Asthma News and Research

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Asthma is a common inflammatory disease affecting the airways that leads to shortness of breath, coughing and wheezing. Symptoms range from mild to severe but are generally manageable with appropriate treatment.

SeeChange Health launches first health insurance company in California

SeeChange Health today launched the first new value-based health insurance company in California, offering personalized, value-based health plans that provide incentives to encourage individuals to play an active role in their health management and improve their quality of life. As the first value-based health insurance company to launch in the United States, SeeChange Health brings affordable, next-generation insurance designs to the employer group market.

22 Mar 2010

FDA convenes Advisory Committee meeting to discuss safety of LABA's

On Wednesday, March 10 and Thursday, March 11, the FDA is convening an Advisory Committee meeting on the clinical trial design for long acting beta-2 adrenergic agonists.

22 Mar 2010

Research group unveils new computational strategy for GWAS

In the ongoing quest to identify the genetic factors involved in disease, scientists have increasingly turned to genome-wide association studies, or GWAS, which enable the scanning of up to a million genetic markers in thousands of individuals.

19 Mar 2010

Survey unveils impact of gene regulation on human health

Researchers are only beginning to understand how individual variation in gene regulation can have a lasting impact on one's health and susceptibility to certain diseases. Now, an ambitious survey of the human genome has identified differences in the binding of master regulators called transcription factors to DNA that affect how genes are expressed in different people.

19 Mar 2010

Gene regulation rather than genes make us unique

Once the human genome was sequenced in 2001, the hunt was on for the genes that make each of us unique. But scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, and Yale and Stanford Universities in the USA, have found that we differ from each other mainly because of differences not in our genes, but in how they're regulated - turned on or off, for instance.

18 Mar 2010

Meta-study: Seven health risks impair academic performance of urban minority youth

"Educationally relevant health disparities" are key drivers of the achievement gap, "but they are largely overlooked," Charles Basch, the Richard March Hoe Professor of Health Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, said at a recent panel discussion at the College.

18 Mar 2010

Low vitamin D levels in African American children connected with high asthma rates

Researchers at Children's National Medical Center have discovered that African American children with asthma in metropolitan Washington, DC, are significantly more likely to have low levels of vitamin D than healthy African American children.

18 Mar 2010

Positive preliminary results from MediciNova's Phase Ib clinical trial of MN-221 for COPD

MediciNova, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company that is publicly traded on the Nasdaq Global Market and the Hercules Market of the Osaka Securities Exchange, today reported positive preliminary results from a Phase Ib clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of MN-221 in patients with stable, moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). There were no clinically significant safety concerns noted. Preliminary results demonstrated clinically significant improvements in percent change in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV(1)).

18 Mar 2010

Stress during pregnancy may raise infant’s risk to asthma and allergy

Stress during pregnancy may raise the risk of asthma in offspring, according to researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

18 Mar 2010

Trudell Medical International announces BPA free AEROCHAMBER PLUS* FLOW-VU* Chambers

Trudell Medical International is pleased to announce that AEROCHAMBER PLUS* FLOW-VU* anti-static Valved Holding Chambers are Bisphenol A Free. As always, the AEROCHAMBER PLUS* FLOW-VU* Chambers also remain free of Phthalates, Latex, Lead and PVC (Polyvinyl chloride). Trudell has recognized that consumers are beginning to voice their desire for more BPA Free products.

17 Mar 2010

Pathway Genomics' personal Genetic Health Report now available

Pathway Genomics Inc., a U.S. based genetic testing company, announced the immediate availability of its personal Genetic Health Report. This customized and innovative personal genetic health report contains information on more than 70 health conditions, including pharmacogenetics (prescription medication response), propensity for complex disease, and carrier status (pre-pregnancy health).

17 Mar 2010

Pfizer-FRSQ-MSSS Chronic Disease Fund for chronic-disease prevention and management initiatives

The Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec in partnership with the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux and Pfizer Canada, is announcing the creation of the Pfizer-FRSQ-MSSS Chronic Disease Fund. Established with an investment of $5 million from Pfizer Canada, this research grant program, coordinated by the FRSQ, is open to Quebec-based researchers who work in collaboration with health professionals.

17 Mar 2010

New industry ecosystem design to change effect of asthma worldwide published

Blue Spoon Consulting Group, LLC, today published its design for an industry ecosystem to change the effect of asthma worldwide. Available for download through the Blue Spoon Consulting website (www.bluespoonconsulting.com), the ecosystem makes novel linkages between industry players to create new health and economic value.

16 Mar 2010

TCAD therapy superior to double combinations and monotherapy against influenza viruses

Adamas Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held company, announced today results from in vivo animal studies and in vitro tests demonstrating that its triple combination antiviral drug (TCAD) therapy is superior relative to double combinations and monotherapy against multiple strains of pandemic and avian influenza viruses. Results of these studies were presented Sunday evening in an oral session at the XII International Symposium on Respiratory Viral Infections being held in Taipei.

15 Mar 2010

Cephalon Australia granted exclusive license to develop Innate Immune's antibodies for treatment of asthma, SLE

Innate Immune, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company, today announced that it has granted to Cephalon Australia Pty Ltd an exclusive license to patents for the development of its antibodies for the treatment of asthma and systemic lupus erythematosis (SLE).

15 Mar 2010

MPP cell population: A new potential target for treating infections and allergies

Millions of people in both the developing and developed world may benefit from new immune-system research findings from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.

15 Mar 2010

Painful periods at early age doubles risk of endometriosis

Queensland Institute of Medical Research scientists have identified a new link between strong period pain experienced in adolescence and early adulthood and the risk of endometriosis.

15 Mar 2010

Ligand Pharmaceuticals: GSK granted marketing authorization from EC for Revolade

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated today announced that GlaxoSmithKline was granted marketing authorization from the European Commission for Revolade® (eltrombopag) for the oral treatment of thrombocytopenia (reduced platelet count) in adults with the blood disorder chronic immune (idiopathic) thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP).

15 Mar 2010

Antibiotics lower risk of developing gastric cancer

Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium found in about 50% of humans worldwide, can cause stomach ulcers and, in extreme cases, gastric cancer. In an article for F1000 Medicine Reports, Seiji Shiota and Yoshio Yamaoka discuss the possible eradication of H. pylori infections

12 Mar 2010

Post-marketing safety studies for LABAs: AstraZeneca confident of SYMBICORT in treatment of asthma

On March 10-11, 2010, the Joint Advisory Committees of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) -- including the Pulmonary-Allergy Drugs and the Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committees -- discussed the design of post-marketing safety studies for long-acting beta-agonist (LABA)-containing products in the U.S., including SYMBICORT® (budesonide/formoterol fumarate dihydrate).

12 Mar 2010

Asthma News and Research

Further Reading

SeeChange Health launches first health insurance company in California

FDA convenes Advisory Committee meeting to discuss safety of LABA's

Research group unveils new computational strategy for GWAS

Survey unveils impact of gene regulation on human health

Gene regulation rather than genes make us unique

Meta-study: Seven health risks impair academic performance of urban minority youth

Low vitamin D levels in African American children connected with high asthma rates

Positive preliminary results from MediciNova's Phase Ib clinical trial of MN-221 for COPD

Stress during pregnancy may raise infant’s risk to asthma and allergy

Trudell Medical International announces BPA free AEROCHAMBER PLUS* FLOW-VU* Chambers

Pathway Genomics' personal Genetic Health Report now available

Pfizer-FRSQ-MSSS Chronic Disease Fund for chronic-disease prevention and management initiatives

New industry ecosystem design to change effect of asthma worldwide published

TCAD therapy superior to double combinations and monotherapy against influenza viruses

Cephalon Australia granted exclusive license to develop Innate Immune's antibodies for treatment of asthma, SLE

MPP cell population: A new potential target for treating infections and allergies

Painful periods at early age doubles risk of endometriosis

Ligand Pharmaceuticals: GSK granted marketing authorization from EC for Revolade

Antibiotics lower risk of developing gastric cancer

Post-marketing safety studies for LABAs: AstraZeneca confident of SYMBICORT in treatment of asthma

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

Advancing Intracellular Delivery with LumiPore®

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