Drugs News and Research

RSS

New patented technology for next generation of DNA and RNA microarrays

A novel invention developed by a scientist from New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) could revolutionize biological and clinical research and may lead to treatments for cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer's, diabetes, and genetic and infectious diseases.

13 Feb 2007

Researchers discover why antipsychotic drugs cause weight gain

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore have discovered why some drugs used to treat mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, cause patients to gain a lot of weight.

13 Feb 2007

Thailand holds drug giants over a barrel

The government of Thailand, has already upset some of the big drug companies by overriding patent licenses for generic versions of heart and HIV/AIDS pills, and is now planning to go one step further unless drug giants cut their prices.

13 Feb 2007

Switching treatment to exemestane after 2-3 years on tamoxifen, improves survival

The Intergroup Exemestane Study (IES), an extensive, international study, tested the superiority of switching to exemestane (an aromatase inhibitor) from tamoxifen in patients with early breast cancer.

13 Feb 2007

Breast cancer survival rates improved by novel drug sequence

Changing the way women are treated for breast cancer could improve their overall chance of survival, according to research published in the Lancet.

13 Feb 2007

World Bank to provide Thailand with $750,000 for HIV/AIDS programs

The World Bank plans to provide Thailand with a $750,000, three-year grant aimed at providing HIV-positive people with increased access to antiretroviral drugs, Viroj Tangcharoensathien, program director for international health policy at the country's Ministry of Public Health, said recently.

13 Feb 2007

Formularies needed to reduce medication prices under Medicare prescription drug benefit

A bill passed last month by the House that would require the HHS secretary to negotiate prices directly with pharmaceutical companies under the Medicare prescription drug benefit "would have very little effect" on prices "because it forbids Medicare from excluding drugs from coverage...

13 Feb 2007

New technologies boost production of malaria drug artemisinin

New technologies that make the large-scale extraction of a natural antimalarial ‘wonder drug' both cheaper and greener are to be developed and trialled in a new European effort.

12 Feb 2007

Targeting bladder tumor cells in vivo and in the urine with a peptide identified by phage display

Efforts to create nanoparticles that deliver anticancer drugs or imaging agents to tumors while avoiding healthy cells are often stymied by a lack of known tumor targets, that is, molecules found on the surface of malignant cells but not healthy cells.

12 Feb 2007

GenoMed discovers African gene

GenoMed has announced that it has found the "African gene," responsible for the much higher incidence of diabetes, high blood pressure, and kidney failure among people of African ancestry than whites.

12 Feb 2007

Cancer breakthrough - first treatment to directly target tumor supply

For the first time, physician-scientists at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City have demonstrated in patients the ability of an antibody to directly target the blood supply of a wide variety of tumors, leaving healthy tissues unharmed.

12 Feb 2007

Scientists baffled by strange illness killing colonies of honeybees

Scientists across the United States are baffled by a strange illness which appears to kill honeybees by the thousands.

12 Feb 2007

Combination drug treatment helps beat mesothelioma

People with mesothelioma - a form of cancer associated with asbestos exposure - have a higher survival rate when treated with a combination of two cancer drugs, a large multicenter study finds.

12 Feb 2007

Congress likely to approve FDA prescription drug safety reforms in 2007

The Baltimore Sun on Friday examined how Democrats' takeover of Congress and the expiration of a law that requires drug manufacturers to pay user fees to FDA "is driving a flurry of activity that could lead to major changes" in the agency's drug safety policies.

12 Feb 2007

Determinants of disease presentation and outcome during cryptococcosis

CRNS and the Institut Pasteur conducted research in France on patients diagnosed with cryptococcosis which ranks second among fatal opportunistic infections in patients infected by HIV and who are profoundly immunosuppressed.

12 Feb 2007

Switching to an aromatase inhibitor provides mortality benefit in early breast carcinoma

For breast cancer patients taking tamoxifen, switching to an aromatase inhibitor within three years significantly improves survival rates, according to a new study.

12 Feb 2007

New method of screening tumors for cancer-related gene abnormalities

A study led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University provides the first demonstration of a practical method of screening tumors for cancer-related gene abnormalities that might be treated with "targeted" drugs.

11 Feb 2007

Therapy for restless legs may trigger compulsive gambling

Compulsive gambling with extreme losses -- in two cases, greater than $100,000 -- by people without a prior history of gambling problems has been linked to a class of drugs commonly used to treat the neurological disorder restless legs syndrome (RLS).

11 Feb 2007