Clinical Testing News and Research

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Aida Pharmaceuticals announces development of new anti-cancer drug

Aida Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced that it is developing a potential cancer drug that seeks to trigger cell death in certain types of cancer.

18 Apr 2008

Potential new therapy for myeloproliferative disorders

A unique partnership between industry and academia has led to human clinical trials of a new drug for a rare class of blood diseases called myeloproliferative disorders (MPD), which are all driven by the same genetic mutation and can evolve into leukemia.

8 Apr 2008

Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography to help determine whether cognitive impairment will lead to Alzheimer's

With nearly 10 million baby boomers at risk for developing Alzheimer's disease, researchers are taking a closer look at a condition known as mild cognitive impairment.

3 Apr 2008

Disappointing resuts for pimecrolimus, investigational anti-restenosis drug

A new medication that researchers had hoped would reduce the risk of arterial renarrowing after stenting has turned in a disappointing performance in a multicenter clinical trial, but the multi-reservoir stent that was used to deliver the drug is still considered promising.

1 Apr 2008

PharmAthene signs agreement to acquire biodefense vaccines business from Avecia

PharmAthene, Inc., a biodefense company specializing in the development and commercialization of medical countermeasures against biological and chemical threats, and Avecia Biologics Limited, a contract manufacturer of biopharmaceuticals, has announced that the companies have entered into a definitive sale and purchase agreement under which PharmAthene will acquire all of the assets and intellectual property related to Avecia's biodefense vaccines business.

24 Mar 2008

New hope for victims of macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa

Scientists at Schepens Eye Research Institute have discovered what chemical in the eye triggers the dormant capacity of certain non-neuronal cells to transform into progenitor cells, a stem-like cell that can generate new retinal cells.

19 Mar 2008

Researchers develop method to rapidly ID optimal drug cocktails

UCLA researchers have developed a feedback control scheme that can search for the most effective drug combinations to treat a variety of conditions, including cancers and infections.

18 Mar 2008

Scientists devise approach that stops HIV at earliest stage of infection

Their study, which appears this week in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), may re-energize attempts to create a preventive/therapeutic vaccine against HIV, say the authors.

28 Feb 2008

New Alzheimer's patent by Affiris

Affiris GmbH has secured another Europe-wide patent for an innovative method of treating Alzheimer's disease. This new blood-cleansing method is similar to dialysis and is designed to reduce the amount of harmful protein deposits in the brain. It is based on the AFFITOME technology established by Affiris, which was patented in October 2007 for an Alzheimer's vaccine.

27 Feb 2008

Potential method for repairing misspelling in DNA code that causes spinal muscular atrophy

Researchers at the University of Delaware have discovered a novel technique - that acts like a "spell-checker" for correcting a misspelling in the DNA code - to repair the defective gene that causes spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

12 Feb 2008

Bioniche receives funding to scale-up E. coli O157:H7 vaccine production

Bioniche Life Sciences Inc. has announced that it has secured a $5 million commercial loan from the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) in support of the scale-up of vaccine production at its Belleville, Ontario facility.

8 Feb 2008

Improving informed consent

New ways to make sure people are adequately informed about the risks and benefits of taking part in a clinical trial can be field-tested for effectiveness as vigorously as new medical treatments themselves, a study led by a Johns Hopkins bioethicist suggests.

15 Jan 2008

Discovery of chromosomal abnormality that appears to increase susceptibility to autism

A multi-institutional study involving Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers has identified a chromosomal abnormality that appears to increase susceptibility to autism.

10 Jan 2008

Novavax's new bird flu vaccine could bolster the arsenal against a pandemic

The drug company Novavax has announced that it's experimental avian flu vaccine has proved to be both safe and effective in Phase I/IIa trials in humans.

20 Dec 2007

Scientists levitate cells with light to sort

Separating out particular kinds of cells from a sample could become faster, cheaper and easier thanks to a new system developed by MIT researchers that involves levitating the cells with light.

10 Dec 2007

BioMarin files investigational NDA for PEG-PAL for the treatment of phenylketonuria

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. has announced that it has filed an investigational new drug application (IND) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for PEG-PAL (Poly Ethylene Glycol-Phenylalanine Ammonia Lyase), formerly known as Phenylase, for the treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU).

27 Nov 2007

Affiris GmbH granted a Europe-wide patent for key elements of its Alzheimer's vaccine

As a result, the company has exclusive rights of use to the peptide sequences for an innovative approach to vaccine development. The tolerability of the first Affiris vaccine, AFFITOPE AD01, is currently being tested as part of a phase I clinical trial. The lead investor in the company, MIG-Fonds, is extremely satisfied with the expanding patent portfolio of Affiris GmbH.

21 Nov 2007

Antibody might help starve cancerous tumors

An antibody might offer a safe and effective complement to anti-cancer therapies designed to starve malignant tumors by pruning the blood vessels that feed them, researchers report in the November 2 issue of the journal Cell, a publication of Cell Press.

2 Nov 2007

Promising new tuberculosis drug given special status

Approximately one-third of the world's population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes TB, and an estimated 1.6 million people died of the disease in 2005.

25 Oct 2007

Cognitive performance in long-term abstinent elderly alcoholics

In a new study comparing elderly abstinent alcoholics with light- or nondrinking peers, the recovering alcoholics generally demonstrated equal or superior cognitive functioning to those who were not alcoholic.

24 Oct 2007