Drugs News and Research

RSS

New guidelines for the treatment of acromegaly, a serious growth hormone disorder

It’s said a lot can happen in seven days. In seven years, a lot has happened in the understanding of acromegaly, a debilitating condition that causes a patient to have too much growth hormone. It’s seven years since the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists last produced guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of acromegaly. Their 2004 guidelines were just 13 pages long. Their latest, the 2011 guidelines, have grown – to 44 pages.

31 Aug 2011

Guatemalan Syphilis study in 1940’s violated ethical standards: US presidential commission report

The U.S. presidential commission has found that U.S. government researchers violated ethical standards by deliberately infecting Guatemalan prison inmates and mental patients with syphilis for an experiment in the 1940s. This research did not treat Guatemalan participants as human beings and failed to inform them they were taking part in research study, calling into question the bioethics behind the study design.

31 Aug 2011

Study reveals how pharmaceutical managers can maximize the return on marketing investments

Research in Marketing Science by Professor Kamel Jedidi, John A. Howard Professor of Business, Marketing, Columbia Business School; Professor Oded Netzer, Philip H. Geier Jr. Associate Professor, Marketing, Columbia Business School; and Professor Ricardo Montoya, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile, reveals how pharmaceutical managers can maximize the return on marketing investments - by determining the physicians to target as well as when and how to target them.

31 Aug 2011

Eisai announces results of perampanel Phase III study on epilepsy

Results presented today of a Phase III pivotal study for the investigational compound perampanel for partial-onset seizures showed that perampanel, 8 mg and 12 mg, produced statistically significant reductions in median seizure frequency compared to placebo among patients having partial-onset seizures while receiving treatment with one to three other epilepsy drugs.

31 Aug 2011

IPS examines DNDi program to develop pediatric HIV drugs

Inter Press Service profiles a program launched by the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) to develop antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) specifically designed for children living with HIV/AIDS.

31 Aug 2011

Victims of intimate partner violence more likely to develop mental health disorders

Victims who suffer violence at the hands of a spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend, or other intimate partner aren't only brutalized physically; they also suffer disproportionately higher rates of mental health distress, according to a new policy brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

31 Aug 2011

Comprehensive review on non-drug interventions for treatment of high blood pressure

More and more, patients show up to appointments with hypertension expert John Bisognano, M.D., Ph.D. carrying bags full of "natural" products that they hope will help lower their blood pressure. And like most physicians, Bisognano doesn't always know if these products will do any good, or if they will cause any harm.

31 Aug 2011

Poll: Understanding of health law slipping — especially among uninsured

The poll also shows that, among people with employer-sponsored health insurance, very few respondents would accept changes - such as a more restricted list of doctors or hospitals - to their current coverage levels.

31 Aug 2011

Cost of second-line ARVs a 'huge barrier to care' in resource-poor countries

In this U.N. Dispatch blog post, Mark Leon Goldberg, managing editor of the blog, examines the costs of second-line antiretroviral treatments (ARVs), which "are several orders of magnitude more expensive than traditional, first-line ARV treatments" and are a "huge barrier to providing care" for resource-poor countries.

31 Aug 2011

Symptom-based viral load testing detects HIV in MSM

Testing for HIV when flu-like symptoms develop may offer a cost-effective alternative for early detection of HIV infection in men who have sex with men (MSM), reports a study in the journal AIDS.

31 Aug 2011

Patients with sarcopenia more likely to have worse outcomes from melanoma

It's not how old but how frail patients are that can predict how well they will fare after a melanoma diagnosis. In fact, young patients in poor health may have worse outcomes than older patients in good shape.

31 Aug 2011

Patients with coronary artery disease more likely to have complications from orthopedic surgery

Thrombotic and bleeding events are complications that may occur after surgery. With the aging population in the western world, there are more patients undergoing orthopedic surgery than ever before. This makes understanding the risk of complications from orthopedic surgery exceedingly important. However, there is a lack of data investigating the incidence of thrombotic and bleeding complications in orthopedic surgery.

31 Aug 2011

Cell's reserve fighting force shrinks with age: Study

When the body fights oxidative damage, it calls up a reservist enzyme that protects cells - but only if those cells are relatively young, a study has found.

31 Aug 2011

Enrollment commences in Adamis' APC-100 Phase 1/2a clinical prostate study

Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corporation announced today that it enrolled the first patient in its Phase 1/2a clinical prostate study. Adamis' drug, APC-100, will be used to treat men with castrate-resistant prostate cancer.

31 Aug 2011

First Edition: August 30, 2011

Today's headlines include a report about a new federal and state program that will apply scrutiny to any health-premium increase of more than 10 percent.

30 Aug 2011

PharMEDium offers solutions for hospitals to improve patient safety

David N. Jonas, CEO, PharMEDium Services, announces the commitment to continue corporate R&D investments for innovations with an unprecedented focus on patient safety, quality and efficiency, providing hospital pharmacists with a steady stream of technologically-driven service advancements.

30 Aug 2011

Iranian HIV physician released from Tehran prison

"Iranian HIV doctor Arash Alaei has been released from jail in Tehran after spending more than three years behind bars for allegedly conspiring against the regime, his U.S.-based brother said Monday," Agence France-Presse reports.

30 Aug 2011

DNA sequencing pioneer, two pharmaceutical researchers recognized as ACS 'Heroes of Chemistry'

Two scientists developed a new drug that helped pioneer the era of "personalized medicine" for cancer patients, an approach in which one-size-fits-all drugs yield to medicines customized to the genetic endowment of individual patients. Another scientist invented today's predominant technology for genetic sequencing, deciphering the genetic blueprint in the DNA that makes up the genes of living things.

30 Aug 2011

Few treatment options for growing population of drug users in Afghanistan

The New York Times examines the "growing drug addiction problem" in Afghanistan, where, in 2010, about 900,000 people, or seven percent of the adult population, were using drugs, according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.

30 Aug 2011

Study: Gender gap has not diminished in reperfusion therapy

In spite of an increased attention to gender differences in treatment of myocardial infarctions, focus on adherence to guidelines and a change in predominant therapy, the gender difference in treatment and mortality regarding the big infarctions - STEMI - has not diminished from 1998-2000 to 2004-2006. For some therapies, it has actually increased.

30 Aug 2011