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Australian scientists uncover the secrets behind one of nature’s most extraordinary biological machines

Scientists from the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute (VCCRI), Sydney, have discovered the secrets behind the tiny motors in bacteria that allow them to swim rapidly towards nutrients and away from toxins, which is crucial to the spread of bacterial infection. These motors can rotate at up to 100,000 revolutions per minute, yet can switch directions in milliseconds.

1 Aug 2010

Body’s natural cell suicide program may trigger tumor development: Study

Cancer research springs a surprise. Researchers at Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne have found that programmed cell death (apoptosis) or cell suicide plays a role in tumor development. This process is an important phenomenon in our body as it helps remove damaged cells. Now apoptosis has been found to be protective against cancer formation and autoimmune diseases.

1 Aug 2010

Research findings point to new ways to improve quality of future trials through better training

Practitioners of clinical medicine are familiar with learning curves, and strategies like simulation are increasingly used to minimize learning-curve effects on clinical care. Because similar learning curves have been hinted at in some clinical trials, researchers at Duke University Medical Center studied the phenomenon in the data record of a large, multi-site clinical trial. Their findings point to ways to improve the quality of future trials through better training and simulation exercises.

31 Jul 2010

Active ingredients continue to attract new, loyal investors

Active ingredients ranging from weight-loss herbals to cancer-killing cytotoxics attract billions in venture investment dollars every year. But technologies designed to selectively deliver active ingredients to targeted locations are beginning to gain momentum, as their application in drugs, medical devices, food, personal care, and agricultural chemicals rapidly grows and corporate venture investors take notice, according to a new report from Lux Research.

31 Jul 2010

WHO expert: Faster MDR-TB test should be made available to vulnerable populations

A new diagnostic tool that shortens the diagnosis of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) from eight weeks to two hours should be made available to vulnerable populations according to a WHO expert, Reuters reports.

31 Jul 2010

Formatech selects Femta's FM101 therapeutic candidate for Fillanthropy program

Today, Formatech, Inc. announced that it has selected Femta's FM101 therapeutic candidate to be enrolled in its Fillanthropy Program. Under this program, Formatech will donate the services required to aseptically fill and finish one lot of the drug candidate for use in support of Femta's upcoming clinical trials.

31 Jul 2010

Research establishes bases of possible future pharmaceutical drugs to combat AIDS virus

The doors are closing on the AIDS virus. The scientific community continues to strive to find the formula that will halt the advance of one of the viruses that has sparked most scientific interest over recent years. A study by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cient-ficas (CSIC) and led by Mr F-lix Go-i, director of the Biophysics Unit at the CSIC-University of the Basque Country Mixed Centre, has developed a method of attack against the AIDS virus The method involves creating a prevention system, i.e. an 'armour' in the cells that are likely to be infected and thus impede, de facto, the virus from accessing them and starting to act on their immunological system.

31 Jul 2010

Senate panel votes to end drug industry's practice of 'pay-to-delay' generics

The Associated Press: "In a defeat for the powerful drug lobby, a Senate panel approved legislation to prohibit drug companies from paying generic drug makers to delay bringing less costly products to market. … The measure would ban a 'pay-to-delay' practice — opposed by the [Federal Trade Commission] in a series of lawsuits brought since 2001 — in which brand-name drug companies and generic drug makers both profit. Brand-name drug makers get higher prices while the generic companies are paid to stay out of the market."

31 Jul 2010

Researchers receive $4.7M contract to develop drugs to improve soldiers' performance at high altitude

Jonathan Stamler, MD, Director of the Institute for Transformative Molecular Medicine and the Robert S. and Sylvia K. Reitman Family Foundation Distinguished Chair in Cardiovascular Innovation at the Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals Harrington-McLaughlin Heart & Vascular Institute, has recently received a $4.7 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to fund the development of a new class of drugs that will selectively dilate blood cells under hypoxia (lack of oxygen in the body's tissues) and thereby enhance soldiers' performance at high altitude.

31 Jul 2010

Galangin mediates apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells through mitochondrial pathway: Study

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide, particularly in China. However, HCC remains one of the more difficult cancers to treat. It is important to screen for new anti-cancer drugs. A number of dietary compounds possess anti-cancer properties. These dietary compounds may modify the activity of specific targets that control cell proliferation and apoptosis. Galangin could inhibit the methoxyresorufin O-demethylase activity of CYP1A2, CYP1A1 and P-form phenolsulfotransferase.

31 Jul 2010

Opinions: IDUs and HIV; AIDS 2010; International Violence Against Women Act

In a Los Angeles Times opinion piece, Evan Wood, associate professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia, writes about the Vienna Declaration, a document he helped to draft, that calls for international leaders to revise drug policies to incorporate greater scientific evidence and promote HIV prevention, treatment and care for drug users.

31 Jul 2010

Today's OpEds: Medicare at 45; The politics of entitlement spending; Deciding health care's value

Forty-five years ago today, the creation of Medicare transformed our health-care system and our nation. It helped to make us a stronger and more prosperous country by freeing older Americans from the fear that sickness or injury would cost them their lifetime savings and security. ... The reason we have the Medicare we have today is that over the last 45 years, we have repeatedly acted to strengthen and update it for changing times (Kathleen Sebelius, 7/29).

31 Jul 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

A Center for Global Development memo offers suggestions for the U.S. to improve its commitment to policies that benefit poor countries after it ranked 17th out of 22 wealthy in the 2009 Commitment to Development Index. Among a set of 20 recommendations, the authors suggest the U.S. "[i]ncrease foreign aid, especially through such vehicles as the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which gives to relatively well-governed countries, or a global 'Cash on Delivery' fund that would pay countries after making confirmed progress toward agreed-upon outcomes, thereby reducing the proliferation of aid projects," the authors write(Prieto/Roodman).

31 Jul 2010

Paperwork for reimbursement prevents PCTs access to high-cost cancer drugs

The amount of paperwork that primary care trusts (PCTs) have to fill out in order to be reimbursed for cancer drugs is so great that they may be missing out on millions of pounds, a report suggests.

30 Jul 2010

$Pivotal PINNACLE trial results of VELCADE in patients with relapsed/refractory MCL released$

Pivotal PINNACLE trial results of VELCADE in patients with relapsed/refractory MCL released

Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company today reported new correlative science data from the pivotal PINNACLE trial of VELCADE (bortezomib) in patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma. The data, derived from an analysis of archived tumor samples, tested pre-specified biomarkers for their association with time to progression and response to treatment with VELCADE in patients with relapsed MCL.

30 Jul 2010

Cancer Research UK launches new £18 million Biotherapeutics Development Unit

Cancer Research UK's Drug Development Office marks the launch of its Biotherapeutics Development Unit (BDU) today (Friday) with the manufacture of its first product - an antibody for treating a range of cancers.

30 Jul 2010

Chemical compound provides new angle for developing drugs to treat seizures: Study

A chemical compound that boosts the action of a molecule normally produced in the brain may provide the starting point for a new line of therapies for the treatment of epileptic seizures, according to a new study by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute.

30 Jul 2010

Treating back problems cost Americans more than $30 billion in 2007: AHRQ

Treating back problems, one of the most bothersome medical problems, cost Americans more than $30 billion in 2007- up from $16 billion in 1997 (in 2007 dollars), according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

30 Jul 2010

Bio-Path commences dosing in Liposomal Grb-2 Phase I cancer study

Bio-Path Holdings, Inc.,, a biotechnology company with drug development operations in Houston, Texas, announced today that the first patient has been dosed in a Phase I study of its cancer drug candidate, Liposomal Grb-2 (L-Grb-2 or BP-100-1.01), in patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML), Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) or Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS).

30 Jul 2010

AdvanDx's 90 minutes protocol for Yeast Traffic Light PNA FISH test receives FDA 510(k) clearance

AdvanDx today announced that it has received FDA 510(k) clearance for a fast, 90 minutes protocol for its Yeast Traffic Light® PNA FISH® test. The faster protocol reduces the PNA FISH turn-around time from the original 2.5 hours to 90 minutes by reducing PNA probe hybridization from 90 minutes to 30 minutes.

30 Jul 2010

Drugs News and Research

Australian scientists uncover the secrets behind one of nature’s most extraordinary biological machines

Body’s natural cell suicide program may trigger tumor development: Study

Research findings point to new ways to improve quality of future trials through better training

Active ingredients continue to attract new, loyal investors

WHO expert: Faster MDR-TB test should be made available to vulnerable populations

Formatech selects Femta's FM101 therapeutic candidate for Fillanthropy program

Research establishes bases of possible future pharmaceutical drugs to combat AIDS virus

Senate panel votes to end drug industry's practice of 'pay-to-delay' generics

Researchers receive $4.7M contract to develop drugs to improve soldiers' performance at high altitude

Galangin mediates apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells through mitochondrial pathway: Study

Opinions: IDUs and HIV; AIDS 2010; International Violence Against Women Act

Today's OpEds: Medicare at 45; The politics of entitlement spending; Deciding health care's value

Recent releases in Global Health

Paperwork for reimbursement prevents PCTs access to high-cost cancer drugs

Pivotal PINNACLE trial results of VELCADE in patients with relapsed/refractory MCL released

Cancer Research UK launches new £18 million Biotherapeutics Development Unit

Chemical compound provides new angle for developing drugs to treat seizures: Study

Treating back problems cost Americans more than $30 billion in 2007: AHRQ

Bio-Path commences dosing in Liposomal Grb-2 Phase I cancer study

AdvanDx's 90 minutes protocol for Yeast Traffic Light PNA FISH test receives FDA 510(k) clearance

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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