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FDA calls for cuts in Acetaminophen in painkillers

The US FDA has asked for a limit on the amount of acetaminophen in prescription pain medicines in an effort to reduce the risk of liver damage. The announcement yesterday asked manufacturers to limit combination drugs such as the opioids Percocet and Vicodin to 325 milligrams of acetaminophen per pill and asked them to carry a “black box” warning about potential liver failure. At present these combinations carry up to 750 milligrams of acetaminophen.

13 Jan 2011

Adjunctive lacosamide reduces seizures and improves responder rates

Comprehensive analyses of pooled data from three randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase II/III trials showing the efficacy and tolerability of Vimpat® (lacosamide) C-V for patients with partial-onset seizures, regardless of the type of concomitant AED used, have been published in the drug evaluation journal, CNS Drugs.

13 Jan 2011

Metabolic profiling of tissue samples may transform the way surgeons make decisions

Metabolic profiling of tissue samples could transform the way surgeons make decisions in the operating theatre, say researchers at a new laboratory being launched today. Scientists at Imperial College London, in partnership with clinicians at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, have installed a high resolution solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer in St Mary's Hospital.

13 Jan 2011

Abuse of legal substances

The Internet, smart phones and teens' endless search for self-acceptance in their technology connected yet isolated world is driving a revival of substance abuse of salvia, an herb from flower seeds that induces psychedelic effects but is not detectable with usual drug tests, and synthetic cannabis, a psychoactive herbal and chemical concoction, also undetectable, popularly known around high schools as "spice".

13 Jan 2011

Huge falloff in teens' recalled exposure to drug abuse prevention messages

The University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future study (MTF) – the largest survey on teen drug abuse tracking over 46,000 8th, 10th and 12th graders – found a huge falloff in teens' recalled exposure to drug abuse prevention messages over the past seven years. The new data from the MTF study have been released at a time when teens themselves report finding the drug-prevention messages to be effective.

13 Jan 2011

FRC opposes designating abortion as means of pregnancy-prevention

At a meeting today in the nation's capital of a federal advisory committee on the new health care law, Family Research Council (FRC) expressed its strong opposition to designating abortion as a means of pregnancy-prevention. The Institute of Medicine Committee on Preventive Services for Women is hearing comments about regulatory mandates for women's preventive services under Obamacare.

13 Jan 2011

WHO, Roll Back Malaria partnership launch initiative to contain artemisinin-resistant malaria

The WHO and Roll Back Malaria partnership (RBM) on Wednesday launched an initiative to "stop a form of drug-resistant malaria from spreading from Southeast Asia to Africa, where millions of lives could be at risk," Reuters reports. "It would cost about $175 million a year to contain and prevent the global spread of the artemisinin-resistant parasite which first emerged along the Thai-Cambodian border in 2007, the United Nations agency said," according to the news agency (Nebehay, 1/12).

13 Jan 2011

Brain cell destroying genetic mechanism responsible for development of AD

Researchers at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute have discovered that the genetic mechanism which destroys brain cells is responsible for early development of Alzheimer's Disease in people with Down Syndrome and for development of Alzheimer's Disease in general population - providing a potential new target for drugs that could forestall dementia in people with either condition.

13 Jan 2011

SRI International receives $17.4 million grant to boost treatments for cardiovascular, lung, blood diseases

SRI International, an independent nonprofit research and development organization, announced today that it has been awarded two preclinical services contracts totaling $17.4 million by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, one of the National Institutes of Health.

13 Jan 2011

The neuroscience of musical chills

Scientists have found that the pleasurable experience of listening to music releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain important for more tangible pleasures associated with rewards such as food, drugs and sex. The new study from The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital - The Neuro at McGill University also reveals that even the anticipation of pleasurable music induces dopamine release [as is the case with food, drug, and sex cues].

13 Jan 2011

Viewpoints: Insurance rate increases; High risk pools; Mental health funding

In another sign of dysfunction in the U.S. healthcare system, Blue Shield of California has levied three rate increases in rapid succession that could raise some premiums as much as 59%. New state Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has said he plans to scrutinize the increases, and that's a good thing, given that Anthem Blue Cross sought a huge increase in premiums last year based on faulty math. But Blue Shield's request also highlights why the country should stay the course on healthcare reform (1/12).

13 Jan 2011

Pfizer initiates rolling submission of crizotinib NDA for ALK-positive advanced NSCLC

Pfizer Inc. announced today that it has initiated the rolling submission of a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for crizotinib (PF-02341066), an oral first-in-class anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitor for the treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors are ALK-positive. Pfizer expects to complete the submission in the first half of 2011.

13 Jan 2011

FDA Advisory Committee recommends non-approval of liprotamase for exocrine pancreatic insufficiency

Eli Lilly and Company announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Gastrointestinal Drugs Advisory Committee voted today to recommend non-approval of liprotamase, a non-porcine pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT), currently under FDA review for the treatment of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI).

13 Jan 2011

Aβ, tau and Fyn protein interactions may lead to brain dysfunction and AD

Though the cause of Alzheimer's disease still is unknown, recent studies have implicated three proteins strongly in its onset. New research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the Gladstone Institutes and the Baylor College of Medicine indicates that interactions between those three proteins might lead to brain dysfunction and AD in a mouse model of the disease.

13 Jan 2011

AstraZeneca, CANCER RESEARCH UK enter strategic alliance to conduct experimental cancer drug trials

CANCER RESEARCH UK's drug development office has signed a Strategic Combinations Alliance with AstraZeneca to take combinations of experimental cancer drugs into early phase clinical trials.

12 Jan 2011

Study indicates disease's underlying causes in mice, finds compounds that normalize Alzheimer's brain

A Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute study published today in the Journal of Neuroscience reveals underlying causes for the degeneration of synapses in Alzheimer's Disease and identifies promising pharmaceutical solutions for the devastating condition that affects more than 5 million people in the United States.

12 Jan 2011

Drug resistant malaria on the prowl

Experts have warned that drug-resistant malaria could spread from Southeast Asia to Africa within months, putting millions of children’s lives at risk. Nicholas White, professor of tropical medicine at Mahidol University in Bangkok warned that a malaria strain resistant to the drug artemisinin that first emerged along the Thai-Cambodian border in 2007.

12 Jan 2011

NSAIDs raise risk of heart disease: Study

A new study published online in the British Medical Journal explores the relative safety of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs), commonly used to treat joint and muscle aches and pain and concludes that NSAIDs significantly increase the risk of cardiovascular events in patients who take them regularly.

12 Jan 2011

US most susceptible to brand erosion post patent expiry

On average, small molecule brands in the US experienced the greatest degree of brand erosion following patent expiry and exposure to direct generic competition, according to a new report from independent market analyst, Datamonitor.

12 Jan 2011

Endosense initiates enrollment in TactiCath Contact Force Ablation Catheter Study for Atrial Fibrillation

Endosense, a medical technology company focused on improving the efficacy, safety and accessibility of catheter ablation for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, has announced first patient enrollment in the TOCCASTAR (TactiCath Contact Force Ablation Catheter Study for Atrial Fibrillation) clinical study at Na Homolce Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic, by study investigator Petr Neuzil, M.D.

12 Jan 2011

Drugs News and Research

FDA calls for cuts in Acetaminophen in painkillers

Adjunctive lacosamide reduces seizures and improves responder rates

Metabolic profiling of tissue samples may transform the way surgeons make decisions

Abuse of legal substances

Huge falloff in teens' recalled exposure to drug abuse prevention messages

FRC opposes designating abortion as means of pregnancy-prevention

WHO, Roll Back Malaria partnership launch initiative to contain artemisinin-resistant malaria

Brain cell destroying genetic mechanism responsible for development of AD

SRI International receives $17.4 million grant to boost treatments for cardiovascular, lung, blood diseases

The neuroscience of musical chills

Viewpoints: Insurance rate increases; High risk pools; Mental health funding

Pfizer initiates rolling submission of crizotinib NDA for ALK-positive advanced NSCLC

FDA Advisory Committee recommends non-approval of liprotamase for exocrine pancreatic insufficiency

Aβ, tau and Fyn protein interactions may lead to brain dysfunction and AD

AstraZeneca, CANCER RESEARCH UK enter strategic alliance to conduct experimental cancer drug trials

Study indicates disease's underlying causes in mice, finds compounds that normalize Alzheimer's brain

Drug resistant malaria on the prowl

NSAIDs raise risk of heart disease: Study

US most susceptible to brand erosion post patent expiry

Endosense initiates enrollment in TactiCath Contact Force Ablation Catheter Study for Atrial Fibrillation

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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