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Researchers find kidney-specific gene defects may increase risk of heart failure

Scientists have identified the first DNA sequence variant common in the population that is not only associated with an increased risk of heart failure, but appears to play a role in causing it.

18 Jan 2011

Pharmacists can help patients to manage their medication and stop smoking

Consulting a pharmacist, or other healthcare professional, when quitting smoking boosts a patient's chance of long-term success from three per cent to 30 per cent.

17 Jan 2011

Diamyd commences NP2 Enkephalin Phase II trial to reduce cancer pain

Diamyd has dosed the first subject in a Phase II clinical trial in the United States evaluating the ability of the candidate drug NP2 Enkephalin to reduce cancer pain.

17 Jan 2011

Inflammation “master switch” found: Study

According to the latest medical discovery a protein that acts as a “master switch” has been found to determine whether certain white blood cells will boost or dampen inflammation. This may open new avenues in rheumatoid arthritis research. Rheumatoid arthritis or RA is an inflammatory disease that causes severe progressive crippling of the joints.

17 Jan 2011

Painkillers and heart attack risk

A new study has shown that taking certain commonly used painkillers for long periods or in high doses increases the risk of heart attacks or strokes. The study comes from researchers from Bern University and is published in the British Medical Journal.

16 Jan 2011

Home dialysis as effective as hospital dialysis for patients with kidney transplant failure

Patients who must return to dialysis after a kidney transplant failure survive just as well on home dialysis as hospital dialysis, but few choose that option, according to new research by Dr. Jeffrey Perl, a nephrologist at St. Michael's Hospital.

14 Jan 2011

Study: Health advocacy groups don't always disclose drug company funding

The researchers noted that since these lobbying organizations often urge greater access to new drugs and treatments, these contributions should be made public.

14 Jan 2011

Research roundup: Racial disparities in cancer and other care, nursing home closures, extending drugmakers' exclusivity

Journal of the National Cancer Institute: Projections Of The Cost Of Cancer Care In The United States: 2010-2020 - "By combining cancer prevalence with average annual costs of cancer care by phase of care and tumor site for 13 cancers in men and 16 cancers in women" and "all cancer sites combined," the authors project there will be just over 18 million cancer survivors in 2020 compared to 13.8 million survivors in 2010.

14 Jan 2011

Cancer Research UK and CRT select 4 research groups to unravel role of cancer stem cells

Cancer Research UK and its commercial arm Cancer Research Technology (CRT), have established a team of scientists with expertise in cancer stem cell research to identify new targets to detect, monitor and treat cancer.

14 Jan 2011

Collaborative Drug Discovery receives additional grant for TB drug research

Collaborative Drug Discovery, Inc. (CDD) today announced that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has extended its previous grant to CDD to create a novel database to spark collaborative efforts to discover more effective drugs against tuberculosis (TB). The TB bacillus infects approximately one third of the world's population and the disease kills over 1.5 million people every year.

From Collaborative Drug Discovery, Inc. 14 Jan 2011

Unintended direct conflict between pharmaceutical marketing and public health

Drugs that pharmaceutical companies market most aggressively to physicians and patients tend to offer less benefit and more harm to most patients - a phenomenon described as the "inverse benefit law" in a paper from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

14 Jan 2011

CINJ clinical trial explores anti-malaria drug against melanoma

Building upon recent laboratory discoveries on resistance by cancer cells to therapies that attempt to starve cancer, scientists at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) are conducting a clinical trial that further explores how to prevent that action.

14 Jan 2011

ShangPharma opens new multi-purpose pharma development and cGMP manufacturing facility in Fengxian

ShangPharma Corporation, a leading China-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology research and development outsourcing company, today announced commencement of operations on the initial phase of production at the Company's Fengxian facility. This new multi-purpose pharmaceutical development and cGMP manufacturing facility is located in Fengxian in the suburbs of Shanghai, China.

14 Jan 2011

Vanderbilt, Scripps Research form partnership to open new institute

The Scripps Research Institute and Vanderbilt University have formed a partnership to advance science at the interface of chemistry and medicine, the institutions announced today.

14 Jan 2011

News outlets examine reaction to WHO plan to contain drug-resistant malaria

In follow-up coverage of the WHO's announcement Wednesday of a plan to contain the spread of artemisinin-resistant malaria, news outlets examined the scope of the problem, reactions to the plan and speculations of how the anticipated $175 million annual cost would be funded.

14 Jan 2011

Study highlights role of SIRT1 protein as tumor suppressor in prostate cancer

Researchers from the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson and two other institutions have discovered new evidence that suggests the "longevity" protein SIRT1, known for its life-spanning effects in different species, can inhibit the development of a known precursor to prostate cancer, prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia.

14 Jan 2011

FDA asks manufacturers to eliminate higher-dose prescription combination acetaminophen products

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is asking manufacturers of prescription combination products that contain acetaminophen to limit the amount of acetaminophen to no more than 325 milligrams in each tablet or capsule.

14 Jan 2011

Older adults with recent heart attack, kidney dysfunction lack long-term medication adherence: Study

Among older adults with a recent heart attack, those with lower levels of kidney function are less likely to take their medications as prescribed, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

14 Jan 2011

IDRI receives Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation multi-million dollar grant to identify new leads in TB

The Infectious Disease Research Institute today announced it has received a multi-million dollar grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for "Chemical genomics for the identification of targets and leads in tuberculosis."

14 Jan 2011

ITM scientists to combat tapeworm infection using drugs

The Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp increases its fight in Congo against the pork tapeworm, in spite of its name also a human parasite, causing epilepsy.

14 Jan 2011

Drugs News and Research

Researchers find kidney-specific gene defects may increase risk of heart failure

Pharmacists can help patients to manage their medication and stop smoking

Diamyd commences NP2 Enkephalin Phase II trial to reduce cancer pain

Inflammation “master switch” found: Study

Painkillers and heart attack risk

Home dialysis as effective as hospital dialysis for patients with kidney transplant failure

Study: Health advocacy groups don't always disclose drug company funding

Research roundup: Racial disparities in cancer and other care, nursing home closures, extending drugmakers' exclusivity

Cancer Research UK and CRT select 4 research groups to unravel role of cancer stem cells

Collaborative Drug Discovery receives additional grant for TB drug research

Unintended direct conflict between pharmaceutical marketing and public health

CINJ clinical trial explores anti-malaria drug against melanoma

ShangPharma opens new multi-purpose pharma development and cGMP manufacturing facility in Fengxian

Vanderbilt, Scripps Research form partnership to open new institute

News outlets examine reaction to WHO plan to contain drug-resistant malaria

Study highlights role of SIRT1 protein as tumor suppressor in prostate cancer

FDA asks manufacturers to eliminate higher-dose prescription combination acetaminophen products

Older adults with recent heart attack, kidney dysfunction lack long-term medication adherence: Study

IDRI receives Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation multi-million dollar grant to identify new leads in TB

ITM scientists to combat tapeworm infection using drugs

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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