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Altheus Therapeutics announces completion of Zoenasa phase I trial for ulcerative colitis

Altheus Therapeutics, announced that it has completed a two dose, double-blind, active-controlled Phase I clinical trial of the safety and tolerability of Zoenasa Rectal Suspension in adult patients with left-sided, or distal, ulcerative colitis.

6 Jan 2011

Choosing between EGFR therapeutic options in metastatic colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in men and women in the USA, with a new diagnosis made every 3.5 minutes and an associated death every 9 minutes.

6 Jan 2011

Study shows clinical benefits of iniparib in combination with standard chemotherapy for triple-negative breast cancer

A current New England Journal of Medicine study indicates that the use of the PARP inhibitor iniparib in combination with standard chemotherapy to treat metastatic triple-negative breast cancer offers a significant increase in clinical benefit, a measure of durable response or disease stabilization, as well as an increase in progression-free survival.

6 Jan 2011

Medical experts issue warning about common practice of tablet splitting

Medical experts have issued a warning about the common practice of tablet splitting, after a study found that nearly a third of the split fragments deviated from recommended dosages by 15 per cent or more.

6 Jan 2011

Opexa completes meetings with FDA regarding planned development program for Tovaxin

Opexa Therapeutics, Inc., a leading cell therapy company developing Tovaxin for multiple sclerosis, today announced the successful completion of two separate meetings with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding the Company's planned development program for Tovaxin.

6 Jan 2011

FDA awards supplemental approval to support efficacy of ACTEMRA in treating RA

Genentech, Inc., a member of the Roche Group, today announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration has extended the ACTEMRA (tocilizumab, RoACTEMRA in the European Union) label to include inhibition and slowing of structural joint damage, improvement of physical function, and achievement of major clinical response in adult patients with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis, when given in combination with methotrexate.

6 Jan 2011

OpEds: Sebelius, Fla. Attorney General, USA Today, Wash Post opine about repeal strategies

Over the past nine months, I've traveled around the country and seen the benefits of this law firsthand. Unless we want to take coverage away from cancer patients, reduce oversight for insurance companies, raise prescription drug costs for seniors, weaken Medicare, add $1 trillion to the deficit and undo dozens of other reforms that are improving health around the country, we can't afford repeal (Kathleen Sebelius, 1/5).

6 Jan 2011

Bacteria adopt defence strategy to promote antibiotic resistance

Genetic resistance to antibiotics is not the only trick bacteria use to resist eradication- they also have a second defence strategy known as persistence that can kick in.

6 Jan 2011

Scientists discover that skin cancer can spread to lungs through cell blocking activity

CANCER RESEARCH UK-funded scientists have discovered that skin cancer can spread to the lungs when a gene in an important cell communication pathway is blocked. The research is published in Cancer Cell.

6 Jan 2011

Odyssey Thera granted U.S. Patent for high-throughput screening of proteins

Odyssey Thera, Inc. announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted U.S. Patent No. 7,855,167. The invention describes technologies and high-throughput methods for identifying bimolecular interactions in vivo based on protein-fragment complementation assays.

6 Jan 2011

FDA grants marketing clearance to Crospon's EndoFLIP product

Crospon, an Irish medical device developer based in Galway, has announced that the Company has received clearance from the US Food and Drugs Administration to market a new imaging catheter for the measurement of sleeves created during bariatric surgery.

6 Jan 2011

University of Michigan lab takes top honours in worldwide protein prediction competition

The University of Michigan Health System took top honors in the Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction, a biennial scientific competition to test protein structure and function prediction methods developed by laboratories all over the world.

5 Jan 2011

Bright light therapy for the aged depressed: Study

A new study shows that exposure to bright light may ease symptoms of depression in elderly people. The researchers tried three weeks of bright light therapy using specially designed light boxes and saw that it improved symptoms of depression by as much as 54% in older adults with depression. The light therapy also improved sleep and optimized levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin. Low levels of serotonin are associated with depression and often targeted by antidepressant drugs. This is the first study of its kind to show a beneficial effect of bright light therapy on treating depression in the elderly with non-seasonal major depressive disorder.

5 Jan 2011

Tablet splitting leads to inaccurate dosages

5 Jan 2011

Unique vaccine produces long-lasting anti-cocaine immunity in mice

Researchers from The Scripps Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College, and Cornell University have produced a long-lasting anti-cocaine immunity in mice by giving them a unique vaccine that combines bits of the common cold virus with a particle that mimics cocaine.

5 Jan 2011

Betulin in birch bark appears to provide metabolic benefits

An ingredient found in abundance in birch bark appears to have an array of metabolic benefits, according to new studies in animals that are reported in the January issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication.

5 Jan 2011

Safe vaccine protects mice against effects of cocaine

Researchers have produced a lasting anti-cocaine immunity in mice by giving them a safe vaccine that combines bits of the common cold virus with a particle that mimics cocaine.

5 Jan 2011

Indian government rejects Abbott's patent application for second-line ARV

India's patent office "has rejected American drug maker Abbott Laboratories' patent application for an HIV combination drug, allowing low-cost local drug makers to make and sell their generic versions in India and other countries where the medicine is not patented," Economic Times reports (1/4).

5 Jan 2011

Researchers create model that predicts drug effects on fetal development

When pregnant women need medications, there is often concern about possible effects on the fetus. Although some drugs are clearly recognized to cause birth defects, and others are generally recognized as safe, surprisingly little is known about most drugs' level of risk. Researchers in the Children's Hospital Boston Informatics Program have created a preclinical model for predicting a drug's teratogenicity based on characterizing the genes that it targets.

5 Jan 2011

Removal of ZIP proteins from hippocampus cell protects them from injury

Researchers in the Blue Bird Circle Developmental Neurogenetics Laboratory in the department of neurology at Baylor College of Medicine have discovered that zinc enters cells through specialized protein gates known as ZIP transporters, and removing these ZIP proteins from cells in the hippocampus significantly protects them from injury.

5 Jan 2011