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UCLA Face Transplantation Program seeks candidates for clinical trial

The UCLA Health System has launched the UCLA Face Transplantation Program, the first surgical program of its kind in the western United States and one of only a handful in the nation.

25 May 2012

FDA reauthorization bill sails through Senate

Showing unusual bipartisan spirit, the Senate passed a massive FDA user-fee reauthorization bill Thursday designed to prevent drug shortages and speed federal approval of medicines, including lower-cost generic versions.

25 May 2012

Takeda signs agreement to acquire Multilab

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and Multilab Indústria e Comércio de Produtos Farmacêuticos Ltda. today jointly announced that both parties have signed an agreement whereby Takeda Farmacêutica Brasil Ltda., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Takeda, aims to acquire Multilab.

25 May 2012

MIT researchers engineer new jet-injection system

MIT researchers have engineered a device that delivers a tiny, high-pressure jet of medicine through the skin without the use of a hypodermic needle. The device can be programmed to deliver a range of doses to various depths - an improvement over similar jet-injection systems that are now commercially available.

25 May 2012

Thioridazine drug successfully kills human cancer stem cells

A team of scientists at McMaster University has discovered a drug, thioridazine, successfully kills cancer stem cells in the human while avoiding the toxic side-effects of conventional cancer treatments.

25 May 2012

Cyanobacterium produces compounds that could treat chronic inflammatory conditions

A seaweed considered a threat to the healthy growth of coral reefs in Hawaii may possess the ability to produce substances that could one day treat human diseases, a new study led by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has revealed.

25 May 2012

Study reveals why people develop life-threatening drug allergies

A research team led by the University of Melbourne and Monash University, Australia, has discovered why people can develop life-threatening allergies after receiving treatment for conditions such as epilepsy and AIDS.

25 May 2012

ITM in Antwerp receives Gates Foundation grant for malaria research

The Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine has received a $3m grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for malaria research. They will use it to attack malaria mosquitoes from a new angle.

25 May 2012

UCSF scientists aim to use embryonic stem cells for treatment of neuropathic pain

Chronic pain, by definition, is difficult to manage, but a new study by UCSF scientists shows how a cell therapy might one day be used not only to quell some common types of persistent and difficult-to-treat pain, but also to cure the conditions that give rise to them.

25 May 2012

Reid says he will let budget cuts go forward unless there is a concession on revenue

In an interview with POLITICO, (Senate Majority Leader Harry) Reid said he was open to a compromise that would salvage about four-fifths of the Bush-era tax cuts. But absent some concession on revenues, the $110 billion in spending cuts ordered by the debt agreement last August would go into effect. "I am not going to back off the sequestration," Reid said. ... the recent House-passed reconciliation bill, which promises to forestall these very same cuts in January, was the last straw for Reid and helped fortify his position.

25 May 2012

FDA advisory committee votes in favor of Pfizer's tafamidis meglumine

Pfizer Inc. announced today that the United States Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee voted on Pfizer's clinical data package for tafamidis meglumine.

25 May 2012

Viewpoints: Politics of the Medicare debate; Measuring the impact of Catholic bishops' legal challenge

So don't expect the Obama administration to agree to any cuts in Medicare between now and Election Day. And don't expect them to show any support for Rep. Paul Ryan's plan to privatize Medicare. Holding strong on Medicare is the silver bullet for Obama. It may offset some of seniors' concerns about low interest rates on their savings.

25 May 2012

Alpha-2 agonists decrease postoperative consumption of opioid drugs

A study from researchers at Geneva University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland, provides evidence that use of alpha-2 agonists alongside opioids in surgical patients decreased opioid use by 25-30 percent. Even though opioid use was less, these patients reported slightly less pain after surgery.

25 May 2012

Insmed initiates patient screening for ARIKACE phase 2 NTM lung disease trial

Insmed Incorporated, a biopharmaceutical company, today announced that it has begun screening patients for its U.S. phase 2 clinical trial, Treatment with ARIKACE to Realize Greater Efficacy Trial (TARGET-NTM), of ARIKACE (liposomal amikacin for inhalation) in patients with non-tuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) lung disease.

24 May 2012

USP announces two new standards related to elemental impurities

As part of its ongoing efforts to help ensure the quality of medicines, the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) has announced two new standards related to elemental impurities: General Chapters <232> Elemental Impurities-Limits and <233> Elemental Impurities-Procedures. The new standards provide procedures for the detection of selected impurities in drug products based on modern analytical methods, as well as acceptable limits for their presence based on toxicity data and exposure levels.

24 May 2012

New method developed to synthesise a set of potential glycosidase inhibitors

In many biological and pathological processes, glycosidase enzymes attack glycosidic bonds in carbohydrates, glycoproteins, and glycolipids. The ability to modify or block these processes by specific glycosidase inhibitors forms the basis for their potential use in the treatment of viral infections, cancer, and genetic disorders.

24 May 2012

Is access problem preventing generic drug makers' progress?

Some drugmakers assert they are unable to create cheaper generic versions of drugs because their rivals are exploiting a legal loophole. It all comes down to process: To get a generic drug approved for sale, a company has to test a sample of the brand-name version and show regulators that the generic version is essentially identical and as effective.

24 May 2012

APP expands portfolio of injectable critical care products

APP Pharmaceuticals, LLC, a Fresenius Kabi Company, today announced it has acquired three products from Nexus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

24 May 2012

Chronic diseases, bloodstream infections on the rise among HIV+ ICU patients

The expanded use of antiretrovirals, potent drugs used to treat retroviral infections such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), has been linked to significant decreases in hospital mortality rates among severely ill HIV-positive (HIV+) patients nationwide, primarily due to a decrease in opportunistic infections, according to a new study by researchers at Stanford University.

24 May 2012

Preliminary results from Celldex’s CDX-011 Phase 2b breast cancer study

Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. today announced preliminary results from the Company's randomized Phase 2b EMERGE study of CDX-011 (glembatumumab vedotin) antibody drug conjugate in patients with glycoprotein NMB (GPNMB) expressing, advanced, heavily pretreated breast cancer. Preliminary results suggest that CDX-011 induces impressive response rates compared to current, available therapies in patients with advanced, refractory breast cancers with high GPNMB expression.

24 May 2012