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Bromide shows promise against SCN1A-associated Dravet syndrome with intractable seizures

In the mid-nineteenth century Charles Locock, physician to Queen Victoria, introduced bromide as the first effective treatment for epilepsy. The drug was little used in treating the disorder until 1868, however, when its efficacy against seizures was first demonstrated in a clinical trial. Bromide was the sole anticonvulsant available until 1912 and the introduction of phenobarbital.

5 Dec 2011

Obama pledges more for fighting HIV/AIDS

On the occasion of World AIDS day on 1st December, President Barack Obama vowed to boost U.S. efforts to fight AIDS with a new target of providing treatment to 6 million people worldwide by 2013, up from an earlier goal of 4 million.

4 Dec 2011

Novartis to showcase 160 presentations on breast cancer, hematological disease drugs at SABCS and ASH

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation will showcase more than one hundred and sixty presentations on data from its robust oncology portfolio at two key medical congresses this month, demonstrating significant advances for patients with cancers and hematological diseases.

3 Dec 2011

Product Development Partnerships 'essential' in fight against global diseases

"If the momentum gained in the last few years" in fighting global diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis (TB), malaria, measles, and meningitis "is any indicator of our future trajectory, we are standing on the threshold of a revolutionary change in the state of global health," Wendy Taylor, senior adviser of Innovative Finance and Public Private Partnerships at USAID, and David Cook, executive vice president and COO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI),

3 Dec 2011

Research roundup: Recession's big impact on men's insurance coverage

Researchers examined three sets of surveillance data and found that of the estimated 1.2 million persons in the United States living with the human immunodeficiency virus, 942,000 persons were aware of their infection. More than three-quarters of those were "linked to care" and among HIV-infected adults in care, "45 percent received prevention counseling, and 89 percent were prescribed antiretroviral therapy."

3 Dec 2011

On World AIDS Day, Obama announces plan to redirect $50 million to fight AIDS

President Barack Obama told advocates, patients and other stakeholders that his administration will do more to get antiretroviral drugs to people infected with HIV - in the United States and in low-income countries around the world.

3 Dec 2011

Foster children on Medicaid are overly medicated, says report

A study of five states found that foster children are more likely than other kids to be given mind-altering drugs, including antipsychotics and antidepressants.

3 Dec 2011

Obama announces new U.S. commitments to end AIDS domestically, globally

Speaking at the ONE campaign and (RED)'s "Beginning of the End of AIDS" event at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., to mark World AIDS Day on Thursday, "President Obama ... announced a deepened U.S. commitment to fighting the pandemic, declaring 'make no mistake, we are going to win this fight,'" ABC News reports (Bruce, 12/1).

3 Dec 2011

Brazil's ANVISA grants registration for child-adapted formulation of benznidazole for Chagas disease

Today, at the occasion of the 4th DNDi Partners' Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Dr Carlos Gadelha, Secretary of Science, Technology and Strategic Products, Brazilian Ministry of Health, announced that Brazil's National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) granted registration of a new paediatric dosage form of benznidazole, developed through a partnership between the Pernambuco State Pharmaceutical Laboratory (LAFEPE) of Brazil and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi).

3 Dec 2011

South African President introduces National Strategic Plan on HIV, STIs, TB

South African President Jacob Zuma in a speech on Thursday to mark World AIDS Day introduced a new five-year National Strategic Plan on HIV, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and tuberculosis (TB), which "calls for stepped-up prevention efforts to halve new infections of HIV and tuberculosis by 2016 and to put 80 percent of eligible patients on antiretroviral drugs to fight AIDS," Agence France-Presse reports.

3 Dec 2011

Pfizer acquires Excaliard

Pfizer Inc. announced today that it has completed its acquisition of Excaliard Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately owned biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel drugs for the treatment of skin fibrosis, more commonly referred to as skin scarring.

3 Dec 2011

Baby boomers more likely to develop HCV

Experts at Montefiore Medical Center urge the general public to be tested for the Hepatitis C virus, especially baby boomers, adults born between 1946-1964, who could be most at risk for this disease. Baby boomers are more likely to have been exposed to dangerous risk factors decades ago, such as sharing a drug needle, being tattooed or pierced with unsterilized tools or receiving a tainted blood transfusion.

2 Dec 2011

First Edition: December 2, 2011

In today's headlines, reports on congressional efforts to extend a payroll tax break and other work Congress must do before the end of the year -- including the Medicare doc fix.

2 Dec 2011

Treatments for lymphoma with no side effects

Larry Conrad went in for his annual physical on his 50th birthday. During his exam, his doctor found swollen lymph nodes in his armpits and groin. Conrad had a cough and said he'd lost weight because he 'felt full all the time'. His doctor ordered a series of tests, and Conrad was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the most common type.

2 Dec 2011

DNDi highlights lack of healthcare coverage for children with HIV/AIDS

Less than one-quarter (23%) of children with HIV/AIDS who need treatment are getting it, according to a report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the occasion of World AIDS Day.

2 Dec 2011

Assembly Bill 5502-B would raise cost of many prescriptions in NY by 10%

Assembly Bill 5502-B—transmitted to Governor Andrew Cuomo yesterday—would needlessly raise the cost of many prescriptions in New York by 10 percent, according to the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association. If enacted, the Bill would prohibit consumers from getting discounted prescriptions through mail-service pharmacies.

2 Dec 2011

New insight into why aminoglycoside antibiotics cause deafness

Peter Steyger's research on hearing is very personal. That's because Steyger - a research scientist with the Oregon Hearing Research Center at Oregon Health & Science University - is deaf. Now Steyger has published groundbreaking research that is as personal as it gets. The study gives scientists new insight into why a specific class of antibiotics causes deafness - the same class of antibiotics that caused Steyger's deafness as a child in England 48 years ago. The study was published this month in Scientific Reports, part of the Nature Publishing Group.

2 Dec 2011

Obama renews U.S. commitment to ending AIDS in World AIDS Day speech

President Barack Obama on Thursday renewed the U.S. commitment to ending HIV/AIDS in a speech marking World AIDS Day, and was joined by former presidents Bill Clinton, who participated by video, and George W. Bush, who spoke from Tanzania with that country's President, Jakaya Kikwete, the Independent reports.

2 Dec 2011

Al Jazeera examines HIV, drug use among women in Northeast India

Al Jazeera examines HIV among women in India's Manipur state, particularly in the district of Churachandpur, where local non-governmental organizations "say more than one-quarter of the women use some kind of drugs and suffer from HIV; many, due to a lack of financial opportunities, will end up turning to" sex work to obtain money to buy drugs, the news agency writes.

2 Dec 2011

U.S. Marshals seize all Syntec's dietary supplements for false claims

U.S. Marshals, at the request of the FDA, today seized all dietary supplements by a Wisconsin maker for false claims made about their safety and effectiveness in treating a number of diseases.

2 Dec 2011