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Millennium's sNDA for VELCADE granted priority review by the FDA

Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted priority review to the Company’s supplemental new drug application (sNDA) for VELCADE. The sNDA contains long-term overall survival (OS) data from the landmark VISTA trial examining the use of VELCADE based therapy in patients with previously untreated multiple myeloma (MM).

19 Sep 2009

Rwanda to receive second shipment of AIDS drug

Apotex Inc. today announced that the second shipment of Apo-TriAvir, the generic triple-combination AIDS drug produced to simplify AIDS treatment in developing countries, was leaving for Rwanda, the only country to have benefited from Canada's Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR).

19 Sep 2009

Scientific discoveries must be translated into practical applications to improve patients' health

Experts gathered on Capitol Hill today to address the impact of policies related to translational research and U.S. medical innovation. The briefing, titled Translational Research: From Bench to Bedside, was sponsored by the Council for American Medical Innovation as the second in a three-part series, Recovery Through Discovery, which examines medical innovation as a driver of U.S. economic recovery and enhanced global leadership in science.

18 Sep 2009

Analysis project inflation rates for healthcare supplies to remain unchanged through 2010

Inflation rates for healthcare supplies are projected to remain unchanged through 2010, according to an analysis released by the Premier healthcare alliance.

18 Sep 2009

'Spice' drugs easily available for youngsters

Two University of Hertfordshire academics will release new evidence about the dangers of 'Spice' drugs today at the first International Psychonaut Web Mapping Conference in Ancona, Italy.

18 Sep 2009

Researchers to develop a safer and synthetic alternative to current heparin

With a $4.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (under the Bioengineering Research Partnership program), research led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will make its important final steps toward the development of a safer, synthetic alternative to current heparin. The researchers believe that kilogram quantities of the new drug could be developed in under five years.

18 Sep 2009

Healthcare staff find it hard to diagnose pain levels in nursing home residents accurately, says study

Relatives and healthcare staff find it hard to diagnose pain levels in nursing home residents accurately, especially if they are cognitively impaired with illnesses such as dementia or unable to speak, according to a study in September issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing.

18 Sep 2009

Notice of Allowance issued by PTO for OSI's EGFR drug

OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has issued a “Notice of Allowance” in OSI’s reissue application for U.S. Patent No.5,747,498 (the ‘498) composition of matter patent for Tarceva® (erlotinib). The reissued patent will replace the original ‘498 patent and have the same November 2018 expiration date.

18 Sep 2009

Heart Institute's first LHIN program in Ontario for emergency heart attacks

Heart attack victims who live outside Ottawa's urban centre now are part of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute's (UOHI) far-reaching emergency life-saving program, ensuring urgent standardized treatment regardless of geography and, for the first time in Ontario, throughout an entire regional health district.

18 Sep 2009

Study reveals that older widowers are likely to be diagnosed with a STD

Widowers take care: Older men who have recently lost their wives are more likely than still-married peers to be diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease (STD), according to a new study.

18 Sep 2009

FDA approves Valturna tablets for treating high blood pressure

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Valturna((R)) (aliskiren and valsartan) tablets, the first and only medicine to target two key points within the renin system, also known as the renin angiotensin aldosterone system (RAAS), an important regulator of blood pressure.

18 Sep 2009

Book on the effects of antibiotic-resistant microbes

In RISING PLAGUE: THE GLOBAL THREAT FROM DEADLY BACTERIA AND OUR DWINDLING ARSENAL TO FIGHT THEM (Prometheus Books, $26), Dr. Brad Spellberg-an infectious diseases specialist and member of a national task force charged with attacking antibiotic resistant infections-tells the story of this potentially grave public health crisis.

18 Sep 2009

Drug carrier that cuts off blood supply to tumors

To that end, Dr. Ronit Satchi-Fainaro of Tel Aviv University's Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sackler School of Medicine, and her team of researchers have developed a new drug carrier to deliver compounds straight to the tumor.

18 Sep 2009

FDA advises consumers not to use stolen respiratory medications

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today advised consumers not to use certain respiratory medications purchased after Sept. 8, 2009 and manufactured by Dey L.P., a subsidiary of Mylan Inc., because the medications might have been part of a shipment being transported on a tractor-trailer stolen in Tampa, Fla., on Sept. 8, 2009.

18 Sep 2009

Mayo Clinic scientists conduct clinical study on functional dyspesia patients

"Nerve cells are found throughout the body, and just as their dysfunction in the brain can cause depression, we suspect overly sensitive nerves in the gut can produce this very uncomfortable indigestion," says Nicholas Talley, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the trial and chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at the Mayo Clinic campus in Florida.

18 Sep 2009

Also in global health news: HIV/AIDS in Bangladesh; river blindness in Tanzania; potential immune system booster; compounds might fight TB

BDNews24.com reports on a new $13 million U.S.-government initiative aimed at "providing HIV-prevention services to two million at-risk people in Bangladesh including injecting drug users, male, female and transgender sex workers and their clients, and HIV-positive people through a network of 50 health centres." USAID will partner with Family Health International (FHI) to implement the program (9/17).

18 Sep 2009

Intermittent preventive treatment could prevent a third of infant malaria cases, study finds

Research into intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in infants (IPTi) found that one-third of malaria cases in African babies can be prevented by giving them regular doses of malaria drugs even if they have not contracted the disease, according to a Lancet study, published on Thursday, Reuters reports. The study found that IPTi "helped children build better immunity to the disease and reduced the risk of the parasite becoming drug-resistant," but "these benefits decrease if treatment is given continuously as a prophylaxis," Reuters writes.

18 Sep 2009