Drugs News and Research

RSS

China Sky One Medical's Myocardial Infarction and Urine Microalbumin Diagnostic Kits receive CE certification

China Sky One Medical, Inc., a leading fully integrated pharmaceutical company producing over-the-counter drugs in the People's Republic of China, today announced the receipt of Conformite Europeenne (CE) certification for its Myocardial Infarction and Urine Microalbumin Diagnostic Kits. The CE marking certifies that the two products have met the European Union health and safety standards and are approved for sale in the 27 EU countries and four members of the European Free Trade Association.

20 Mar 2010

CBO numbers buoy Democrats eyeing Sunday health reform vote

Democrats unveiled a health overhaul reconciliation bill the Congressional Budget Office says will cost $940 billion but also cut the deficit by $138 billion over the next 10 years.

20 Mar 2010

AARP urges Congressmen to support health care bill and help deliver relief to Idahoans

Hundreds of thousands of Idahoans unable to afford health care or struggling to pay soaring health care costs are watching Congress and hoping for relief. With a final showdown looming on health insurance reform legislation in Washington, D.C., AARP announced this morning it will back the bill containing key reform provisions, improving health care for older Americans and their families.

20 Mar 2010

Research roundup: Insurance crisis tough on middle class; Hospitals' profit margins on private patients up

Private-Payer Profits Can Induce Negative Medicare Margins - "Hospitals' profit margins on privately insured patients have risen dramatically in recent years, while profit margins on Medicare patients have fallen," write the authors, who all work for MedPAC.

20 Mar 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

A Lancet study performed a systematic review of HIV prevention and treatment services targeting injecting drug users (IDUs) globally based on the availability of "core interventions for IDUs: needle and syringe programmes (NSPs), opioid substitution therapy (OST) and other drug treatment, HIV testing and counselling, antiretroviral therapy (ART), and condom programmes." The authors conclude, "although the number of countries with core HIV prevention services is growing … worldwide, there are few countries in which the level of intervention coverage is sufficient to prevent HIV transmission" (Mathers et al., 3/20).

20 Mar 2010

Major study shoots for personalized breast cancer drugs

Mutations in BCRA1 and BCRA2 genes are mainly associated with increased risk of breast cancer in women. Recently many other genetic variants have been found to be associated with breast cancer.

19 Mar 2010

Melancholy - not just a ‘state of mind’ but maybe a mental illness

Melancholia was first identified by the Greek physician Hippocrates, who described sufferers as being plagued with ''fears and despondencies''. But due to lack of exact biochemical and clinical features this condition has been struck off the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders used worldwide to diagnose mental illnesses.

19 Mar 2010

National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day: NIAID Director issues statement

Following is a statement of Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases National Institutes of Health on National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, March 20, 2010:

19 Mar 2010

Synergy Pharmaceuticals commences dosing in Phase IIa clinical trial of SP-304 in CC patients

Synergy Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a developer of new drugs to treat gastrointestinal disorders and diseases, announced today the initiation of dosing in a Phase IIa clinical trial of SP-304 in patients with chronic constipation (CC). This is a Phase IIa, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 14-day repeat, oral, dose-escalation study in patients with chronic constipation.

19 Mar 2010

Trauma patients with undiagnosed Helicobacter infections: Some drugs may not be effective

A Kansas State University study aimed at alleviating intestinal damage in trauma patients digressed to an important finding that could affect medication given to the individuals.

19 Mar 2010

Lifestyle improvements and new treatments for diabetes and cardiovascular disease needed

Treatment with the anti-hypertensive drug valsartan (Diovan) led to a modest reduction in the development of type 2 diabetes but did not significantly reduce cardiovascular events in patients with impaired glucose tolerance, according to researchers at Duke University Medical Center and the University of Oxford. They jointly reported results at the American College of Cardiology meeting today from the world's first study designed to find ways to control the progression to diabetes and cardiovascular disease in people at risk.

19 Mar 2010

Global initiative for reducing time taken to introduce new combination TB treatments

Ahead of World TB Day, US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg helped public and private sector partners launch a new collaboration to significantly accelerate the development of combination treatments for tuberculosis — and replace an almost 50-year-old drug regimen. Created by the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, the Critical Path Institute, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the initiative could potentially reduce the time it takes to introduce new combination TB treatments from as much as a quarter century to as few as six years.

19 Mar 2010

Hercules Technology Growth Capital commits over $52.0M in structured debt financing

Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc., the leading specialty finance company providing venture debt and equity to venture capital and private equity-backed technology and life science companies at all stages of development, today announced that it has committed over $52.0 million in structured debt financing to new and existing portfolio companies.

19 Mar 2010

Noscapine can be used as prophylactic treatment for prostate cancer: Study

New research has revealed a major breakthrough in the use of cough medicine ingredient noscapine as a prophylactic treatment for prostate cancer.

19 Mar 2010

Media outlets interview Shah during life sciences conference in Seattle

USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah was in Seattle on Tuesday to speak at the annual Life Science Innovation Northwest conference, the Seattle Times' blog, "The Business of Giving," reports. The blog outlines the Obama administration's global health and development goals, including the six-year $63 billion Global Health Initiative (GHI), as well as some of the challenges facing Shah at USAID.

19 Mar 2010

Idaho, Virginia gear up for fight to defeat individual mandate; NY law sets procedure for decisions for unresponsive patients

The Associated Press: "Idaho is leading the charge in a states-rights push to defeat a proposal in Congress that would require people to buy health insurance, a key piece of reforms being pushed by President Barack Obama. Republican Gov. C.L. 'Butch' Otter used a ceremony Wednesday afternoon to become the first governor to sign into law a measure requiring the state attorney general to sue the federal government over any such insurance mandates.

19 Mar 2010

Almost 62% of Canadians age 65 and older use five or more classes of prescription drugs: CIHI study

Almost two-thirds (62%) of Canadians age 65 and older living in the community in six provinces are using five or more classes of prescription drugs, according to a study released today by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

19 Mar 2010

BioSense Technologies' Z-Sense Differential Impedance Sensing diagnostic system rapidly identifies drug susceptibility

BioSense Technologies, a pioneer in the development of diagnostic systems for rapid drug susceptibility testing, announced today that it presented key scientific findings at the National Foundation for Infection Disease 2010 Annual Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance, held in Bethesda, MD in early February.

19 Mar 2010

FDA drafts new rules for testing, approving drug cocktails; Public-private partnership for TB treatment development launched

The FDA is drafting new guidelines for testing and approving multidrug cocktails for life-threatening diseases, the Wall Street Journal reports. "Many diseases, such as AIDS, tuberculosis and cancer, require multidrug combinations. Such drug cocktails can prevent the development of drug resistance, because the microbe or cancer cell needs to undergo more mutations to escape several drugs than to escape just one. By attacking the disease in different ways, drug combinations also improve the chances of therapeutic benefit," the newspaper reports (Schoofs, 3/18).

19 Mar 2010

WHO estimates 440 000 MDR-TB cases in 2008

In some areas of the world, one in four people with tuberculosis (TB) becomes ill with a form of the disease that can no longer be treated with standard drugs regimens, a World Health Organization (WHO) report says.

19 Mar 2010

Drugs News and Research

China Sky One Medical's Myocardial Infarction and Urine Microalbumin Diagnostic Kits receive CE certification

CBO numbers buoy Democrats eyeing Sunday health reform vote

AARP urges Congressmen to support health care bill and help deliver relief to Idahoans

Research roundup: Insurance crisis tough on middle class; Hospitals' profit margins on private patients up

Recent releases in Global Health

Major study shoots for personalized breast cancer drugs

Melancholy - not just a ‘state of mind’ but maybe a mental illness

National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day: NIAID Director issues statement

Synergy Pharmaceuticals commences dosing in Phase IIa clinical trial of SP-304 in CC patients

Trauma patients with undiagnosed Helicobacter infections: Some drugs may not be effective

Lifestyle improvements and new treatments for diabetes and cardiovascular disease needed

Global initiative for reducing time taken to introduce new combination TB treatments

Hercules Technology Growth Capital commits over $52.0M in structured debt financing

Noscapine can be used as prophylactic treatment for prostate cancer: Study

Media outlets interview Shah during life sciences conference in Seattle

Idaho, Virginia gear up for fight to defeat individual mandate; NY law sets procedure for decisions for unresponsive patients

Almost 62% of Canadians age 65 and older use five or more classes of prescription drugs: CIHI study

BioSense Technologies' Z-Sense Differential Impedance Sensing diagnostic system rapidly identifies drug susceptibility

FDA drafts new rules for testing, approving drug cocktails; Public-private partnership for TB treatment development launched

WHO estimates 440 000 MDR-TB cases in 2008

Drug Discovery - Second Edition eBook

Discover how SciY empowers scientists

Why use light scattering to analyze proteins and viral vectors?

Changing the landscape of R&D to build clinical success from the ground up

Latest News