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New rules providing parity for consumers enrolled in group health plans for treatment of mental disorders issued

The U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Treasury today jointly issued new rules providing parity for consumers enrolled in group health plans who need treatment for mental health or substance use disorders.

30 Jan 2010

Lanzoprazole and astemizole hold promise for early detection of AD

Investigators from the International Center for Biomedicine and the University of Chile, in collaboration with the Center for Bioinformatics of the Universidad de Talca, have discovered that two drugs, the benzimidazole derivatives lanzoprazole and astemizole, may be suitable for use as PET (positron emission tomography) radiotracers and enable imaging for the early detection of Alzheimer's Disease. The study is published in the current issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

30 Jan 2010

USP develops revised quality guidelines for pharmacists who prepare life-saving drugs

To further protect the safety of patients taking individually prepared medications, the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) has developed new and revised quality guidelines for pharmacists who compound-or individually prepare-these life-saving drugs.

30 Jan 2010

FDA approved 53 new oncology and hematology drugs between 2005 and 2007

Over a two and half year period, beginning in 2005 when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's oncology drug product's office began reviewing marketing applications, a total of 60 new oncology and hematology drugs were reviewed, of which 53 were approved, according to a new article published online January 29 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

30 Jan 2010

New vaccine effective in preventing TB in HIV patients

Investigators from Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) have reported results of a clinical trial showing that a new vaccine against tuberculosis, Mycobacterium vaccae (MV), is effective in preventing tuberculosis in people with HIV infection.

30 Jan 2010

Muscle-sparing treatments could improve patient outcomes and reduce costs

A University of Kentucky researcher is investigating respiratory weakness as a factor in the morbidity of intensive-care patients and will soon be testing new treatments that could improve long-term patient outcomes while reducing costs of care.

30 Jan 2010

Cardiologist provides heart-healthy tips for women

Heart disease is the single leading cause of death for American women. Nearly twice as many women in the United States die of heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases than from all forms of cancer, including breast cancer.

30 Jan 2010

New biomarker may predict treatment outcomes in RA patients

Investigators have identified a biomarker that could help doctors select patients with rheumatoid arthritis who will benefit from therapy with drugs such as Enbrel, a tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-antagonist drug.

30 Jan 2010

Prime Therapeutics receives full accreditation from URAC Accreditation Committee for PrimeMail

Prime Therapeutics LLC (Prime), a thought leader in pharmacy benefit management, announced today that it has received full accreditation from the URAC Accreditation Committee for its mail-service pharmacy, PrimeMail®.

30 Jan 2010

FDA approves new drug combination for hormone positive and HER2-positive advanced breast cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Tykerb (lapatinib) in combination with Femara (letrozole) to treat hormone positive and HER2-positive advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women for whom hormonal therapy is indicated.

30 Jan 2010

Government cracks down on drug marketing

Recent crackdown on pharmaceutical companies suggests that drug marketing remains an issue with federal authorities. The Wall Street Journal reports: "Novartis AG's agreement to settle criminal allegations involving marketing of an epilepsy drug is the latest in a string of cases showing that improper marketing practices are still a problem years after the U.S. government started cracking down on them.

30 Jan 2010

$Perifosine holds promise as a single agent for relapsed/refractory Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia$

Perifosine holds promise as a single agent for relapsed/refractory Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia

Æterna Zentaris Inc., a late-stage drug development company specialized in oncology and endocrinology, today announced that an article entitled "Clinical and Translational Studies of a Phase II Trial of the Novel Oral Akt Inhibitor Perifosine in Relapsed or Relapsed/Refractory Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia," reporting Phase 2 data demonstrating the single agent activity of perifosine (KRX-0401) for the treatment of advanced Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia ("Waldenstrom's"), will appear in the February 1, 2010 issue of the Journal of Clinical Cancer Research.

30 Jan 2010

Diffusion Pharmaceuticals closes on $5.9M in additional private financing

Diffusion Pharmaceuticals LLC, a clinical-stage drug-development company commercializing first-in-class drugs to treat serious or life-threatening unmet medical conditions, today announced that it closed on $5.9 million in additional private financing during the second half of 2009, bringing the total the company raised in 2009 to $7.1 million.

29 Jan 2010

Positive Phase 2 trial results of Keryx Biopharmaceuticals' KRX-0401 announced

Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (the "Company") today announced that an article entitled "Clinical and Translational Studies of a Phase II Trial of the Novel Oral Akt Inhibitor Perifosine in Relapsed or Relapsed/Refractory Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia," reporting Phase 2 data demonstrating the single agent activity of KRX-0401 (Perifosine) for the treatment of advanced Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia ("Waldenstrom's"), will appear in the February 1, 2010 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

29 Jan 2010

GlaxoSmithKline's Lamictal XR Extended-Release Tablets receive FDA approval

laxoSmithKline announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Lamictal®XR™ (lamotrigine) Extended-Release Tablets as once-a-day, add-on therapy for epilepsy in patients ages 13 years and older with primary generalized tonic-clonic seizures.

29 Jan 2010

ECCO supports its member organisations' proposals for adapting the EU Clinical Trials Directive

In response to a European Commission consultation on the EU Clinical Trials Directive, ECCO - the European CanCer Organisation - has supported proposals by its member organisations for adapting the Directive's requirements to reflect practical necessities in cancer research and treatment.

29 Jan 2010

BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award granted to Robert J. Lefkowitz

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Biomedicine category goes in this second edition to Prof. Robert J. Lefkowitz (1943, New York, United States), investigator in the Department of Medicine at Duke University (United States).

29 Jan 2010

Global market for oncology drugs is forecast to reach $80 billion by 2050

New Medicine's Oncology KnowledgeBASE (nm/OK) residing at http://nmok.net became available on the Internet 10 years ago and, since then, the oncology field has evolved into one of the most challenging, complex and promising drug development sectors, both in terms of its potential contribution to medicine and to its market opportunities.

29 Jan 2010

Blood flowing with force protects against dangerous clogs in blood vessels

It is second nature for most of us that exercise protects against heart attack and stroke, but researchers have spent 30 years unraveling the biochemistry behind the idea. One answer first offered by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center is that athletic hearts push blood through arteries with greater force, which alone triggers reactions that protect against dangerous clogs in blood vessels.

29 Jan 2010

Discovery may help in designing drugs for sun-damaged skin

Researchers at Ohio State University have found a new way to study how enzymes move as they repair DNA sun damage -- and that discovery could one day lead to new therapies for healing sunburned skin.

29 Jan 2010