Efficacy News and Research

RSS

New skin fillers and laser technologies can correct signs of aging

As we age, our skin undergoes a number of changes affecting its texture, volume and appearance. Fortunately, dermatologists can use fillers or lasers to correct the most notable signs of aging and can recommend skin care products with added ingredients that can further repair damaged skin.

8 Feb 2012

Forum for Collaborative HIV Research suggests new approach for conducting Phase 3 HIV clinical trials

As the war on HIV/AIDS begins its fourth decade, medical researchers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, patient advocates and government regulators face a new and unexpected scientific challenge: how to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of promising new antiretroviral drugs when the two traditional study designs – the superiority trial and the non-inferiority trial – are no longer useful in showing improvements in both "treatment experienced" patients and those who have never received drug therapy (treatment-naive patients).

7 Feb 2012

Merck completes two suvorexant Phase III trials on insomnia

Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today provided an update on the development program for suvorexant, the company's investigational orexin receptor antagonist, which, if approved, will be a new mechanism for the treatment of insomnia.

7 Feb 2012

Five coping strategies can help people to overcome dental fear

Scientists at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have investigated the strategies used by people who suffer from dental fear to cope with dental treatment. Some of the most important factors in managing stress during a visit to the dentist include optimism on the part of the patient and an atmosphere of humour in the interaction with the dental staff.

7 Feb 2012

EpiCept seeks FDA Fast Track designation for AmiKet to treat CIPN

EpiCept Corporation today announced that it has filed for Fast Track designation for AmiKet(amitriptyline 4%, ketamine 2% cream) for the treatment for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

7 Feb 2012

GSK voluntarily pauses enrollment in GSK2251052 clinical trials for cUTI

Anacor Pharmaceuticals announced today that its partner GlaxoSmithKline has voluntarily paused enrollment in its current clinical trials of GSK2251052 due to a recently identified microbiological finding in a small number of patients in the Phase 2b trial of GSK '052 for the treatment of complicated urinary tract infections (cUTI).

6 Feb 2012

Positive clinical results from randomized trial of InspireMD's MGuard in STEMI patients

InspireMD, Inc., a medical device company focusing on the development and commercialization of its proprietary stent platform technology for use in patients with Acute Myocardial Infarctions, announced positive clinical results from an investigator-sponsored controlled randomized trial conducted in Chile.

6 Feb 2012

Russian neurosurgical institute acquires Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion system

Russia's first Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion system has found a home at the renowned N.N. Burdenko Neurosurgical Institute, just a five-minute car ride from Moscow's Red Square.

From Elekta 6 Feb 2012

New editorial offers clarity on confusing drug and alcohol addiction terminology

A new editorial released this week offers clarity and structure on confusing drug and alcohol addiction terminology for prescribers, users and regulators. "Through a glass darkly: can we improve clarity about mechanism and aims of medications in drug and alcohol treatments?" is published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, the official journal of the British Association for Psychopharmacology, published by SAGE.

4 Feb 2012

G-CSF's AX200 does not improve stroke-related disability

A new drug that showed promise in animal studies and an early clinical trial didn't improve disability among stroke patients, according to late-breaking research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2012.

4 Feb 2012

Positive updated results from Aeterna Zentaris' AEZS-108 Phase 1 trial on CRPC

Aeterna Zentaris Inc. today reported positive updated results for the Phase 1 portion of its ongoing Phase 1/2 study in castration- and taxane-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) with AEZS-108 (zoptarelin doxorubicin), the Company's targeted cytotoxic luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) analog.

4 Feb 2012

Study to evaluate vitaminD3, omega3 and home exercise in preventing age-related chronic diseases

In Europe, the number of seniors aged 70 and over will increase by 40% in the next 20 years, while those aged 80 and over will more than double. Health authorities and the medical community expect a corresponding increase in the number of people suffering costly and debilitating age-related chronic diseases such as osteoporosis, arthritis, heart and lung diseases and dementia.

3 Feb 2012

Pertuzumab plus trastuzumab and docetaxel has advantages over current clinical gold-standard treatment

Roche/Genentech/Chugai's pertuzumab plus trastuzumab (Roche/Genentech/Chugai's Herceptin) and docetaxel (Sanofi's Taxotere, generics) will become Decision Resources' proprietary clinical gold-standard treatment for metastatic first-line HER2-positive breast cancer in 2015.

3 Feb 2012

Merck Serono enters development agreement with Threshold for hypoxia-targeted drug

Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, today announced that a global agreement was signed with Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc., South San Francisco, to co-develop and commercialize TH-302, Threshold's small molecule hypoxia-targeted drug.

3 Feb 2012

AHF calls for top to bottom shake-up of management at FDA

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today called for a top to bottom shake-up of the management at the Food and Drug Administration as well as a Congressional investigation following the publication of a Washington Post news article (1/31/12) that reported, "…the Food and Drug Administration secretly monitored the personal e-mail of a group of its own scientists and doctors after they warned Congress that the agency was approving medical devices that they believed posed unacceptable risks to patients."

3 Feb 2012

Interim results from Spectranetics laser atherectomy catheter study on ISR

Spectranetics Corporation today announced six month interim results from the PATENT (Photo-Ablation using the TURBO-Booster and Excimer Laser for In-Stent Restenosis Treatment) study evaluating the safety and efficacy of the Spectranetics peripheral laser atherectomy catheters for the treatment of in-stent restenosis (ISR) in the femoropopliteal artery in the leg.

3 Feb 2012

Merck receives FDA approval for JANUMET XR to treat type 2 diabetes

Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved JANUMET XR (sitagliptin and metformin hydrochloride extended-release) tablets, a new treatment for type 2 diabetes that combines sitagliptin, which is the active component of JANUVIA (sitagliptin), with extended-release metformin.

3 Feb 2012

New England Journal of Medicine publishes Diamyd Medical's antigen-based diabetes therapy study

An article with the results of Diamyd Medical's European Phase III study of the antigen-based diabetes therapy Diamyd® has been published in the scientific journal the New England Journal of Medicine. The now published results were previously presented at the American Diabetes Association's 71st Scientific Sessions in San Diego, California, USA, on June 28, 2011.

3 Feb 2012

Skin cells converted to brain cells without intermediate stem cell stage

Researchers from California have successfully converted mouse skin cells into cells which develop into the main components of the brain. The experiment, reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is notable because it skipped the middle “stem cell” stage in the process.

2 Feb 2012

ImmunoCellular receives U.S. patent allowance for cancer stem cell treatment

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd., a biotechnology company focused on the development of novel immune-based cancer therapies, announced the allowance of U.S. patent claims related to the Company's method of treating glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) in a patient by targeting cancer stem cells.

2 Feb 2012