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Kenya to distribute free syringes, needles to people who use injection drugs

"The Kenyan government will begin distributing free syringes and needles to more than 50,000 [injection] drug users (IDUs) across the country in the next month," PlusNews reports, adding, "Policy-makers and experts said the decision was reached following concerns over the spread of HIV and other blood-borne illnesses through injection drug use."

8 Jun 2012

Smoking RA patients don't respond to anti-TNF drugs

A new study presented today at EULAR 2012, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, reinforces current thinking that smoking negatively affects treatment response in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients treated with anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) drugs.

8 Jun 2012

Research roundup: Savings from electronic health records?

Does Health Information Exchange Reduce Unnecessary Neuroimaging and Improve Quality of Headache Care in the Emergency Department?

8 Jun 2012

Decision Resources forecasts the launch of four new agents to treat DMD by 2021

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms focusing on pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that interviewed experts unanimously identify a disease-modifying therapy as the highest unmet need in the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

8 Jun 2012

Lung changes in association with ACPA status are a primary manifestation of RA

A new study presented today at EULAR 2012, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, shows that lung changes in association with anti-citrullinated protein autoantibody (ACPA) status are a primary manifestation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

8 Jun 2012

Data from abatacept versus adalimumab Phase IIIb comparison study on RA

Data from one of the few head-to-head trials in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) presented today at EULAR 2012, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, demonstrates that at one year, 64.8% of patients receiving abatacept (Orencia) and 63.4% of patients receiving adalimumab (Humira) achieved ACR20.

8 Jun 2012

Survey finds 1 in 10 new cases of TB in China are drug-resistant

"One in 10 cases of tuberculosis in China cannot be treated by the most commonly-used drugs, driven by a lack of testing and misuse of medicine, according to a national survey that showed for the first time the size of the drug-resistant epidemic," the Associated Press reports.

8 Jun 2012

Study packs powerful one-two punch in the fight against heart failure

A new study in the journal Circulation packs a powerful one-two punch in the fight against heart failure. The leading blow: Identification of a unique alliance of proteins that plays a major role in the development of the disease. The second but equally powerful hit: Drugs that interfere with this axis already exist.

8 Jun 2012

Fluorinov Pharma receives OICR grant to develop new drug against blood cancers

The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) today announced $1.5 million in funding over three years for the development of a new drug by Toronto-based Fluorinov Pharma, Inc. The drug, called FV-162, is a highly potent, orally-delivered small molecule proteasome inhibitor with significant advantages over drugs currently used to treat multiple myeloma and some forms of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

8 Jun 2012

Patients over 45 years with history of early menopause 50% less likely to develop severe RA

A new study presented today at EULAR 2012, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, shows that early menopause predicts a milder form of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

8 Jun 2012

Nrf2-KEAP1 protein may play a role in diabetic retinopathy

A Wayne State University researcher believes a protein that fails to reach the nucleus of retinal cells may play a role in causing eye disease in people with diabetes.

8 Jun 2012

Scientists create cancer model built in the fruit fly Drosophila

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine developed a cancer model built in the fruit fly Drosophila, then used it to create a whole new approach to the discovery of cancer treatments. The result is an investigational compound AD80 that precisely targets multiple cancer genes.

8 Jun 2012

Researchers identify brain receptor that appears to play a central role in regulating appetite

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) have identified a brain receptor that appears to play a central role in regulating appetite. The findings, published today in the online edition of Cell, could lead to new drugs for preventing or treating obesity.

8 Jun 2012

Millions of pre-diabetic Americans may be at increased risk of future stroke

Millions of pre-diabetic Americans may be at increased risk of future stroke, say researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in a new meta-analysis of epidemiological studies, but the precise degree of that threat is confounded by differing medical definitions and factors that remain unknown or unmeasured.

8 Jun 2012

MGH, HSG to conduct PBT2 clinical trial in Huntington's disease

The Huntington Study Group (HSG), under the leadership of Ray Dorsey, M.D. with Johns Hopkins Medical and Diana Rosas, M.D. with Massachusetts General Hospital, is conducting a clinical trial in Huntington's disease (HD) throughout the United States and Australia, "A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, study to assess the safety and tolerability, and efficacy of PBT2 in patients with early to mid-stage Huntington's disease" comparing a 100 mg dose or 250 mg dose versus placebo.

8 Jun 2012

Anti-TNFs increase risk of shingles in patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases

Patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases (IRD) treated with anti-tumour necrosis factor medications (anti-TNFs) have a 75% greater risk of developing herpes zoster, or shingles, than patients treated with traditional disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), according to a meta-analysis presented today at EULAR 2012, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism.

8 Jun 2012

UNAIDS Executive Director calls on African leaders to reduce 'triple dependency' on external sources of HIV drugs, commodities, technologies

"Delivering a speech at Wednesday's opening session of the 16th Conference of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe congratulated leaders across the region for their personal commitment to the HIV response, specifically with regard to upholding human rights and protecting human capital," UNAIDS reports in an article on its website.

8 Jun 2012