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HIV/AIDS drugs shortage with rise in cases: An update

According to Australia's Ambassador on HIV/AIDS, Murray Proctor, Asia is falling short on HIV/AIDS treatment as almost 400,000 new cases are reported each year. He was attending a regional conference on universal access to treatment for AIDS where he said availability and price of vital anti-retroviral or anti- HIV medications remain a challenge for the region.

31 Mar 2011

Study provides insight into kidney cancer

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered genetic pathways to starve selectively kidney cancer cells.

31 Mar 2011

New clinical practice guidelines developed for juvenile idiopathic arthritis

The American College of Rheumatology has developed new guidelines for starting and monitoring treatments for children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis. These are the first JIA guidelines endorsed by the ACR, with the goal of broad acceptance within the rheumatology community.

30 Mar 2011

Gilead and Yale enter multi-year cancer research collaboration

Gilead Sciences, Inc. and Yale School of Medicine today announced the formation of a multi-year research collaboration focused on the discovery of novel cancer therapies. The research effort will initially span four years with an option to renew for up to ten years.

30 Mar 2011

XTRAC laser therapy can offer relief to patients with severe psoriasis

PhotoMedex, Inc. announced today the implications of the preliminary findings of a current clinical trial being performed by John Y.M. Koo, M.D., professor and vice chairman, department of dermatology, University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Koo's experimental treatment protocol could change the lives of millions of people suffering from moderate to severe psoriasis.

30 Mar 2011

DSP, Intercept enter license agreement for OCA

Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co, Ltd. and Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that they have entered into an exclusive licensing agreement for the development and commercialization of Intercept's first-in-class FXR agonist obeticholic acid.

30 Mar 2011

Unilife initiates Unifill syringe production for pharmaceutical companies

Unilife Corporation today announced it has commenced initial production of the Unifill ready-to-fill syringe at its FDA-registered manufacturing facility in York, Pennsylvania.

30 Mar 2011

Merck submits Erbitux indication extension to EMA for NSCLC treatment

Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, announced today that it has submitted an indication extension to the European Medicines Agency for the approval of Erbitux in combination with standard 1st line platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer with high epidermal growth factor receptor expression.

30 Mar 2011

Multiple drugs bonded to 'transport vehicle' bypass healthy cells to attack breast cancer from inside

Researchers at Cedars-Sinai's Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute have employed a strategy using a mouse model to target important mechanisms inside the most challenging breast cancer cells. Earlier studies at Cedars-Sinai found a similar approach effective in attacking malignant brain tumor targets.

30 Mar 2011

Prostatic artery embolization comparable to transurethral resection

A new interventional radiology treatment that blocks blood supply to men's enlarged prostate glands shows comparable clinical results to transurethral resection of the prostate (or TURP), considered the gold standard (or most common) treatment. However, this minimally invasive treatment-prostatic artery embolization-has none of the risks associated with TURP, such as sexual dysfunction, urinary incontinence, blood loss and retrograde ejaculation, noted researchers at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 36th Annual Scientific Meeting in Chicago.

30 Mar 2011

Patients with dystonia can benefit from deep brain stimulation therapy

Patients suffering from dystonia, an uncommon yet potentially crippling movement disorder, get better results if they begin deep brain stimulation therapy sooner rather than later, according to an international study published in the March issue of the Journal of Neurology.

30 Mar 2011

Maternal childhood maltreatment can affect offspring's health

Mothers who were maltreated as children have increased risk for giving birth to low birth weight babies. The findings, by researchers at the University of Washington, are the first to show that maternal maltreatment can affect the health of offspring.

30 Mar 2011

Drugs' cost deters patients from taking heart medicine

For more than 5 million Americans with heart failure, a critical step to better health is taking the medications they're prescribed. But many patients fail to do so, putting themselves at greater risk of hospitalization and even death. To date, studies have not fully answered why patients fall short when it comes to taking heart medicine. In a study appearing in the April issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Mayo Clinic researchers found the drugs' cost is one of the biggest deterrents.

30 Mar 2011

Smoking withdrawal after liver transplantation may protect against neoplasia development

Spanish researchers have found that liver transplant recipients who quit smoking have a lower incidence of smoking-related malignancies than patients who keep smoking.

30 Mar 2011

Non-generic drugs increase Medicaid costs

A new study by the American Enterprise Institute found that using brand-name drugs instead of generics may have added as much as $329 million in extra spending in 2009.

30 Mar 2011

Intercept initiates OCA FLINT trial in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis

Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc., has been informed by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health that patient enrollment has started in a new clinical trial in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, which will evaluate Intercept's first-in-class farnesoid X receptor agonist obeticholic acid as a novel therapy for NASH.

30 Mar 2011

Roundup: Ariz. may restore transplant coverage; Fla. faces class action suit over disabled waiting list

Kentucky health officials are considering restrictions on the number of cancer-fighting drugs Medicaid patients may receive without prior approval, a move designed to contain costs in the health care program for the poor and disabled. The possibility of creating a non-preferred list of oral oncology drugs — pills that replace intravenous chemotherapy drugs — that Medicaid won't pay for without prior approval has raised questions from patient advocates and those who treat cancer patients.

30 Mar 2011

Study: Y-90 radioembolization is a safe treatment for patients with liver cancer

Interventional radiologists have been the leaders in the use of intra-arterial yttrium-90 radioembolization, since its introduction in 2000, to treat liver cancer.

29 Mar 2011

Smoking cessation after liver transplantation reduces incidence of malignancy

Spanish researchers have found that liver transplant recipients who quit smoking have a lower incidence of smoking-related malignancies (SRM) than patients who keep smoking. In fact, SRMs were identified in 13.5% of deceased patients and smoking was associated with a higher risk of malignancy in this study. Full findings are published in the April issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

29 Mar 2011