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Health Canada approves Meridian Bioscience's illumigene C. difficile molecular amplification assay

Meridian Bioscience, Inc., today announced that it has received an approved medical device license from Health Canada for its new molecular amplification assay, illumigene C. difficile. Clostridium difficile is a bacterium that can cause diarrhea and, in severe cases, a life-threatening inflammation of the colon.

1 Oct 2010

AJMS journal provides research update on new infectious pathogens

Newly recognized disease-causing viruses, bacteria, and other infections are continually emerging around the world, posing difficult challenges for patient diagnosis and treatment and for public health responses. A special symposium section of the September issue of The American Journal of the Medical Sciences (AJMS), official journal of the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation, provides a research update on important new infectious pathogens.

24 Sep 2010

Doctors misuse antibiotics to treat patients with respiratory tract infections: Study

Doctors frequently misuse antibiotics when treating patients hospitalized with respiratory tract infections (RTIs), according to a study to be published in the November issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.

23 Sep 2010

Optimer submits fidaxomicin rolling NDA for treatment of Clostridium difficile infection

Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that it has submitted the first section of a rolling New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for fidaxomicin to treat patients with Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) and to prevent recurrences of CDI. Optimer anticipates completing the submission in the fourth quarter of 2010 and plans to request priority review, which, if granted, could lead to an FDA decision on the NDA in the second quarter of 2011.

21 Sep 2010

ViroPharma presents Phase 1 study data of VP20621 at ICAAC 2010

ViroPharma Incorporated today announced the presentation of data from its Phase 1 study of VP20621 (non-toxigenic Clostridium difficile), a novel treatment approach for preventing recurrent Clostridium difficile infections, a common and dangerous gastrointestinal infection typically occurring in older adults after use of antibiotic medications.

16 Sep 2010

Optimer Pharmaceuticals to present fidaxomicin Phase 3 clinical trial data at ICAAC Conference

Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced the presentation of new data from its North American and European fidaxomicin Phase 3 clinical trials in patients with Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) at the 50th Annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) in Boston.

15 Sep 2010

Progenics Pharmaceuticals presents findings of humanized monoclonal antibodies against C. difficile bacterium

Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today presented preclinical findings for its humanized monoclonal antibodies against the disease-causing toxins produced by the bacterium Clostridium difficile.

14 Sep 2010

Scientists find low levels of bacteria in fields sprayed with swine manure

That swine manure sprayed on to fields adds valuable nutrients to the soil is well known. But what is not known is whether all that manure is bringing harmful bacteria with it.

13 Sep 2010

Death and disability toll due to C. diff bacteria needs to be addressed

Almost 12,000 people died in alcohol-related vehicle crashes in 2008. About 15,000 Americans died of AIDS-related illness the same year. Both of these preventable causes of death have been the subject of massive, expensive and high-profile interventions by federal and state authorities. CRE encourages expenditures for these programs but the public health community should be even more concerned for greater society-wide risks.

10 Sep 2010

Mandatory disclosure makes hospitals work harder to prevent infections

Dr. Betsy McCaughey, Founder/ Chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths (RID) said that "the 2009 New York State Department of Health Hospital Acquired Infections Report (released 9/1/2010) shows that mandatory disclosure saves lives by making hospitals work harder to prevent infections. Statewide rates decreased for nearly every type of infection measured. None increased."

3 Sep 2010

U-M researchers explore prevention measures, treatments for C. difficile infection

Clostridium difficile, a wily, familiar bacterium, causes a growing number of serious infections in U.S. hospitals and nursing homes. With a $7.5 million, five-year award from the National Institutes of Health, University of Michigan researchers plan to discover what factors in the microbe and in patients make C. difficile a formidable, costly problem.

27 Aug 2010

Enteric microbiome affects disease susceptibility, provides therapeutic target for food-borne diseases: Research

At any given time, trillions of tiny microbes some helpful, some harmful are living on and in humans, forming communities and outnumbering the body's own cells tenfold. Using a $7.3 million federal grant that establishes a new cooperative research center at Michigan State University, a group of investigators is studying the microbes that live in our intestines, analyzing the role they play in food- and water-borne illnesses that kill millions of people each year worldwide.

20 Aug 2010

Calif. considers reduction in funding for home care aides; Ill. union workers strike over health issues at uranium conversion plant

California, facing a $19.1 billion budget gap, is considering a reduction in funding that pays for home care aides for the disabled. It already cut funds last year. … Last month, the nation celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act … Now, though, gains made under the ADA are running into recession-battered state budgets.

10 Aug 2010

Progenics second-quarter total revenue decreases to $2.3 million

Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced its results of operations for the second quarter and six months ended June 30, 2010.

9 Aug 2010

BioSpecifics Technologies second-quarter total revenues decrease to $0.9 million

BioSpecifics Technologies Corp., a biopharmaceutical company developing first in class collagenase-based products, today announced its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010. The Company's partner, Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. markets XIAFLEX (collagenase clostridium histolyticum), a novel, first-in-class, orphan-designated, biologic, for the treatment of adult Dupuytren's contracture patients with a palpable cord.

7 Aug 2010

Fidaxomicin, CDA1/CDB1 effective for treating CDI : Report

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that, in first- and second-line treatment of Clostridium difficile infection, nearly 70 percent of surveyed infectious disease specialists and internists will use Optimer's fidaxomicin and nearly half will use Medarex/Merck's CDA1 and CDB1, one year after the launch of these agents. The lower recurrent/relapse rate associated with fidaxomicin and CDA1/CDB1 is the most influential attribute surveyed clinicians cite in their decisions to prescribe these emerging agents for CDI.

6 Aug 2010

Optimer second-quarter net loss decreases to $10.4 million

Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010. Optimer reported a net loss for the second quarter of 2010 of $10.4 million, or $0.27 per share, which was in line with the Company's expectations. This compares to a net loss for the second quarter of 2009 of $12.4 million, or $0.37 per share. The decrease in net loss was primarily due to lower research and development expenses offset by an increase in general and administrative expenses.

5 Aug 2010

DIATHERIX Laboratories opens rapid response diagnostic panels for STD, HSV

DIATHERIX Laboratories ,adds a Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) panel and Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) panel to its line up of highly sensitive, rapid response diagnostic panels. The HSV panel identifies herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2 and the STD panel identifies 10 sexually transmitted diseases simultaneously, many of which cannot be accurately identified by current testing methods. These STD organisms, if not appropriately treated, can cause diseases such as syphilis, gonorrhoeae, chlamydia, bacterial vaginosis, etc. and may lead to blindness, infertility or complications during pregnancy.

28 Jul 2010

Cubist Pharmaceuticals total net revenues for second-quarter 2010 increase 29%

Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010.

16 Jul 2010

FDA clears Meridian Bioscience's new illumigene C. difficile molecular amplification assay

Meridian Bioscience, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio today announced that it has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its new molecular amplification assay, illumigene™ C. difficile. Clostridium difficile is a bacterium that can cause diarrhea and, in severe cases, a life-threatening inflammation of the colon.

14 Jul 2010