Pharmaceuticals News and Research

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Longer looks: Keeping Parkinson's a secret

When Nancy Mulhearn learned she had Parkinson's disease seven years ago, she kept the diagnosis mostly to herself, hiding it from friends, colleagues -- even, at first, her mother, sister and teenage children. After seven months, she decided she had to tell her family, and they settled into an unspoken agreement not to talk about the disease.

13 Jul 2012

OncoMed commences dosing in OMP-54F28 Phase I clinical trial for advanced solid tumor cancers

OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage company developing novel therapeutics that target cancer stem cells, or tumor-initiating cells, today announced that patient dosing has begun in a Phase I clinical trial of OMP-54F28 in patients with advanced solid tumor cancers.

13 Jul 2012

Cubist initiates CB-315 Phase 3 trial for Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea

Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the initiation of its pivotal Phase 3 studies evaluating the efficacy and safety of CB-315 in patients with Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea, or CDAD, with enrollment of a patient in the first of two planned identical global trials.

13 Jul 2012

New tool for pharmaceutical industry: VCD from BioTools

Vibrational circular dichroism (VCD), a new tool for determining the absolute configuration of chiral molecules, was a key highlight of the recent 24th International Symposium on Chirality, held June 10-13 in Fort Worth, Texas. VCD pioneer, BioTools (Jupiter, FL) was on hand, not only sponsoring the exhibitor’s luncheon and the poster awards, but also proudly awarding the Best Poster Given by a Young Scientist for the thirteenth year.

12 Jul 2012

Eisai, Verastem partner for next-generation of small molecule Wnt inhibitors

Verastem, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing drugs to treat breast and other cancers by targeting cancer stem cells, announced a research collaboration with Eisai for the next-generation of small molecule Wnt inhibitors.

12 Jul 2012

Nottingham researchers to lead Avastin clinical study for AMD

Nottingham researchers are leading a study to test the effectiveness of a controversial drug in the treatment of a common loss of vision.

12 Jul 2012

Obama administration's intellectual property policy inflating medical costs abroad

Noting that the Supreme Court last week upheld the Obama administration's Affordable Health Act, Huffington Post reporters Zach Carter and Sabrina Siddiqui write in this Huffington Post editorial that "while the president has focused on lowering health care costs at home, he has repeatedly sought to impose higher drug prices abroad." They add, "For pharmaceutical companies, that has meant steady profits, but for the global poor in desperate need of affordable drugs, those lofty prices are often a matter of life and death."

12 Jul 2012

Arena files lorcaserin hydrochloride MAA with Swissmedic

Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today the filing with the Swiss health authority, Swissmedic, of a Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for lorcaserin hydrochloride, an investigational drug candidate in Switzerland.

12 Jul 2012

U.K. High Court rules in favor of Teva in COPAXONE patent litigation

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. announced that the United Kingdom High Court of Justice issued a decision in favor of Teva in a patent litigation proceeding against Generics (UK) Limited, a subsidiary of Mylan Laboratories Inc., on July 11, 2012.

12 Jul 2012

Novel molecular mechanism responsible for most important symptom of major depression

Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have laid bare a novel molecular mechanism responsible for the most important symptom of major depression: anhedonia, the loss of the ability to experience pleasure.

12 Jul 2012

FDA approves Watson’s ANDA for generic ARTHROTEC

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that its subsidiary Watson Laboratories, Inc - Florida has received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration on its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Diclofenac Sodium and Misoprostol Delayed-Release Tablets, the generic equivalent to G.D. Searle's ARTHROTEC.

12 Jul 2012

Cylene's Pol I inhibitor activates p53 and selectively destroys cancer cells

Cylene Pharmaceuticals today announced that research collaborators at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Peter Mac) in Melbourne, Australia have established, for the first time, that RNA Polymerase I (Pol I) activity is essential for cancer cell survival and that its inhibition selectively activates p53 to kill tumors. Published today in Cancer Cell, the findings show that Cylene's Pol I inhibitor, CX-5461, selectively destroys cancer by activating p53 in malignant but not in normal cells.

11 Jul 2012

HIV and AIDS treatment: An interview with Charles Flexner, MD

The best estimates at the moment reckon that there are about 25 million people infected with HIV. Most of those are in resource-limited settings, including sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia and India.

11 Jul 2012

Bristol-Myers Squibb commences cash tender offer to purchase all shares of Amylin common stock

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company is commencing today, through its wholly owned subsidiary B&R Acquisition Company, a cash tender offer to purchase all outstanding shares of common stock of Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

10 Jul 2012

Derma Sciences’ MEDIHONEY HCS dressings receive CE Mark

Derma Sciences, Inc., a medical device and pharmaceutical company focused on advanced wound care, announces receipt of the CE Mark for the Company's patented MEDIHONEY HCS (hydrogel colloidal sheet) dressings.

10 Jul 2012

Quintiles introduces Allume to help biopharmaceutical companies

Quintiles today introduced Allume, a comprehensive go-to-market service to help biopharmaceutical companies efficiently launch new products and shorten timelines to peak sales, while retaining strategic and corporate control of their assets.

10 Jul 2012

ACADI’s pimavanserin may have therapeutic benefits in treatment of ADP

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on innovative treatments that address unmet medical needs in neurological and related central nervous system disorders, today announced results of preclinical studies, which suggest that pimavanserin, ACADIA's proprietary product candidate currently in Phase III development for Parkinson's disease psychosis, also may have therapeutic benefits in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease psychosis (ADP).

10 Jul 2012

Inovio commences SynCon vaccine phase I study in H1N1 influenza

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that the first patients have been treated in a clinical trial evaluating immune responses in elderly adults immunized with Inovio's H1N1 SynCon universal influenza vaccine.

10 Jul 2012

Researchers develop new silk-based stabilizer for vaccines and antibiotics

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have developed a new silk-based stabilizer that, in the laboratory, kept some vaccines and antibiotics stable up to temperatures of 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

10 Jul 2012

FDA approves risk evaluation and mitigation strategy for ER and LA opioids

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS) for extended-release (ER) and long-acting (LA) opioids, highly potent drugs approved for moderate to severe, persistent pain that requires treatment for an extended period.

10 Jul 2012