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Celgene, Agios Pharmaceuticals form global strategic collaboration on targeting cancer metabolism

Celgene Corporation and Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc., a privately-held biotechnology company, today announced the formation of a global strategic collaboration focused on targeting cancer metabolism. The goal of the collaboration is to discover, develop, and deliver novel disease-altering therapies in oncology based on the transformational science of Agios' innovative cancer metabolism research platform. This platform is based on the concept that targeting key metabolic enzymes unique to rapidly proliferating cancer cells can "starve" the cancer.

15 Apr 2010

Novel drug helps discover mechanisms underlying female sexual arousal

By using a novel prototype drug, researchers have discovered more about the mechanisms underlying female sexual arousal. These findings are published today in the British Journal of Pharmacology.

15 Apr 2010

Phase I clinical trial of DFMO initiated to treat children with neuroblastoma

A new Phase I clinical trial sponsored by the Vermont Cancer Center at the University of Vermont and Fletcher Allen Health Care has opened to test the investigational drug DFMO, or alpha-difluoromethylornithine, as a treatment for the pediatric cancer neuroblastoma.

15 Apr 2010

FDA approves J&JPRD's PANCREAZE NDA

Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development (J&JPRD) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new drug application (NDA) for PANCREAZE™ (pancrelipase) delayed-release capsules for the treatment of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency due to cystic fibrosis or other conditions. Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency is the inability to properly digest and absorb food due to a lack of enzymes made by the pancreas that are important in the digestion of fats, proteins, and sugars.

15 Apr 2010

IVAX Diagnostics signs two-year distribution agreement with Biomerica

IVAX Diagnostics, Inc., a fully integrated in vitro diagnostics company, and Biomerica, Inc., a global biomedical company, have signed a two-year agreement for the distribution of Biomerica's products in the U.S. and globally, with certain country and product exclusions.

13 Apr 2010

Research finding suggests HCV interference with hepcidin synthesis

Iron overload, a common feature of chronic liver disorders, has been linked with oxidative DNA damage, insulin resistance and liver steatosis, and with triggering of hepatic stellate cells thus inducing liver fibrosis.

13 Apr 2010

DHA crucial for male fertility

According to a University of Illinois study, omega-3 fatty acids may be good for more than heart health. A little-known omega-3 may have implications for treating male infertility.

13 Apr 2010

Pancreaze Delayed Release Capsules receive FDA approval

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Pancreaze Delayed Release Capsules, a pancreatic enzyme product. It is the third such product to receive FDA approval.

13 Apr 2010

Accumulation of mutated protein may explain damaging cellular behavior in Huntington's disease

In a step towards a possible treatment for Huntington's disease, scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have shown for the first time that the accumulation of a mutated protein may explain damaging cellular behavior in Huntington's disease. Their research is described in the April 11 online edition of Nature Neuroscience.

12 Apr 2010

CME program for understanding latest treatment and research on Dupuytren's disease

The Department of Orthopaedics at Stony Brook University Medical Center and the Office of Continuing Medical Education will run a CME program for hand surgeons, hand therapists, rheumatologists, researchers and others interested in understanding the latest treatment and research on Dupuytren's disease, a debilitating hand disorder caused by progressive accumulation of collagen that deforms fingers and limits motion and affects millions worldwide.

12 Apr 2010

Scientists identify specific mechanism that triggers resistance to vancomycin

A new study led by the scientific director of the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research has uncovered for the first time how bacteria recognize and develop resistance to a powerful antibiotic used to treat superbug infections.

12 Apr 2010

Researchers investigate effects of nanoparticles on yeast

Nanoparticles are already widely used in everyday products such as cosmetics, textiles, dyes, and paints. It is quite possible that these minute fragments of matter may in future not only come to play a crucial role in medicine and pharmacology, but also in the food and biotechnology industries. The latest research currently being conducted in India has shown that nanoparticles can promote the growth of fungi and even assist plant growth.

12 Apr 2010

Cempra to make poster presentations on CEM-101 and CEM-102 at ECCMID 2010

Cempra Pharmaceuticals today announced poster presentations on its novel antibiotic CEM-101, a next-generation macrolide, and CEM-102, the company's proprietary front-loading oral dosing regimen of sodium fusidate, at the 20th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease, April 10 to 13, 2010, in Vienna Austria.

12 Apr 2010

Broken heart disease affects women in post menopause period

It seems an infarction, but it's not. It's called Tako-Tsubo syndrome, or stress-induced cardiomyopathy, and it's a rare disease which at first used to be confused with the far more common (and dangerous) cardiac infarction. Patients arrive to the emergency room with the characteristic heart attack symptoms: acute pain in the chest, an electrocardiogram with the typical changes and the release of those enzymes associated with the usual heart disease.

9 Apr 2010

Gelatinase B expression enhanced in gastric cancer compared to normal gastric mucosa

Gastric cancer in Mexico is the most frequent gastrointestinal malignant neoplasm. Several precursor conditions, such as chronic gastritis, have been associated with the development of gastric cancer. The gelatinases MMP-2 and MMP-9, members of the metalloproteinase family, are fundamental enzymes in extracellular matrix remodelling. The extracellular matrix is composed of secreted molecules outside cells which provides structural support and regulates cell behaviour.

9 Apr 2010

Recql5 identified as a tumor suppressor in GI tract

Recql5 is a member of the mammalian RecQ helicase family. Genetic mutations that result in loss of RecQ helicase activity give rise to disorders that are associated with cancer predisposition and premature aging, such as Bloom, Werner, and Rothmund-Thomson syndromes. This class of enzymes is best known for their role in maintaining the integrity of the genome to prevent oncogenic mutations.

9 Apr 2010

Bayer CropScience, Precision BioSciences modify plant genomes using DNE technology

Precision BioSciences Inc., announced today that Bayer CropScience and Precision BioSciences have successfully modified plant genomes using Precision's Directed Nuclease EditorTM technology.

9 Apr 2010

Enrollment completes for Inovio Biomedical's dose escalation phase I trial of cervical cancer vaccine

Inovio Biomedical Corporation, a leader in DNA vaccine design, development and delivery, announced today that the company has completed enrollment of all subjects for its therapeutic cervical cancer vaccine (VGX-3100) phase I trial. VGX-3100 is a DNA vaccine targeting the E6 and E7 proteins of human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18, and is delivered via in vivo electroporation.

8 Apr 2010

Scientists discover how mechanical stress promotes new bone growth

For osteoporosis patients unable to exercise, help may be on the way. That's because scientists have discovered precisely how mechanical stress, such as exercise, promotes new bone growth. This opens the door to entirely new therapies that can trick bones into thinking they are getting a workout. The research report describing this advance is published online in The FASEB Journal.

8 Apr 2010

Folate increases risk of breast cancer in women with certain genetic make-up

In most women folate, a type of B vitamin, reduces the risk of breast cancer. However, in women with a certain genetic make-up it has shown to be the opposite: folate raises the risk of breast cancer.

7 Apr 2010