Autoimmune Disease News and Research

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Autoimmune Disease is a condition in which the body recognizes its own tissues as foreign and directs an immune response against them.

Genentech and Biogen Idec announce positive results from ocrelizumab phase II RRMS study

Genentech, Inc., a member of the Roche Group, and Biogen Idec today announced 24-week results from a phase II study of ocrelizumab in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), the most common form of the disease. Ocrelizumab demonstrated a significant reduction in disease activity as measured by brain lesions and relapse rate.

15 Oct 2010

Genzyme reports five-year patient data from Phase 2 multiple sclerosis trial

Genzyme Corporation today reported five-year patient data from its completed Phase 2 multiple sclerosis (MS) trial. This sub-group analysis found that nearly 90 percent of alemtuzumab-treated patients were free of sustained accumulation of disability, and that patients receiving alemtuzumab also maintained improved mean disability scores and a low risk of relapse over the 60-month follow-up period.

15 Oct 2010

Bayhill to present BHT-3009 Phase 2 clinical trial data at European Committee Congress

Bayhill Therapeutics Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company leveraging its proprietary BHT-DNA platform to develop targeted autoimmune disease treatments, today announced that it will present at the 26th Congress of the European Committee for the Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis and 15th Annual Conference of Rehabilitation in MS in Gothenburg, Sweden, data from its concluded Phase 2 clinical trial showing that baseline blood plasma anti-MBP (myelin basic protein) profiles identify responders to BHT-3009 treatment.

14 Oct 2010

LFA announces award of new grants for lupus research

The Lupus Foundation of America, Inc. (LFA) today announced the awarding of six new research grants to address gaps in the science and understanding of key areas of lupus research, including pediatric lupus, reproductive health issues in people with lupus, lupus nephritis (kidney involvement), and neuropsychiatric lupus, which affects the brain and nervous system.

14 Oct 2010

Four British Columbia students awarded 2010 UCBeyond Scholarship

For four students from British Columbia, their stories of perseverance in pursuing their hopes and dreams despite their illnesses is why they have been awarded $5,000 CAN each as the 2010 recipients of the UCBeyond Scholarship.

13 Oct 2010

New York Stem Cell Foundation names first six NYSCF Investigators

In an expansion of its ongoing effort to promote the next generation of stem cell scientists, The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) today named the first six NYSCF Investigators. Each of the NYSCF-Robertson and NYSCF-Helmsley Investigators will receive up to $1.5 million over the next five years to expand their own laboratories, train other scientists and foster innovative high-risk/high reward research to explore the therapeutic potential of stem cells derived from humans and model organisms.

13 Oct 2010

Millennium, Seattle Genetics announce positive top-line results of SGN-35 phase II clinical trial

Seattle Genetics, Inc. and Millennium The Takeda Oncology Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, today announced positive top-line results from a phase II clinical trial of single-agent brentuximab vedotin (SGN-35), an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeted to CD30. The trial was conducted in 58 relapsed or refractory systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) patients.

11 Oct 2010

Seattle Genetics reports SGN-75 phase I clinical trial data

Seattle Genetics, Inc. today reported data from a phase I clinical trial of SGN-75 in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma or renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Preliminary results demonstrate tolerability and antitumor activity, including two objective responses in the first 16 patients treated. Dose-escalation is continuing.

11 Oct 2010

UT Southwestern initiates study on hormone leptin for people with type 1 diabetes

A clinical trial at UT Southwestern Medical Center aims to determine whether adding the hormone leptin to standard insulin therapy might help rein in the tumultuous blood-sugar levels of people with type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes.

11 Oct 2010

Myrexis to present MPI-0485520 preclinical data at Annual Scientific Meeting

Myrexis, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing novel treatments for cancer, today announced it will present a poster at the 74th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Rheumatology/Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals (ACR/ARHP), to be held November 7-11, 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia.

7 Oct 2010

Researchers find exposure to air pollution increases severity of asthma symptoms

Exposure to dirty air is linked to decreased function of a gene that appears to increase the severity of asthma in children, according to a joint study by researchers at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.

6 Oct 2010

Research on T cell may lead to new treatment options for type 1 diabetes

A research team from the University of British Columbia and the Child & Family Research Institute (CFRI) at BC Children's Hospital has identified the role of a type of T cell in type 1 diabetes that may lead to new treatment options for young patients.

5 Oct 2010

Seattle Genetics to present SGN-75 phase I data at ESMO Congress

Seattle Genetics, Inc. today announced that preliminary data from a phase I study of SGN-75 in relapsed and refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma and metastatic renal cell carcinoma will be presented during a poster session at the 35th European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress being held October 8-12, 2010 in Milan, Italy.

5 Oct 2010

Researchers identify new type of cell that protects from immune system attack

Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston have identified a new type of cell in mice that dampens the immune system and protects the animal's own cells from immune system attack.

5 Oct 2010

Merck's boceprevir Phase III studies for HCV to be presented at 61st AASLD

Merck today announced that final results from two pivotal Phase III studies of boceprevir, its investigational oral hepatitis C protease inhibitor, will be presented in oral plenary sessions at the 61st Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), which is taking place from Oct. 29 through Nov. 2 in Boston. Results for boceprevir in response-guided therapy strategies, which evaluated treatment durations shorter than current standard therapy, will be presented during the meeting.

4 Oct 2010

Scientists find new replicating mechanism of Salmonella bacteria

New findings by National Institutes of Health scientists could explain how Salmonella bacteria, a common cause of food poisoning, efficiently spread in people. In a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers describe finding a reservoir of rapidly replicating Salmonella inside epithelial cells. These bacteria are primed to infect other cells and are pushed from the epithelial layer by a new mechanism that frees the Salmonella to infect other cells or be shed into the intestine.

3 Oct 2010

Isotechnika announces CONFIRM1 clinical trial results at TCT 2010 Symposium

Isotechnika Pharma Inc. announces that the results of the CONFIRM1 clinical trial conducted by its medical device partner, Atrium Medical Corporation, were presented by Glenn Van Langenhove, MD, PhD (Middelheim Hospital in Antwerp, Belgium), the principal investigator, at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) 2010 Scientific Symposium in Washington, DC last week.

3 Oct 2010

Further trials needed to determine clinical application of Abatacept in SLE

Results from a 12-month multi-center clinical trial did not show therapeutic benefit of abatacept over placebo in patients with non-life threatening systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Abatacept failed to prevent new disease flares in SLE patients tapered from corticosteroids in an analysis where mild, moderate and severe disease flares were evaluated together. Full details of the phase IIb clinical trial are published in the October issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR).

29 Sep 2010

Celiac disease on the rise in adults: Study

According to a new study published Monday in the Annals of Medicine, cases of intestinal disorder known as Celiac disease are on the rise with many adults developing the disease.

28 Sep 2010

Chelsea Therapeutics initiates CH-4051 Phase II trial in rheumatoid arthritis patients

Chelsea Therapeutics International, Ltd. has initiated enrollment in a multinational, 12-week, double-blind Phase II trial designed to compare the efficacy and tolerability of CH-4051 against methotrexate (MTX) in 250 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who are experiencing an inadequate response to MTX treatment.

27 Sep 2010