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Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners starts U.S. phase II trial of CPP-109 in patients with cocaine dependence

Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners, Inc. a specialty pharmaceutical company that acquires or in-licenses, develops and commercializes prescription drugs for the treatment of drug addiction, today announced that it has initiated its randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled U.S. Phase II clinical trial of CPP-109 in patients with cocaine dependence.

11 Jul 2007

Hydroxychloroquine may reduce risk of diabetes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Preliminary research suggests that use of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine may help reduce the risk of the development of diabetes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, according to a study in the July 11 issue of JAMA .

11 Jul 2007

Malawi aims to provide 150,000 HIV-positive people with access to antiretrovirals

Malawi plans to provide 150,000 HIV-positive people with access to no-cost antiretroviral drugs by the end of the year, Biziwick Mwale, chief of the National AIDS Commission, said on Monday, AFP/Sunday Times reports.

11 Jul 2007

Vietnamese aims to increase access to HIV care, treatment

The Vietnamese government has issued a series of documents aimed at increasing access to HIV/AIDS care and treatment in the country in an effort to keep the country's HIV prevalence below 0.27% in 2007, the Vietnam News Agency reports.

11 Jul 2007

CMS issues final rule for Medicaid prescription drug reimbursements

CMS on Friday released a final rule that will change the Medicaid prescription drug reimbursement formula for pharmacies from being based on the average wholesale price to being based on the average manufacturer price, CongressDaily reports (Edney, CongressDaily, 7/10).

11 Jul 2007

Attitudes and experiences of community pharmacists towards paediatric off-label prescribing

Forty per cent of community pharmacists have dispensed an off-label drug to a child in the last month, according to research published in the July issue of the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

11 Jul 2007

Antibiotics for children with urinary tract infections create even more problems

New research has questioned the use of antibiotics for children with urinary tract infections.

11 Jul 2007

Magnetic nano tweezers show how cancer drug works

The annoying bulges of an over-wound telephone cord that shorten its reach and limit a caller's motion help to explain why drugs called camptothecins are so effective in killing cancer cells, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Delft University of Technology.

10 Jul 2007

Scientists identify two brain networks in Parkinson's

The disease that causes tremors, rigidity and slowed movements in a million Americans also targets another brain network that regulates cognitive thought and the ability to carry out everyday tasks.

10 Jul 2007

Syphilis cases spike in New York City

After leveling off for more than two years, and declining in 2006, new syphilis cases spiked in New York City during the first three months of 2007.

10 Jul 2007

National study to treat addiction to prescription pain medications

Researchers funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, launched the first large-scale national study evaluating a treatment for addiction to prescription opioid analgesics (i.e., painkillers) such as Vicodin and OxyContin.

10 Jul 2007

New weapon in the battle against antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Putting bacteria on birth control could stop the spread of drug-resistant microbes, and researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have found a way to do just that.

10 Jul 2007

Bacterial biofilms

In one of the first potential applications of synthetic biology, an emerging field that aims to design and build useful biomolecular systems, researchers from MIT and Boston University are engineering viruses to attack and destroy the surface biofilms that harbor harmful bacteria in the body and on industrial and medical devices.

10 Jul 2007

Breast cancers to be more aggressive in African-American women

A study of more than 2,200 women at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson in Philadelphia shows that African American women have more advanced breast cancer at the time of diagnosis than Caucasian women.

10 Jul 2007

Gene therapy offers promising approach to tackle pancreatic cancer

A molecularly engineered therapy selectively embeds a gene in pancreatic cancer that shrinks or eradicates tumors, inhibits metastasis, and prolongs survival with virtually no toxicity, researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the July 9 edition of Cancer Cell.

10 Jul 2007

Bio-adhesive vaginal foam

Foamix Ltd. has announced that the Company has been selected to present at the 34th Annual Meeting of the Controlled Release Society.

10 Jul 2007

FDA designates Carbaglu for treatment of NAGS deficiency as a Fast Track product

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the USA has concluded that Carbaglu (carglumic acid) for treatment of N-acetylglutamate synthase (NAGS) deficiency meets the criteria for fast track designation.

10 Jul 2007

Wall Street Journal examines women's health initiative findings on HRT's effect on heart attack risk

The Wall Street Journal on Monday examined findings from the 15-year, $725 million NIH-sponsored Women's Health Initiative on hormone replacement therapy's effects on heart attack risk.

10 Jul 2007

El Salvador needs to take increased HIV/AIDS control efforts

Although health officials in El Salvador have launched an HIV testing campaign in the country, some advocates say that the country needs to take increased efforts to control the growing number of HIV cases in the country, Inter Press Service reports.

10 Jul 2007

Etravirine reduces HIV viral loads when taken with Prezista

The experimental antiretroviral drug etravirine, made by Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Tibotec Pharmaceuticals, greatly reduces HIV viral loads in people with a history of drug resistance when taken in combination with Tibotec's antiretroviral Prezista, according to two studies published Saturday in the journal The Lancet.

10 Jul 2007