Clinical Testing News and Research

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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

Aida granted new anti-cancer patent

One of mainland China's leading pharmaceutical companies, has announced that it was granted an additional patent related to its Rh-Apo2L anti-cancer drug, the second of three patents that had been applied for which Aida believes places it at the vanguard of China's pharmaceutical industry.

12 Oct 2007

Biodel issued U.S. patent for VIAject and VIAtab

Biodel Inc. has announced the receipt of a notice of issuance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for the Company's patent encompassing VIAject(TM) and VIAtab(TM), Biodel's two product candidates in clinical trials.

27 Sep 2007

AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition voices disappointment in trial results for MRK-Ad5 AIDS vaccine candidate

The AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC) released the following statement from Executive Director Mitchell Warren about the announcement that vaccinations have been discontinued in the STEP Study, a test-of-concept trial of the MRK-Ad5 AIDS vaccine candidate developed by the Merck Research Laboratories.

23 Sep 2007

Helix BioPharma awarded U.S. patent for adjunct chemotherapy applications

Helix BioPharma Corp. has announced the issuance of its second DOS47 patent (U.S. Patent # 7,264,800) from the United States Patent & Trademark Office, describing a method and composition for combining targeted DOS47 therapeutics with weakly basic chemotherapeutic drugs in adjunct treatment applications.

18 Sep 2007

Quick microchip test for dangerous and drug resistant bacteria in clinical samples

Researchers at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Surrey have developed microchips capable of quickly and cheaply identifying dangerous and drug resistant bacteria in clinical samples, scientists announced (Wednesday 5 September 2007) at the Society for General Microbiology's 161st Meeting at the University of Edinburgh, UK, which runs from 3-6 September 2007.

5 Sep 2007

Novel HIV vaccine set for clinical development

A promising new HIV vaccine created at The Wistar Institute has received funding for clinical development aimed at moving the vaccine into human clinical trials as soon as possible.

3 Sep 2007

Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb finalize agreement on metabolic disorders program

Pfizer Inc. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company have announced that they have finalized a definitive agreement for the worldwide collaboration to research, develop and commercialize DGAT-1 inhibitors, a collaboration first announced on April 26, 2007.

28 Aug 2007