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FDA accepts Ironwood and Forest Laboratories' linaclotide NDA for review

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Forest Laboratories, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for review the New Drug Application (NDA) for linaclotide for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C) and chronic constipation.

24 Oct 2011

Children with PAH may benefit from sildenafil treatment

Sildenafil is currently approved for adult pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH); however, new research presented at CHEST 2011, the 77th annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), shows the drug may also provide significant benefits for children with PAH, helping to improve both oxygen delivery and exercise capacity.

24 Oct 2011

DFMO appears to protect against nonmelanoma skin cancers

An antiparasitic agent used to treat African sleeping sickness might someday be used to prevent nonmelanoma skin cancers. Researchers found that DFMO, or α-difluoromethylornithine, still appeared to protect against nonmelanoma skin cancers years after people stopped taking the drug, according to a poster presented at the 10th AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research, held Oct. 22-25, 2011.

24 Oct 2011

Abbott, Biogen Idec announce additional results from daclizumab HYP Phase 2b trial for RRMS

Today Biogen Idec and Abbott announced additional results from the SELECT Phase 2b trial, the first of two registrational studies designed to evaluate the investigational compound daclizumab high-yield process in people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

22 Oct 2011

Specific dopamine system gene variants linked to ADHD medication response in children

Children with certain dopamine system gene variants have an improved response to methylphenidate - the most commonly prescribed medication for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - in a finding that could help eliminate the guesswork from prescribing effective medications for children with ADHD.

22 Oct 2011

Positive top line results from Shire's LDX phase III study on ADHD

Shire plc, the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, today presented positive top line results of the first European phase III study of once-daily lisdexamfetamine dimesylate (LDX) in children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 years with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

22 Oct 2011

NIH stops triple-drug therapy clinical trial for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health, has stopped one arm of a three arm multi-center, clinical trial studying treatments for the lung-scarring disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) for safety concerns.

22 Oct 2011

Romark announces results from NT-300 Phase 2B-3 trial on influenza

Romark Laboratories announced that results of a large Phase 2B-3 US clinical trial of its new flu drug, NT-300 (nitazoxanide), will be presented as an oral late-breaking communication at the 49th Annual Meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) being held in Boston, October 20-23, 2011.

22 Oct 2011

Blood pressure-lowering medication appears to kick start brain recovery after stroke

A commonly prescribed blood pressure-lowering medication appears to kick start recovery in the unaffected brain hemisphere after a stroke by boosting blood vessel growth, a new University of Georgia study has found.

22 Oct 2011

Boehringer Ingelheim announces new data from hepatitis C virus portfolio

Boehringer Ingelheim announced today that new data from its hepatitis C virus (HCV) portfolio will be presented in scientific sessions at The Liver Meeting 2011, the 62nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), taking place November 4 - November 8 in San Francisco, CA.

22 Oct 2011

Genentech announces 96-week results from ocrelizumab Phase II study on RRMS

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, today announced 96-week results from a Phase II study of ocrelizumab in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), the most common clinical form of the disease.

21 Oct 2011

Gastroenterologist cautions against over-prescription of acid-suppressing drugs in infants

Frequent spitting up, irritability, and unexplained crying in infants can be very distressing to parents. Pediatricians often prescribe acid-suppressing drugs for these symptoms in an effort to treat infants for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD); however, GERD is an uncommon cause of these symptoms in otherwise thriving infants.

21 Oct 2011

OncoGenex commences enrollment in OGX-427 Phase II trial for bladder cancer

OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has initiated patient enrollment in a randomized, Phase II clinical trial evaluating OGX-427, an inhibitor of heat shock protein 27 (Hsp27), in patients with advanced bladder cancer.

21 Oct 2011

Byetta combination with insulin glargine gets FDA nod in type 2 diabetes

The US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has approved Byetta (exenatide) injection as add-on treatment for use with insulin glargine, together with exercise and diet for diabetes type 2 patients who are not responding well enough to glargine alone. Byetta's add-on therapy is for those on glargine with metformin and/or a TZD (thiazolidinedione) or without.

20 Oct 2011

Rituximab may alleviate chronic fatigue syndrome through B-lymphocyte depletion

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) may be alleviated by the anti-cancer drug Rituximab, suggesting that the source of the disease could lie in the immune system, according to a new study published Oct. 19 in the online journal PLoS ONE.

20 Oct 2011

Data from Concert Pharmaceuticals' CTP-499 study to be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2011

Concert Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that three abstracts relating to CTP-499, its clinical candidate for the potential treatment of diabetic nephropathy, have been accepted for poster presentations at the American Society of Nephrology's (ASN) Kidney Week 2011.

19 Oct 2011

Stochastic frontier estimation can identify problem of bias in self-reporting

Most people are rather vague when reporting on food and drink consumption, smoking and exercise habits. General practitioners, however, are skilled at interpreting phrases such as "I only have a few drinks rarely...each week" and "I get to the gym regularly" and can estimate based on symptoms and a person's physical appearance just how precise those claims are. However, it is crucial for healthcare research and epidemiology that relies on patient self-reporting that we find a more objective, rather than intuitive, way to identify bias in self-reporting.

18 Oct 2011

National Centre for Bowel Research and Surgical Innovation to be set up in London

A national research centre for bowel disease is to be set up in London to bring the Cinderella area of medicine to the forefront of surgical innovation.

18 Oct 2011

Accera identifies genetic profile of AD patients with heightened response to Axona

Accera, Inc., a biotech company specializing in cognitive health, announced today that it has identified the genetic profile of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients who have a high probability of responding to Axona (AC-1202), a prescription medical food product available at pharmacies nationwide.

18 Oct 2011

Natroba effective against head lice and nits

ParaPRO, LLC, announced that researchers have presented data showing the effectiveness of Natroba (spinosad) Topical Suspension, 0.9% against head lice and nits following one treatment without nit combing. Those data about the pediculicide, derived from a naturally-occurring soil bacterium, were presented in a poster session on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011 at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition in Boston.

18 Oct 2011