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Taking opioids long term could hold small risk of addition

Coping with chronic non-cancer pain is a way of life for millions of Americans. Unfortunately, many older adults, in particular, hesitate to take opioids — a kind of narcotic — for fear of addiction. However, a new review finds that taking opioids long term is associated with clinically significant pain relief in some patients with a very small risk of addition.

20 Jan 2010

TUM biophysicists map changes in energy landscape of zipper-like protein molecule

Biophysicists at TUM, the Technische Universitaet Muenchen, have published the results of single-molecule experiments that bring a higher-resolution tool to the study of protein folding. How proteins arrive at the three-dimensional shapes that determine their essential functions - or cause grave diseases when folding goes wrong - is considered one of the most important and least understood questions in the biological and medical sciences.

20 Jan 2010

TCGA study reveals four distinct molecular subtypes of GBM

The most common form of malignant brain cancer in adults, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is not a single disease but appears to be four distinct molecular subtypes, according to a study by the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Research Network. The researchers of this study also found that response to aggressive chemotherapy and radiation differed by subtype.

20 Jan 2010

Protein supplements do not improve athletes' performance

Protein supplements don't improve performance or recovery time and, according to a recent study, such supplements are inefficient for most athletes. "They are often poorly used or unnecessary by both high-level athletes and amateurs," says Martin Fr-chette, a researcher and graduate of the Universit- de Montr-al Department of Nutrition.

20 Jan 2010

Over 44% of internet Viagra is counterfeit

Research by UK, Swedish and American researchers shows that taking internet drugs can kill and bypassing health systems can leave life-threatening problems undiagnosed. It's estimated that 90% of counterfeit drugs are sold on the internet, 44% of internet Viagra is fake, the global sale of counterfeit drugs will reach $75 billion this year and EU seizures have risen dramatically. Counterfeit drug deaths include men who took fake erectile dysfunction drugs, pregnant women injected with fake iron for anaemia and children who took paracetamol syrup contaminated with antifreeze.

20 Jan 2010

Telaprevir effective in HCV patients

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that data from recent clinical trials suggest that Vertex/Johnson & Johnson/Mitsubishi Tanabe's telaprevir is efficacious in hepatitis C virus patients who have not responded to previous treatment with peg-IFN/ribavirin. In contrast, the efficacy of Merck's (formerly Schering-Plough) boceprevir in treatment nonresponders has yet to be proven.

20 Jan 2010

Besides LDL, Lp(a) can also increase risk for heart disease

LDL isn't the only "bad boy" when it comes to cholesterol. According to a new study, a lipoprotein in the bloodstream called Lp(a) — pronounced "LP little A" — can be labeled "bad cholesterol."

20 Jan 2010

Carlos Slim Health Institute launches major research project in genomic medicine

Mexican business leader Carlos Slim Hel- today announced the launch of a major research project in genomic medicine that will help accelerate progress in public health in Mexico and around the world.

20 Jan 2010

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries to donate over $7M in medicine to benefit earthquake victims in Haiti

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. announced today that it will be donating over $7 million in medicine to benefit earthquake victims in Haiti. Teva is working with several of its Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) partners to ensure these drugs are delivered to Haiti without delay.

20 Jan 2010

Light sedation decreases postoperative delirium in elderly patients by 50%

A recent study, published in the January issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, demonstrates that in elderly patients undergoing hip fracture repair under spinal anesthesia with propofol sedation, the prevalence of delirium can be decreased by 50 percent with light sedation, compared to deep sedation.

20 Jan 2010

HSF1A stimulates more protein chaperones and reduces protein misfolding

Scientists at Duke University Medical Center have found some compounds that improve a cell's ability to properly "fold" proteins and could lead to promising drugs for degenerative nerve diseases, including Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

20 Jan 2010

Researchers show how gliomas can evade drugs aimed at blocking EGFR

Researchers at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Moores UCSD Cancer Center have shown one way in which gliomas, a deadly type of brain tumor, can evade drugs aimed at blocking a key cell signaling protein, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR),that is crucial for tumor growth.

20 Jan 2010

Endo Pharmaceuticals' partners receive Paragraph IV Certification Notice regarding LIDODERM

Endo Pharmaceuticals announced today that its partners, Teikoku Seiyaku Co., Ltd. and Teikoku Pharma USA, Inc. have received a Paragraph IV Certification Notice from Watson Laboratories, Inc. advising of the filing of an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for a generic version of LIDODERM® (lidocaine topical patch 5%).

20 Jan 2010

Fc engineering enhances antibody half-life

A Nature Biotechnology article published online January 17 reveals that Xencor Inc.’s proprietary Fc engineering extends the half-life of antibodies while maintaining their potency and extending duration of action. These results, published in an article entitled, “Enhanced antibody half-life improves in vivo activity” demonstrate the potential of Fc engineering to impact the flexibility of route, schedule and dose for nearly any antibody.

20 Jan 2010

Access Pharmaceuticals provides update on its Cobalamin insulin development program

ACCESS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. provided an update today on its Cobalamin™ oral drug delivery product development programs. The proprietary Cobalamin™ technology utilizes the body's natural vitamin B12 oral uptake mechanism to facilitate oral absorption of pharmaceuticals by a "Trojan horse" mechanism.

20 Jan 2010

Fast Forward, JDRF announce collaborative partnership with Axxam SpA

Fast Forward, LLC, the commercial drug development arm of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), the leader in research leading to a cure for type 1 diabetes in the world today announced a collaborative partnership with Axxam SpA -- a leading company in conducting early-stage discovery research programs for the life science industry -- to develop new treatments for two autoimmune diseases, multiple sclerosis (MS) and type 1 diabetes (T1D).

20 Jan 2010

Statins may protect SCD children from pneumococcal infection

New research suggests a family of widely used cholesterol-lowering drugs might help protect individuals from serious illness following bacterial infection, including the pneumococcal infections that pose a deadly threat to those with sickle cell disease.

20 Jan 2010

LEO Pharma launches psoriasis franchise in the U.S.

Denmark-based LEO Pharma, a global leader in dermatology and critical care, announced its official launch in the U.S. Headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, LEO Pharma U.S. will be one of the largest individual operations in the pharmaceutical company’s network of worldwide affiliates and is expected to contribute significantly to the company revenues in 2010.

20 Jan 2010

News reports question health reform provisions, forecast legal issues

News reports explore remaining issues in Congress' health overhaul negotiations.

20 Jan 2010

Combination treatment strategies may benefit patients with non-small cell lung cancer

Even when their tumors are shrinking in response to therapy, some non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients have a scattering of cancer cells that are undeterred by the drug, causing the tumor to resume its growth, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center scientists report in the January issue of Cancer Cell.

20 Jan 2010