Drugs News and Research

RSS

AVEO Pharmaceuticals announces findings from novel human-in-mouse cancer model system

AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced findings from its novel human-in-mouse (HIM) cancer model system, in which AVEO successfully created invasive human tumors from primary human breast tissue that develop over time in mice and mimic human tumor behaviors and response.

6 Apr 2009

Niacin findings could open up new avenues for drug discovery

Deft molecular detective work at Duke University Medical Center suggests that scientists may soon be able to resurrect niacin as one of the best and cheapest ways to manage cholesterol.

6 Apr 2009

Complementary and alternative medicines can be safe, effective for kids

Today, more children than ever are being treated with complementary and alternative therapies.

6 Apr 2009

FDA warns 14 pharmaceutical companies about short internet ads lacking risk information

FDA has warned 14 major pharmaceutical firms about brief Internet advertisements that could have misled patients because they did not include information about health risks related to the drugs, according to letters posted to the agency's Web site Friday, the Wall Street Journal reports.

6 Apr 2009

'Well-fortified' drugstores have 'fighting chance' against government reform, Wall Street Journal says

Recent events in Washington state indicate that "well-fortified" pharmacy chains have a "fighting chance" as the health care industry gears up for "an assault of government reform," the Wall Street Journal reports.

6 Apr 2009

Inter Press service examines research into PrEP

Inter Press Service last week examined how researchers are investigating the use of antiretroviral drugs as a possible method of pre-exposure prophylaxis. AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition's Executive Director Mitchell Warren recently said that such efforts are "a pivotal moment in HIV/AIDS research."

6 Apr 2009

BRAF gene mutation is a crucial skin cancer switch

Up to 70 per cent of melanoma skin cancers could be triggered by a particular genetic mutation, according to a Cancer Research UK funded study published in Cancer Cell.

6 Apr 2009

Link between widely used osteoporosis drugs and heart problems probed

New research at Wake Forest University School of Medicine evaluated the link between a common class of drugs used to prevent bone fractures in osteoporosis patients and the development of irregular heartbeat.

6 Apr 2009

Moderate kidney disease associated with cardiovascular events

Chronic kidney disease patients face a greater risk of cardiovascular events such as stent thrombosis after being treated for heart attacks, even if their kidney disease is moderate, according to researchers from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

6 Apr 2009

Breakthrough for hypertension treatment

A world-first breakthrough to treat high blood pressure has been successfully trialled in Melbourne.

6 Apr 2009

Fluorescent anesthetic compound brings new avenues for drug discovery

A collaboration of University of Pennsylvania and University of Wisconsin chemists and anesthesiologists have identified a fluorescent anesthetic compound that will assist researchers in obtaining more precise information about how anesthetics work in the body and will provide a means to more rapidly test new anesthetic compounds in the search for safer and more effective drugs.

6 Apr 2009

55 proteins found to interact with nicotine

Nicotine isn't just addictive. It may also interfere with dozens of cellular interactions in the body, new Brown University research suggests.

6 Apr 2009

Monoclonal antibody cancer therapy

The strategy of using monoclonal antibodies for cancer treatment was first described in the late 1970s with the promise that they could be developed into therapies that were highly specific to cancer cells, killing them with few or no side effects.

6 Apr 2009

Long-acting insulin analogues in type 2 diabetes: advantage over human insulin not proven

It has so far not been proven that long-acting insulin analogues (LAIAs) have an advantage over conventional human insulin in the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes.

6 Apr 2009

Locking parasites in host cell could be new way to fight malaria

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have discovered that parasites hijack host-cell proteins to ensure their survival and proliferation, suggesting new ways to control the diseases they cause.

6 Apr 2009

Experts discuss disease-fight dollars for developing world

The debate over how to spend the hundreds of millions of dollars earmarked to fight AIDS and other killer diseases in developing countries will come under the spotlight at a meeting of international experts.

5 Apr 2009

Breastmilk test may reveal cancer risk early

Beginning this month and for the next year, environmental toxicologist Kathleen Arcaro of the University of Massachusetts Amherst will be recruiting subjects nationwide for a study to see if cells expressed in nursing mothers' breastmilk might one day provide a quick, easy way to assess a woman's future breast cancer risk.

5 Apr 2009

Alzheimer's disease linked to mitochondrial damage

Investigators at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have demonstrated that attacks on the mitochondrial protein Drp1 by the free radical nitric oxide-which causes a chemical reaction called S-nitrosylation-mediates neurodegeneration associated with Alzheimer's disease.

5 Apr 2009

Congressional progressive caucus issues letter stating majority of members will only support health reform that includes public plan option

A majority of members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus will not support any health reform legislation that does not include a public plan option, according to a letter sent on Thursday by CPC co-chairs Reps. Lynn Woosley (D-Calif.) and Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) to Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, Roll Call reports (Bendery, Roll Call, 4/2).

5 Apr 2009

Most psychiatrists who wrote clinical guidelines had financial ties to drug companies, study shows

Most of the psychiatrists on the American Psychiatric Association panels who wrote the newest clinical guidelines for how to treat depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia had financial ties to drug companies, according to a study by Boston researchers scheduled to be published this month in the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, the Boston Globe reports.

5 Apr 2009