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Pharmasset receives fast track designation from FDA for PSI-7977

Pharmasset, Inc. has received fast track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for PSI-7977 for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus infection. PSI-7977 is an oral uridine nucleotide analog polymerase inhibitor of HCV. Pharmasset recently completed dosing in a 28 day Phase 2a trial to evaluate PSI-7977 in combination with Pegasys (pegylated interferon) plus Copegus (ribavirin) in treatment-naive patients chronically infected with HCV genotype 1.

12 Aug 2010

FDA grants BioMimetic Therapeutics orphan drug designation for rhPDGF-BB in treatment of OCD

BioMimetic Therapeutics, Inc. today announced that it has received orphan drug designation from the Food and Drug Administration for its protein therapeutic, recombinant human platelet derived growth factor, to be used in conjunction with autograft and/or commercially available osteochondral allograft for the treatment of osteochondritis dissecans of the knee, elbow or ankle.

12 Aug 2010

Labopharm second-quarter total revenue increases to $6.8 million

Labopharm Inc. today reported its financial results for the second quarter and first six months ended June 30, 2010. All figures are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated.

12 Aug 2010

First Edition: August 12, 2010

Some of today's headlines highlight how the new health reform law is playing beyond Washington, D.C.'s beltway.

12 Aug 2010

Newly identified gene enabling bacterial resistance to most antibiotics found in South Asia, U.K., study finds

A study published online Wednesday in Lancet Infectious Diseases identifies a gene that enables bacteria to resist most antibiotics and calls for better global surveillance of multi-drug resistant bacteria, the Associated Press reports (8/11).

12 Aug 2010

Investments in screening, new drugs reduce breast cancer mortality rates in UK

Breast cancer death rates have fallen steeply in the UK in the last 20 years - and at a faster rate than in any other European country except for Iceland, a new study in the British Medical Journal has found.The research challenges previous claims about the UK's cancer services, which were based on poor survival rate in comparison to other western European countries.

12 Aug 2010

Simcere second-quarter total revenue increases 28.3% to RMB544.6 million

Simcere Pharmaceutical Group, a leading pharmaceutical company specializing in the development, manufacturing, and marketing of branded generic and proprietary pharmaceuticals in China, today reported unaudited financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2010.

12 Aug 2010

TriZetto announces general availability of health benefits administration and incentive management software

The TriZetto Group, Inc. today announced the general availability of its Value-Based Benefits Solution, health benefits administration and incentive management software that enables healthcare payers to customize benefits and provide incentives for individual members based on their health status, chronic conditions, and health and wellness activity.

12 Aug 2010

Pulse Therapeutics receives fund to develop novel magnetics technique to destroy blood clots

BioGenerator, a non-profit, seed-stage economic development funding group, today announced that it has led a round of early-stage financing for Pulse Therapeutics, Inc., a St. Louis company headquartered at the Center for Emerging Technologies. Pulse Therapeutics develops innovative magnetism-based technology to safely destroy blood clots related to ischemic stroke and deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Other investors who participated in the round were Missouri Technology Corporation (MTC), Washington University's Olin School of Business Skandalaris Student Venture Fund, and Integrated Magnetics, of Culver City, California. The funds will be used for further pre-clinical development.

12 Aug 2010

Study finds lithium drugs not effective for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis treatment

A new study has found that the drug lithium is not effective in treating people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. The research is published in the August 11, 2010, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

12 Aug 2010

FDA advisory committee votes in favor of investigational anti-epileptic drug ezogabine

GlaxoSmithKline and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International announced today that a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee voted unanimously that clinical studies had provided substantial evidence of the effectiveness of ezogabine as adjunctive treatment for adults with partial-onset seizures.

12 Aug 2010

Intellect Neurosciences receives patent for insulin sensitizer drugs

Intellect Neurosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company with an internal preclinical and clinical-stage pipeline and licenses with major pharmaceutical companies covering products in late-stage clinical trials, announced today that its Chairman & CEO, Dr. Daniel Chain, was granted a patent by the European Patent and Trademark Office related to the use of insulin sensitizers for the prevention and treatment of memory loss and dementia. Insulin sensitizer drugs include Rosiglitazone and Pioglitazone, which have been approved for the treatment of type II diabetes mellitus.

12 Aug 2010

Hybrid scanner helps to enhance visibility of skin cancer cells

Scientists are reporting development of a substance to enhance the visibility of skin cancer cells during scans with an advanced medical imaging system that combines ultrasound and light. The hybrid scanner could enable doctors to detect melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, in its earliest and most curable stages, the report in the monthly journal ACS Nano indicates.

12 Aug 2010

K-State researcher receives grant from NIH to continue cancer research

Understanding how cancer cells communicate with each other and how to enhance their receptiveness to drug treatments is the focus of promising work by a Kansas State University researcher.Annelise Nguyen, assistant professor of toxicology in the department of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology at K-State's College of Veterinary Medicine, recently received a $370,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue her cancer research.

12 Aug 2010

More Medicare Part D checks in the mail

The Department of Health and Human Services has mailed out a third round of $250 checks to help seniors who enter the Medicare Part D coverage pay gap for prescription drugs, WCAX [in Vermont] reports. "The one-time payment aims to close a gap in coverage for prescription medication. The rebates will go to about 9,000 Vermonters whose out-of-pocket expenses already total more than $940 for the year" (8/11).

12 Aug 2010

AHF led sustained advocacy campaign leads to BMS's offer of discounts in AIDS drug pricing

Following ongoing advocacy campaigns spearheaded by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) that targeted several of the largest AIDS drug companies over their pricing and rebate policies for the nation's AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs), the federally funded, state run programs that supply lifesaving AIDS drugs to low-income Americans in need, that the last remaining major AIDS drug company, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) today announced an agreement that will provide additional cost savings to cash-strapped ADAPs nationwide.

12 Aug 2010

Needle-free natural vaccine against malaria: Research

A study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine proposes that preventative treatment with affordable and safe antibiotics in people living in areas with intense malaria transmission has the potential to act as a 'needle-free' natural vaccine against malaria and may likely provide an additional valuable tool for controlling and/or eliminating malaria in resource-poor settings.

12 Aug 2010

Today's Opinions and Editorials: The importance of following health reform's plan and more about 'death panels'

Within a few years, 6 million uninsured California residents will finally get medical coverage as part of the newly passed federal health care reforms. But what will they pay? And who will regulate premiums as insurers angle for customers? (8/11).

12 Aug 2010

Mental health bill for 2008 was $5.3 billion: Report

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), the country is spending more and more to deal with its mental ailment burden. This emerged from a report from the AIHW saying that finances spent on mental health services between 2007 to 2008 were $5.3 billion. Of this around 60 per cent came from state and territory governments, 36 per cent from the Commonwealth, and the rest from private health funds.

11 Aug 2010

HemaQuest commences HQK-1004 global Phase 2 clinical trial in EBV-related malignancies

HemaQuest Pharmaceuticals announced today that it has initiated the Company's Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating its proprietary HQK-1004 therapy for the treatment of lymphomas and related cancers associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. These EBV-related cancers have poor prognoses and short patient survival. Currently available cancer therapies are typically much less effective in patients with EBV-related lymphoid malignancies than in patients who have similar cancers not infected with the virus.

11 Aug 2010

Drugs News and Research

Pharmasset receives fast track designation from FDA for PSI-7977

FDA grants BioMimetic Therapeutics orphan drug designation for rhPDGF-BB in treatment of OCD

Labopharm second-quarter total revenue increases to $6.8 million

First Edition: August 12, 2010

Newly identified gene enabling bacterial resistance to most antibiotics found in South Asia, U.K., study finds

Investments in screening, new drugs reduce breast cancer mortality rates in UK

Simcere second-quarter total revenue increases 28.3% to RMB544.6 million

TriZetto announces general availability of health benefits administration and incentive management software

Pulse Therapeutics receives fund to develop novel magnetics technique to destroy blood clots

Study finds lithium drugs not effective for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis treatment

FDA advisory committee votes in favor of investigational anti-epileptic drug ezogabine

Intellect Neurosciences receives patent for insulin sensitizer drugs

Hybrid scanner helps to enhance visibility of skin cancer cells

K-State researcher receives grant from NIH to continue cancer research

More Medicare Part D checks in the mail

AHF led sustained advocacy campaign leads to BMS's offer of discounts in AIDS drug pricing

Needle-free natural vaccine against malaria: Research

Today's Opinions and Editorials: The importance of following health reform's plan and more about 'death panels'

Mental health bill for 2008 was $5.3 billion: Report

HemaQuest commences HQK-1004 global Phase 2 clinical trial in EBV-related malignancies

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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