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Penn study suggests dopamine treatments may play role in increasing impulsivity

While approximately one in five Parkinson's disease patients experience impulse control disorder symptoms, the disease itself does not increase the risk of gambling, shopping, or other impulsivity symptoms, according to research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

8 Jan 2013

Merck’s resubmission of the NDA for suggammadex sodium injection accepted for review by the FDA

Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced that the resubmission of the New Drug Application (NDA) for sugammadex sodium injection has been accepted for review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Merck expects the FDA’s review to be completed in the first half of 2013.

7 Jan 2013

Industry sponsored drug and device studies: an interview with Professor Lisa Bero

Our review included analyses of drug and device studies conducted in humans. The drugs or devices could be compared to placebo or sham treatments, or other effective treatments. The drugs and devices examined for this review are used for a wide variety of clinical conditions, including cardiovascular and psychiatric diseases.

7 Jan 2013

Reflecting on FDA approval of new TB drug

Noting "the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced that it has approved a new treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) that can be used as an alternative when other drugs fail," Kim Lufkin, communications officer at the Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC), writes in the coalition's "Breakthroughs" blog, "There is a pressing and urgent need for even more new TB drugs, which makes this new FDA approval so significant."

7 Jan 2013

Link between Parkinson's and benomyl

For several years, neurologists at UCLA have been building a case that a link exists between pesticides and Parkinson's disease. To date, paraquat, maneb and ziram - common chemicals sprayed in California's Central Valley and elsewhere - have been tied to increases in the disease, not only among farmworkers but in individuals who simply lived or worked near fields and likely inhaled drifting particles.

6 Jan 2013

Research roundup: Gearing children's hospitals for future patients; Inappropriate care decreases, but not 'enough'; What patients think about testing

Researchers in this study examined the use of children's hospitals by relatively healthy children and those "with chronic conditions of varying medical complexity" from 2004 to 2009.

6 Jan 2013

Researchers uncover new way that some bacteria survive when under siege by antibiotics

Researchers have uncovered a new way that some bacteria survive when under siege by antibiotics.

4 Jan 2013

Stanford scientists identify molecular basis for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

When a young athlete dies unexpectedly on the basketball court or the football field, it's both shocking and tragic. Now Stanford University School of Medicine researchers have, for the first time, identified the molecular basis for a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy that is the most common cause for this type of sudden cardiac death.

4 Jan 2013

Thai health advocates work to protect special provisions on medicines under E.U. free trade agreement

Thailand and the European Union (E.U.) are expected to begin talks on a free trade agreement early this year, and Thai public health advocates have sent a letter to Joao Aguiar Machado, deputy director general for trade at the European Commission, "calling for the bloc to respect global trade rules' special provisions for developing countries," Inter Press Service reports.

4 Jan 2013

Scientists invent scalable method to make polyhydroxylated steroids

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have achieved a feat in synthetic chemistry by inventing a scalable method to make complex natural compounds known as "polyhydroxylated steroids." These compounds, used in heart-failure medications and other drugs, have been notoriously problematic to synthesize in the laboratory.

4 Jan 2013

Hobby Lobby won't offer contraception coverage, defying health law and rulings; States face implementation battles

After losing a last-minute appeal to the Supreme Court, craft stores chain Hobby Lobby said it would defy a federal health care mandate requiring employers to provide their workers with insurance that covers emergency contraceptives.

4 Jan 2013

PSCA gene’s rs2294008 variant on T nucleotide may increase risk of bladder cancer

Patients who have inherited a specific common genetic variant develop bladder cancer tumors that strongly express a protein known as prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA), which is also expressed in many pancreatic and prostate tumors, according to research at the National Institutes of Health.

4 Jan 2013

Statin therapy affects muscles’ energy production

Up to 75 per cent of patients who take statins to treat elevated cholesterol levels may suffer from muscle pain. Scientists at the Center for Healthy Aging at the University of Copenhagen have now identified a possible mechanism underlying this unfortunate side effect.

4 Jan 2013

Calphotin essential in keeping cellular calcium concentration low

All living cells keep their cellular calcium concentration at a very low level. Since a small increase in calcium can affect many critical cellular functions (an elevated calcium concentration over an extended period can induce cell death), powerful cellular mechanisms ensure that calcium concentration quickly returns to its low level.

4 Jan 2013

Mayo Clinic researchers identify new target to improve treatment of pancreatic cancer

Researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida have identified a new target to improve treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cancer, which accounts for more than 95 percent of pancreatic cancer cases. This fast-growing, often lethal cancer is resistant to conventional chemotherapy.

4 Jan 2013

Scientists discover process by which mda-9/syntenin contributes to melanoma metastasis

After recently announcing success in eliminating melanoma metastasis in laboratory experiments, scientists at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center have made another important discovery in understanding the process by which the gene mda-9/syntenin contributes to metastasis in melanoma (the spread of skin cancer) and possibly a variety of other cancers.

4 Jan 2013

Celtaxsys commences CTX-4430 Phase 1 study to treat pulmonary inflammation

Celtaxsys, Inc., a private biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of drugs to treat chronic inflammatory disorders, today announced the initiation of a first-in-human Phase 1 clinical study of CTX-4430, which blocks the pro-inflammatory enzyme Leukotriene A4 Hydrolase (LTA4H).

3 Jan 2013

Longer looks: DIY abortions and the law; Helping other parents reach out to mentally ill children; Human growth hormone and Big Pharma

McCormack knew that an abortion would cost $400 to $2,000, depending on how far along she was. ... She couldn't come up with that kind of money. So she called her older sister, who owned a computer, and asked her to order abortion pills for her on the Internet.

3 Jan 2013

Low-carbohydrate diet effective in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy

Dietary modification can be an effective adjunct to drugs in people with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy, according to a study reported in Epilepsy and Behavior.

3 Jan 2013

Itch-specific nerve cells in skin discovered by John Hopkins scientists

Johns Hopkins researchers have uncovered strong evidence that mice have a specific set of nerve cells that signal itch but not pain, a finding that may settle a decades-long debate about these sensations, and, if confirmed in humans, help in developing treatments for chronic itch, including itch caused by life-saving medications.

3 Jan 2013

Drugs News and Research

Penn study suggests dopamine treatments may play role in increasing impulsivity

Merck’s resubmission of the NDA for suggammadex sodium injection accepted for review by the FDA

Industry sponsored drug and device studies: an interview with Professor Lisa Bero

Reflecting on FDA approval of new TB drug

Link between Parkinson's and benomyl

Research roundup: Gearing children's hospitals for future patients; Inappropriate care decreases, but not 'enough'; What patients think about testing

Researchers uncover new way that some bacteria survive when under siege by antibiotics

Stanford scientists identify molecular basis for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Thai health advocates work to protect special provisions on medicines under E.U. free trade agreement

Scientists invent scalable method to make polyhydroxylated steroids

Hobby Lobby won't offer contraception coverage, defying health law and rulings; States face implementation battles

PSCA gene’s rs2294008 variant on T nucleotide may increase risk of bladder cancer

Statin therapy affects muscles’ energy production

Calphotin essential in keeping cellular calcium concentration low

Mayo Clinic researchers identify new target to improve treatment of pancreatic cancer

Scientists discover process by which mda-9/syntenin contributes to melanoma metastasis

Celtaxsys commences CTX-4430 Phase 1 study to treat pulmonary inflammation

Longer looks: DIY abortions and the law; Helping other parents reach out to mentally ill children; Human growth hormone and Big Pharma

Low-carbohydrate diet effective in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy

Itch-specific nerve cells in skin discovered by John Hopkins scientists

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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