according to a Blood Forum article supported by nearly 120 CML experts from more than 15 countries on five continents and published online today in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH).

26 Apr 2013

Study shows chemoresponse assay improves survival rates in women with ovarian cancer

This spring, a team of researchers has released results from an eight-year study that shows improved survival rates for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer who undergo cancer tumor testing to determine the best treatment.

26 Apr 2013

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB): an interview with Dr. Jennifer Cohn, Médecins Sans Frontières

MDR-TB is tuberculosis, a mycobacterial infection, that has developed resistance to two important and powerful first-line anti-TB drugs, INH and rifampin.

26 Apr 2013

U.S. CDC, FDA, armed forces taking action to fight malaria

Testifying before Congress this week, CDC Director Thomas Frieden "said the challenge in the fight against malaria, which in Africa alone kills one child every minute, is staying one step ahead of the malaria parasite" and "cited the need for better public health surveillance, and urged Congress to fund better detection tools".

26 Apr 2013

Mayo Clinic implements electronic warning system to identify patients at risk of QT-related deaths

Using a one-of-a-kind computer-aided program, Mayo Clinic has developed and implemented a Mayo-wide electronic warning system to identify patients at risk of QT-related deaths from an abnormality in the heart's electrical system.

26 Apr 2013

Financial Times publishes special report on malaria

The Financial Times has published a special report (.pdf) on malaria featuring articles examining issues including prevention, treatment and research and development (R&D).

26 Apr 2013

Stem cell transplant regimen to treat neuroblastoma in children appears to be more toxic in US

The stem cell transplant regimen that was commonly used in the United States to treat advanced neuroblastoma in children appears to be more toxic than the equally effective regimen employed in Europe and Egypt, according to a new study to be presented at the 26th annual meeting of the American Society of Pediatric Hematology Oncology in Miami April 24-27.

25 Apr 2013

Combinations of sEH inhibition and PPARγ activation have beneficial effects on cardiometabolic syndrome

Scientists at the Medical College of Wisconsin and the University of California at Davis, led by Dr. John Imig and Dr. Bruce Hammock have determined the synergistic actions of inhibiting soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) with tAUCB (trans-4-(4-[3-adamantan-1-yl-ureid]-cyclohexyloxy)-benzoic acid) and activating peroxisome proliferator-activator receptorγ (PPARγ) with the thiazolidinedione rosiglitazone on the pathological progression of cardiometabolic syndrome.

25 Apr 2013

New technologies speed health care delivery, reduce costs, pioneer new therapies

The current special issue of Technology and Innovation - Proceedings of the National Academy of Inventors, devoted to studies on medical technology and health care delivery, focuses on a wide range of topics, from new technologies to reduce the cost of health care to understanding the human microbiome.

25 Apr 2013

New hope for patients with chronic HBV infection

Exciting new data presented today at the International Liver Congress- 2013 include rults from early in vitro and in vivo studies targeting covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA), which may form the basis of a cure for chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.

25 Apr 2013

Study reveals humans are passing antibiotic resistance to wildlife in protected areas

A team of Virginia Tech researchers has discovered that humans are passing antibiotic resistance to wildlife, especially in protected areas where numbers of humans are limited.

25 Apr 2013

Mechanism of tumor suppressor p53 inactivation described

Cancer cells are a problem for the body because they multiply recklessly, refuse to die and blithely metastasize to set up shop in places where they don’t belong. One protein that keeps healthy cells from behaving this way is a tumor suppressor named p53. This protein stops potentially precancerous cells from dividing and induces suicide in those that are damaged beyond repair. Not surprisingly, p53’s critical function is disrupted in most cancers.

25 Apr 2013

Fixed-dose combination of drugs effectively lowers IOP

A fixed-dose combination of brinzolamide and brimonidine is more effective than either drug given alone for lowering intraocular pressure in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension, results of a phase III trial indicate.

25 Apr 2013

Crohn’s permanent stoma rates plummet in post-biologic era

Permanent stoma creation in patients with extensive Crohn’s disease has fallen to a third of its previous rate following the advent of biologic therapy, research shows.

25 Apr 2013

Three steps to eliminating NTDs

In a post on the PLoS "Speaking of Medicine" blog, PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) editor-in-chief Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, reviews progress being made toward the elimination of NTDs through mass drug administration and other efforts.

25 Apr 2013

UNITAID, Medicines Patent Pool work to improve access to medicines in developing world

Devex features a sponsored interview with Dennis Broun, executive director of UNITAID, which uses innovative financing and "its understanding of how to address market shortcomings to improve access to quality-assured treatment and diagnostics for HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria patients in low-income countries."

25 Apr 2013

Drugs News and Research

Latin America facing an alarming increase in cancer rates

First Edition: April 26, 2013

Calcipotriol drug offers a potential treatment option for fibrotic diseases

New Haven Pharmaceuticals gets venture loan facility from Horizon Technology Finance

Increasing unsustainable prices for leukemia drugs represent larger issue across all cancers

Study shows chemoresponse assay improves survival rates in women with ovarian cancer

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB): an interview with Dr. Jennifer Cohn, Médecins Sans Frontières

U.S. CDC, FDA, armed forces taking action to fight malaria

Mayo Clinic implements electronic warning system to identify patients at risk of QT-related deaths

Financial Times publishes special report on malaria

Stem cell transplant regimen to treat neuroblastoma in children appears to be more toxic in US

Combinations of sEH inhibition and PPARγ activation have beneficial effects on cardiometabolic syndrome

New technologies speed health care delivery, reduce costs, pioneer new therapies

New hope for patients with chronic HBV infection

Study reveals humans are passing antibiotic resistance to wildlife in protected areas

Mechanism of tumor suppressor p53 inactivation described

Fixed-dose combination of drugs effectively lowers IOP

Crohn’s permanent stoma rates plummet in post-biologic era

Three steps to eliminating NTDs

UNITAID, Medicines Patent Pool work to improve access to medicines in developing world

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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