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Pharmaceutical waste forms a whole new range of contaminants

The health implications of polluting the environment weigh increasingly on our public consciousness, and pharmaceutical wastes continue to be a main culprit. Now a Tel Aviv University researcher says that current testing for these dangerous contaminants isn't going far enough.

21 Jul 2011

Isis commences ISIS-PTP1BRx Phase 1 study in type 2 diabetes

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has initiated a Phase 1 clinical study for ISIS-PTP1BRx, an antisense drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes targeting protein tyrosine phosphatase-1B, PTP-1B.

21 Jul 2011

Baxter net income increases 15% to $615 million for second quarter 2011

Baxter International Inc. today announced strong financial results for the second quarter of 2011, and raised its financial outlook for full-year 2011.

From Baxter International Inc. 21 Jul 2011

Reducing variety in food choices may help lose weight

Variety is considered the "spice of life," but does today's unprecedented level of dietary variety help explain skyrocketing rates of obesity? Some researchers think it might.

21 Jul 2011

U.S. physicians to receive nearly $10M from Humana's Provider Quality Rewards Program

Humana Inc. has begun distributing nearly $10 million to physicians across the U.S. who participate in Humana's Provider Quality Rewards Program. Approximately 2,800 physician practices will receive payments of as much as $175,000 in recognition of performance improvements their practices made during 2010 related to improved outcomes for Humana's Medicare members.

21 Jul 2011

Medco enters definitive merger agreement with Express Scripts

Express Scripts, Inc. and Medco Health Solutions, Inc. today announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement.

21 Jul 2011

PAREXEL completes 100th Asian ethnobridging study

PAREXEL International Corporation, a leading global biopharmaceutical services provider, announced today that it has achieved a significant milestone by completing its 100th Asian ethnobridging study, which is designed to help biopharmaceutical companies accelerate development for the Asia/Pacific market.

From Parexel 21 Jul 2011

Randox win Premier Healthcare Alliance contract for Quality Control

Randox Laboratories Ltd is proud to announce that in April 2011 we signed a multi-year agreement with the Premier Healthcare Alliance for the supply of Acusera Quality Control (QC) materials. The agreement will provide the 90,000 plus Premier members with access to our extensive range of quality control products and the benefits they offer clinical laboratories. When asked about the new agreement Laura Coyle Randox Business Manager for the USA revealed that ‘We look forward to strengthening our relationship with Premier and providing added value to their members’.

From Randox Laboratories Ltd. 21 Jul 2011

Medco second-quarter total net revenues increase 4.1% to record $17.1 billion

Medco Health Solutions, Inc. today reported second-quarter 2011 GAAP diluted EPS of $0.85, up 10.4 percent compared to $0.77 for the second quarter of 2010. Adjusting for all amortization of intangible assets, second-quarter 2011 diluted earnings per share increased 10.3 percent to $0.96, up from $0.87 in the second quarter of 2010.

21 Jul 2011

Public disclosure of Bachmann's migraine condition raises much-needed awareness

University of Vermont Professor of Neurology and migraine expert Robert Shapiro, M.D., Ph.D., says U.S. Representative and presidential candidate Michele Bachmann's public disclosure of her migraine condition has brought much-needed awareness to this disabling, often-stigmatized disorder, which afflicts millions of Americans.

21 Jul 2011

Promising compounds for new anti-obesity drugs

Though it generally is known that obesity dramatically increases the risk for type 2 diabetes, the biological mechanisms for that connection still are unclear.

21 Jul 2011

Excess brain activity in aMCI patients contributes to brain dysfunction underlying memory loss

An existing anti-seizure drug improves memory and brain function in adults with a form of cognitive impairment that often leads to full-blown Alzheimer's disease, a Johns Hopkins University study has found.

21 Jul 2011

Genetically engineered excitable cells made to generate and pass electrical current

By altering the genetic makeup of normally "unexcitable" cells, Duke University bioengineers have turned them into cells capable of generating and passing electrical current.

21 Jul 2011

Localized one-time gene therapy might effectively protect against atherosclerosis

A one-dose method for delivering gene therapy into an arterial wall effectively protects the artery from developing atherosclerosis despite ongoing high blood cholesterol.

21 Jul 2011

Dealing with chronic pain

For people with severe chronic pain like Kelly Young and Teresa Shaffer—both of whom have become patient advocates —coping with agony is a fact of life. Young suffers from rheumatoid arthritis while Shaffer's pain is linked primarily to another degenerative bone disease.

21 Jul 2011

Caltech, Zcube collaboration will bring painless transdermal drug delivery to patients

Zcube Srl, a research venture of the Italian pharmaceutical company Zambon, and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have signed an exclusive research and option agreement to develop and commercialize skin patches that contain embedded carbon nanotubes for delivering drugs. The patches will first be developed to painlessly administer drugs through the skin; other applications are envisioned for future use. Mory Gharib, Hans W. Liepmann Professor of Aeronautics and professor of bioinspired engineering, is the principal investigator at Caltech.

21 Jul 2011

IAS, UIPHP to launch VKC for injecting drug users living with HIV

As a part of its new initiative, Expanding Access to Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) for People Who Inject Drugs in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA), the International AIDS Society (IAS) will launch a Virtual Knowledge Centre (VKC) in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute on Public Health Policy.

21 Jul 2011

Receptor GPR56 could have a critical role in cancer progression

Melanoma is devastating on many fronts: rates are rising dramatically among young people, it is deadly if not caught early, and from a biological standpoint, the disease tends to adapt to even the most modern therapies, known as VEGF inhibitors.

21 Jul 2011

New poll: Majority of Canadians need changes to health care system

According to a new poll conducted for the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA), an overwhelming majority of Canadians say the country's health care system must be transformed to better meet patient needs.

21 Jul 2011

Study examines cost-effectiveness of MS drugs in the U.S.

A new study examining the cost-effectiveness of drugs to treat multiple sclerosis (MS) in the United States finds that the health gains from these drugs come at a very high cost compared to basic therapy to control the symptoms of MS and compared to treatments for other chronic diseases.

21 Jul 2011