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Findings highlight possible new approach to combat malaria

An international team of scientists, including researchers at Columbia University Medical Center, has identified a key metabolic enzyme that common malaria parasites require for survival at each stage of infection in humans. The findings raise the possibility of a new approach to combating malaria, one of the world's deadliest diseases. The study was published today in the online edition of the journal Nature.

27 Nov 2013

FDA grants Orphan Drug Designation to CMC Contrast's CMC-001 MRI contrast media

CMC Contrast AB, a privately owned drug development company that is developing a targeted contrast agent for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), announced today that Orphan Drug Designation has been granted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its liver specific contrast agent CMC-001.

27 Nov 2013

Merck announces approval of NOXAFIL delayed-release tablets by FDA

Merck (NYSE:MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved NOXAFIL® (posaconazole) 100 mg delayed-release tablets.

27 Nov 2013

SIMM and Crown Bioscience collaborate to build MCT center in China

Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Crown Bioscience, Inc., announced today that they have reached an agreement to form a strategic collaboration focused on translational oncology and to join forces to build a mouse clinical trial (MCT) center at Crown Taicang campus, Taicang, Jiangsu province, China --SIMM-Crown Mouse Clinical Trial Center, or SCMC.

26 Nov 2013

Researchers identify progenitor cells that are vital for successful growth of healthy placenta

Dr. Hanna Mikkola and researchers at UCLA's Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research have identified a novel progenitor cell and a related cell communication pathway that are key to the successful growth of a healthy placenta.

26 Nov 2013

EMA grants accelerated assessment to Boehringer Ingelheim's Faldaprevir compound

The application for European marketing authorisation of faldaprevir, a potent second generation oral protease inhibitor, has been fully validated and granted accelerated assessment by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

26 Nov 2013

Transgene welcomes SillaJen’s intention to acquire Jennerex

Transgene SA (Paris:TNG) said today that it welcomed the announcement by SillaJen, Inc. of its intention to acquire Jennerex, Inc. and has consequently given its consent to the definitive merger agreement.

26 Nov 2013

SillaJen executes definitive merger agreement to acquire Jennerex

SillaJen, Inc., a privately-held biotherapeutics and contract research company focused on the development of targeted biological products for cancer, announced today that it had executed a definitive merger agreement to acquire San Francisco-based Jennerex, Inc.

26 Nov 2013

Researchers discover how type 2 diabetes drug metformin actually works

Researchers from St. Vincent's Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia, in collaboration with researchers at McMaster University in Canada, are reportedly the first to discover how the type 2 diabetes drug metformin actually works, providing a molecular understanding that could lead to the development of more effective therapies. Mass spectrometry technologies from AB SCIEX, a global leader in analytical technologies, played a critical role in the analysis that led to this breakthrough finding.

25 Nov 2013

FDA approves OLYSIO (simeprevir) for treatment of chronic hepatitis C infection

Janssen Therapeutics, Division of Janssen Products, LP, announced today the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved OLYSIO (simeprevir), an NS3/4A protease inhibitor, for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C infection as part of an antiviral treatment regimen in combination with pegylated interferon and ribavirin in genotype 1 infected adults with compensated liver disease, including cirrhosis.

23 Nov 2013

New bill offers hope to HIV patients on transplant waiting lists

A bill scheduled to be signed into law today by President Obama reverses the longtime ban on letting HIV-infected people donate their organs for transplantation after death, a move that offers hope to thousands of HIV patients on transplant waiting lists.

22 Nov 2013

Targeting single enzyme in the obese could help prevent and treat diabetes

A single overactive enzyme worsens the two core defects of diabetes—impaired insulin sensitivity and overproduction of glucose—suggesting that a drug targeting the enzyme could help correct both at once, according to mouse studies done by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center. The findings were published today in the online edition of Cell Metabolism.

22 Nov 2013

Research paves way towards personalized chronotherapy treatments

Cancer chronotherapy consists in administering treatment at an optimal time. Because the body is governed by precise biological rhythms, the efficacy of anti-cancer drugs can be doubled and their toxicity reduced five-fold depending on the exact timing of their administration.

22 Nov 2013

Researchers to discuss effects of alcohol on immune system at AIRIG meeting

On Nov. 22, leading alcohol researchers from the United States and Europe will present the latest findings on how alcohol impairs the immune system.

22 Nov 2013

Probe to measure immune function could lead to determine nanoparticle-based drugs for cancer patients

The development of a probe to measure the body's immune function could lead to more accurate, individualized doses for cancer patients prescribed nanoparticle-based drugs, according to research conducted at the University of North Carolina.

21 Nov 2013

Obese children could suffer step back in life expectancy by up to 10 years

In Mexico, overweight or obese children could suffer a step back in life expectancy by up to 10 years. According to the National Institute of Geography and Statistics (INEGI), the life expectancy in Mexico is of 73 years for women and 76 years for men.

21 Nov 2013

Special issue on Helicobacter pylori provides new insights into diagnosis, prevention and treatment

A special issue on Helicobacter pylori has been published by Landes Bioscience (Austin, TX USA). The articles contained in this special issue of the journal Gut Microbes have been authored by world-class investigators and provide new insights into the pathophysiology, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of this microbe.

20 Nov 2013

Boston Scientific's Direxion Torqueable Microcatheter receives FDA clearance and CE Mark approval

Further bolstering its market-leading portfolio of peripheral embolization technologies, Boston Scientific Corporation has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance and CE Mark approval for its Direxion Torqueable Microcatheter.

20 Nov 2013

Philipp E. Scherer honored with 15th Naomi Berrie Award for Outstanding Research in Diabetes

Columbia University Medical Center has honored Philipp E. Scherer, PhD, with the 15th Naomi Berrie Award for Outstanding Research in Diabetes, for his work that helped usher in a new understanding of fat and its role in diabetes and other metabolic diseases. His discovery of adiponectin, a hormone produced by fat, helped transform the scientific concept of fat as an inert storage depot to one of it as an endocrine "organ" that exerts control over the brain, muscles, and other organs. The award, given annually by CUMC's Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, is Columbia's top honor for excellence in diabetes research.

19 Nov 2013

New hope for patients whose melanoma has metastasised to the brain

New data show that in patients whose melanoma (BRAF V600 mutation-positive) has spread (metastasised) to the brain, Zelboraf (vemurafenib) extends life expectancy by over six months compared to chemotherapy.1 These results are welcome news for patients suffering from metastatic melanoma, as up to half of these patients are diagnosed with brain metastases with many given less than six months to live.1

18 Nov 2013