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EBRI publishes detailed summary of consumer-driven health plans

The nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute today published a detailed summary of what is known about consumer-driven health plans, a relatively new option for paying for medical expenses that first began to appear nearly a decade ago.

5 Aug 2010

Project for improving nurses' assessment skills to detect and alleviate delirium symptoms

In the future, nurses may more accurately detect and alleviate symptoms of delirium in persons with dementia, thanks to a five-year, $2.7-million grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research.The project, led by Donna Fick, professor of nursing, Penn State, seeks to improve nurses' assessment skills and reduce the use of drugs to treat delirium and dementia.

5 Aug 2010

Scientists to develop new antibiotics to tackle infection-causing bacteria

Detailed pictures published today reveal how a new type of experimental antibiotic can kill bacteria that are already resistant to existing treatments. The findings could ultimately help scientists to develop new antibiotics to tackle the bacteria responsible for many hospital and community-acquired infections.

5 Aug 2010

Catalyst Health Solutions second-quarter 2010 net income up 21%

Catalyst Health Solutions, Inc., a pharmacy benefit management company, today announced its financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2010. The Company reported quarterly net income of $19.5 million, up 21% compared to $16.2 million in the prior year. Earnings per diluted share increased by $0.07 to $0.44 from $0.37. Revenue for the quarter ended June 30, 2010, grew by 24% to $890.1 million from $717.6 million in the prior year.

5 Aug 2010

Nature News examines how scientists, farmers are working to meet the growing demand for artemisinin

"From bust to boom to bust again: artemisinin, the key ingredient of front-line antimalarial drugs, is entering the third chapter of its turbulent history," Nature News writes in an article that examines the challenges scientists and farmers are facing as they attempt to keep up with the growing demand for the compound just as a "$343-million initiative starts to battle malaria through hugely subsidized medicines."

5 Aug 2010

Genzyme, Isis announce results of two mipomersen phase 3 studies

Genzyme Corp. and Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. today announced results of two phase 3 studies of mipomersen in patients who had high cholesterol levels while on maximally tolerated lipid-lowering therapy. In the study of patients with severe hypercholesterolemia, mipomersen reduced LDL-C, the primary endpoint, by 36 percent compared with a 13 percent increase for placebo.

5 Aug 2010

Injecting PAP may reduce chronic pain: Research

A study published in the Aug. 4, 2010 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience introduces an enzyme that could pack a big punch in the battle against chronic pain. Its name is prostatic acid phosphatase or PAP for short. According to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, PAP blocks pain in animal models by siphoning off a molecule called PIP2—a critical component of the chemical cascade behind chronic pain.

5 Aug 2010

Canadian physician organization: Country's health system needs to be 'massively transformed'

The Toronto Star: Canada's largest physician group released a report Tuesday saying that Canada's health system needs to be changed to allow "universal access to prescription drugs and improved outpatient services." The Canadian Medical Association called for the changes because it says the system is insufficient to meet the needs of Canada's aging population.

5 Aug 2010

AMRI second-quarter adjusted EPS increases to $0.06

AMRI today reported financial and operating results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010.

5 Aug 2010

FDA to crack down on devices; Big pharma places riskier bets on biologics

The Associated Press: "Makers of X-ray machines, drug pumps and other medical devices would have to submit more safety information to win federal approval under a proposal designed to tighten regulation of thousands of products reviewed each year. The Food and Drug Administration released recommendations Tuesday night designed to improve oversight of the U.S. device industry, including the government's ability to revoke approval for products that prove unsafe or ineffective" (Perrone, 8/3).

5 Aug 2010

EEG patterns can predict schizophrenia patients' response to clozapine therapy

A commonplace electroencephalography (EEG) test may hold the key to predicting whether a person will respond to certain prescribed drugs, particularly those related to psychiatric conditions.In a study to be published by Clinical Neurophysiology, and now posted online, engineering and health sciences researchers at McMaster University applied machine learning to EEG patterns and successfully predicted how patients with schizophrenia would respond to clozapine therapy.

5 Aug 2010

Scientist invents new approach to boost body's response to vaccinations

As the medical community searches for better vaccines and ways to deliver them, a University of Rochester scientist believes he has discovered a new approach to boosting the body's response to vaccinations.Richard P. Phipps, Ph.D., found that the same molecules used in drugs that treat diabetes also stimulate B cells in the immune system, pushing them to make antibodies for protection against invading microorganisms.

5 Aug 2010

FDA designates XOMA 052 orphan drug for Behcet's disease

XOMA Ltd., a leader in the discovery and development of therapeutic antibodies, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has designated XOMA 052, an antibody to interleukin-1 beta, an orphan drug for the treatment of Behcet's disease. As previously announced, the Committee for Orphan Medical Products of the European Medicines Agency has recommended the granting of orphan medicinal product designation for XOMA 052 for the same indication in the European Union.

5 Aug 2010

Acceleron's ACE-031 protein therapeutic for DMD receives FDA Fast Track designation

Acceleron Pharma, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics that modulate the growth of cells and tissues including muscle, bone, fat, red blood cells and the vasculature, today announced it received FDA Fast Track designation for ACE-031 for the treatment of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a fatal neuromuscular disease in which patients suffer from the progressive loss of muscle mass and strength. ACE-031 is an investigational protein therapeutic being developed to increase muscle mass and strength.

5 Aug 2010

Detection of Alzheimer's before symptoms occur

Research is on to detect the dreaded Alzheimer's disease even before any symptoms occur. In a newly proposed diagnostic criteria developed by experts from the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association three stages of the disease viz. pre-clinical Alzheimer's, mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's dementia are described.

4 Aug 2010

Flow-induced polymer translocation through narrow and patterned channels

An octopus-like polymer can "walk" along the wall of a narrow channel as it is pushed through by a solvent. Now research in The Journal of Chemical Physics, which is published by the American Institute of Physics, provides a theoretical model that compares the transport characteristics of straight- and branched-chain polymers in smooth channels as well as in channels whose walls interact with the polymer -- work that could aid in the development of carrier molecules for delivering drugs at a controlled rate in the body.

4 Aug 2010

Scientists identify 95 gene loci that influence lipoprotein metabolism in humans

In a large-scale international study in which Helmholtz Zentrum München participated, scientists have identified 95 gene loci which influence lipoprotein metabolism in humans. Viewed from a long-term perspective, these findings open up new lines of research in the prevention and treatment of coronary artery disease. It is the first genome-wide association study of this kind to be published in the prestigious journal Nature.

4 Aug 2010

Par Pharmaceutical second-quarter total net revenues decrease 37% to $255.5 million

Par Pharmaceutical Companies, Inc. today reported results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010.

4 Aug 2010

USN-DAAT to collect unused, expired prescription and OTC drugs from public

Following the overwhelming success of Southern Nevada's first Operation Medicine Cabinet event in February, University of Southern Nevada's Drug Abuse Awareness team and a coalition of local organizations have come together for a second event to collect unused and expired prescription and over-the-counter drugs from the public.

4 Aug 2010

Infinity reports $18.4 million total revenue for second-quarter 2010

Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc., an innovative drug discovery and development company, today detailed recent developments in its product development portfolio and announced second quarter 2010 financial results.

4 Aug 2010