Stroke News and Research

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A stroke is a medical emergency. Strokes happen when blood flow to your brain stops. Within minutes, brain cells begin to die. There are two kinds of stroke. The more common kind, called ischemic stroke, is caused by a blood clot that blocks or plugs a blood vessel in the brain. The other kind, called hemorrhagic stroke, is caused by a blood vessel that breaks and bleeds into the brain. "Mini-strokes" or transient ischemic attacks (TIAs), occur when the blood supply to the brain is briefly interrupted.

Minimally invasive mitral valve surgery is safe and effective

Surgical treatment for mitral valve disease includes either repairing the patient's diseased valve or replacing it with a metal, mechanical valve or an animal tissue valve. The majority of those procedures are open-heart operations that require a major incision in the chest. Now, after a six-year study, surgeons at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore conclude that minimally invasive mitral valve repair techniques, through only a two-inch incision in the right side of the chest, are safe, durable and effective. The results are published in the September 2009 Annals of Surgery.

29 Sep 2009

Transient ischemic attack can trigger stroke

One out of every eight strokes is preceded by a "warning stroke," which is a transient ischemic attack (TIA) or mild stroke, according to research published in the September 29, 2009, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

29 Sep 2009

Blood vessels in the retina may help predict risk of heart attack or stroke

For centuries eyes have been seen as windows to the soul. But medical researchers now believe the eyes may also offer vital clues to your risk of heart disease and stroke.

28 Sep 2009

Safety profiles of JANUVIA and JANUMET drugs established through clinical development program

Merck has thoroughly reviewed the safety data for sitagliptin, and sitagliptin was not associated with an increase in the incidence of pancreatitis in preclinical studies or in clinical trials of up to two years in duration with more than 6,000 patients.

28 Sep 2009

Laureate Pharma sign development and manufacturing agreement with ZZ Biotech

Laureate Pharma, Inc., a full-service biopharmaceutical development and protein production company, today announced that it has entered into a development and manufacturing agreement with ZZ Biotech, LLC. According to the agreement, Laureate will produce Activated Protein C variant under cGMP conditions. Terms of the manufacturing agreement were not disclosed.

28 Sep 2009

Study links diabetes to atrial fibrillation in women

Diabetes increases by 26 percent the likelihood that women will develop atrial fibrillation (AF), a potentially dangerous irregular heart rhythm that can lead to stroke, heart failure, and chronic fatigue. These are the findings of a new Kaiser Permanente study, published in the October issue of Diabetes Care, a journal of the American Diabetes Association.

28 Sep 2009

European CHMP recommends Merck's JANUVIA and JANUMET as add-on to insulin

Merck & Co., Inc., which operates in many countries as Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), has received a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency’s (EMEA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) for JANUVIA® tablets and JANUMET® tablets recommending their use as add-on to insulin for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

26 Sep 2009

European CHMP recommends marketing approval for Sanofi-aventis' Multaq

Sanofi-aventis announced today that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) has adopted a positive opinion recommending to grant a marketing authorization in the European Union for Multaq(R) (dronedarone - 400mg Tablets).

26 Sep 2009

Researchers discover potential treatment for Friedreich's ataxia

Using clever chemistry, a Scripps Research team has pinpointed the enzyme target of a drug group that stops the progression of the devastating disease Friedreich's ataxia in mice and may do the same for humans. The findings, developed in collaboration with scientists from Repligen Corporation, help advance this treatment approach one step closer toward human clinical trials, which will be a welcome event for disease sufferers who currently have few treatment options.

25 Sep 2009

HORIZONS-AMI clinical trial demonstrates efficacy of drug-eluting stent

Late-breaking data from the landmark HORIZONS-AMI clinical trial, presented at the 21st annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium, demonstrated that after two years, in heart attack patients, the use of a drug-eluting stent (paclitaxel) was safer and more effective than a bare-metal stent; and that the administration of the anticoagulant medication bivalirudin enhanced safety and efficacy compared to the use of heparin + GPIIb/IIIa inhibitors.

25 Sep 2009

Phase III PLATO study proves that ticagrelor is more effective than clopidogrel

New data from the phase III PLATO study showed that ticagrelor (BRILINTA((TM))) provided greater reduction of cardiovascular (CV) events (composite of CV death, heart attack and stroke) than clopidogrel (9.02% vs. 10.65%,>

25 Sep 2009

Cardiovascular disease: Major cause of death in Europe

Despite the decline of heart disease mortality registered in the past 30 years, cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the N.1 killer in Europe and in the World. In the EU, experts reveal that striking disparities still exist between countries not only in terms of CVD incidence, but also with regard to national prevention policies.

25 Sep 2009

$10 million grant to Weill Cornell Institute from NIMH to study geriatric depression

The Weill Cornell Institute of Geriatric Psychiatry at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division announced today it has received the largest grant in its 20-year history. One of a handful awarded nationally, the new $10 million, five-year "Center Grant" from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) will enable NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell investigators to advance their pioneering work in understanding the biological, medical, cognitive and psychosocial problems of depressed seniors.

25 Sep 2009

FDA provides a conditional approval for Reverse Medical Corporation's ReStore Microcatheter IDE study

Reverse Medical Corporation announced today that it has received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conditional approval to begin a neurothrombectomy IDE study for its ReStore™ Microcatheter at twenty US centers. The study is planned to begin enrollment in US and European hospitals following investigating study center Institutional Review Board (IRB) approvals.

25 Sep 2009

Health policy research roundup

In this brief, researchers analyze the cost burden associated with excess rates of diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, stroke and renal disease among Hispanics and African Americans relative to non-Hispanic whites. The study predicts that in 2009, "Medicare alone will spend an extra $15.6 billion while private insurers will incur $5.1 billion in additional costs due to elevated rates of chronic illness among African Americans and Hispanics."

25 Sep 2009

Tooth cell banking for the treatment of future diseases

Pioneered by BioEDEN, tooth cell banking is a safe, natural and wholly non-invasive method of collecting and preserving precious stem cells which could hold the key to children's health.

25 Sep 2009

Oxygen Biotherapeutics submits a patent application for its heart attack treatment device

Oxygen Biotherapeutics, Inc. today announced that the company has submitted a patent application for a new invention that uses Oxycyte(R) perfluorocarbon to deliver oxygen as a first aid treatment for victims of heart attacks and strokes. Oxycyte is the Company's perfluorocarbon (PFC) therapeutic oxygen carrier.

24 Sep 2009

District court of Frankfurt, Germany rules in favour of Occlutech

Occlutech GmbH, the leading European developer of products for septal closure, today announced that the district court of Frankfurt, Germany reversed an earlier court injunction obtained by AGA Medical against Occlutech's sales and marketing activities relating to the newly launched Figulla Flex ranges of ASD and PFO occluders.

24 Sep 2009

Polycom's scalable solutions for the healthcare industry

Polycom, Inc., the global leader in telepresence, video and voice communication solutions, is making it easier and more cost-effective for hospitals and other healthcare organizations to deploy and scale telehealth and telemedicine networks. Through an enhanced, highly scalable solution, Polycom allows healthcare organizations to easily and securely extend visual communication capabilities outside of their private networks to a broader group of partner hospitals, community clinics and physicians.

24 Sep 2009

Court rules in favor of Eli Lilly for Evista's method-of-use patents

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana today upheld Eli Lilly and Company's (NYSE: LLY) method-of-use patents on Evista(R) (raloxifene HCl tablets). In the case of Eli Lilly and Company v. Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd., the court ruled in favor of Lilly on all accounts for these method-of-use patents, including the patent doctrines of obviousness, enablement, and inequitable conduct.

24 Sep 2009