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Danger of resistance to malaria drug

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued new guidelines concerning the use of the malaria drug Artemisinin.

22 Jan 2006

Argentina and Brazil join forces to produce AIDS drugs

Argentina's Health Ministry has announced that in partnership with the Brazilian government they plan to produce their own anti-AIDS drugs in an effort to lower the cost of treatment.

19 Jan 2006

Tamiflu alone won't work in bird flu pandemic

In a review published this week a warning has been issued against the apparent reliance by most countries on the drug Tamiflu to combat a bird flu pandemic.

19 Jan 2006

French face transplant patient in fight to stop tissue rejection

At a medical conference in Tucson Arizona, the French surgeons responsible for carrying out the world's first face transplant have admitted they had to fight for several days against the first signs of rejection.

19 Jan 2006

Caretek Medical signs feasibility agreement with major pharma for protein based drug

Caretek Medical Ltd, an Oxford-based company developing an innovative needle-free drug delivery system, today announced that it has signed a feasibility study agreement with a major global pharmaceutical company.

19 Jan 2006

Genetics plays a role in drug-seeking behavior

Inbred strains of rats differ in how aggressively they seek cocaine after a few weeks of use, researchers say.

18 Jan 2006

More monitoring needed for patients taking diuretics

One in five patients taking diuretics commonly prescribed for high blood pressure or heart conditions end up with reduced sodium and potassium levels, according to a study published in the January issue of the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

18 Jan 2006

New findings about messenger molecule raise hopes for new drug

Uppsala University scientists have developed a new method for measuring the concentration of the messenger substance for cells, cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), in individual living cells.

18 Jan 2006

Link between cat faeces and schizophrenia

Researchers have found stronger evidence for a link between a parasite in cat faeces and undercooked meat and an increased risk of schizophrenia.

18 Jan 2006

Vioxx may still be the best option for treating some forms of arthritis

Scientists believe that despite the current concerns around anti-inflammatory drugs like Vioxx, they may still be the best option for treating some forms of arthritis.

18 Jan 2006

TCF21 gene shown to be a tumor suppressor

Researchers have identified a new and unusual tumor suppressor gene that may be important in cancers of the lung and head and neck. The study shows that restoring the inactivated gene can slow the growth of tumor cells.

18 Jan 2006

Mutated oncogene triggers aggressive breast cancer

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified a molecular interaction that triggers a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer, and suggest that attacking this target with selective drugs might improve treatment.

18 Jan 2006

Handheld Doppler ultrasound technology finds veins quickly

When medics are treating trauma patients, every second counts. Yet bruises, burns, and other physical conditions often make it difficult to locate veins and administer lifesaving drugs or solutions.

18 Jan 2006

Nanocontainers show drug delivery potential

Tiny chemical cages created by researchers at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, show potential for delivering drugs to organs or tissues where they're needed without causing harm elsewhere.

18 Jan 2006

Bugs in yoghurt may stop the spread of AIDS

Scientists have found that some of the 'friendly bacteria' found in yoghurt can be genetically modified to release a drug that blocks HIV infection.

18 Jan 2006

Experts demand more funds to stop the spread of bird flu

At a meeting in Beijing to whip up funds for the global fight against bird flu, the European Union has raised its contribution to the fund by $20 million taking their total commitment to $120 million, but other contributions appear to be thin on the ground.

18 Jan 2006

Preparing for bird flu

When a new strain of flu infects people, the infection can spread around the world quickly. This is what could potentially happen with some new human flu viruses that come from bird flu viruses.

18 Jan 2006

Bexarotene shows promise in cancer treatment.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis now report that a compound related to vitamin A shows promise in preventing or slowing tumor growth in mice prone to lung cancer. The compound, called bexarotene, doesn't cause the severe skin irritations that have limited the use of other vitamin A derivatives in cancer therapies.

18 Jan 2006

Genetic risk factor for West Nile virus infection identified

People who lack a cell surface protein called CCR5 are highly resistant to infection by HIV but may be at increased risk of developing West Nile virus (WNV) illness when exposed to the mosquito-borne virus, report researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

18 Jan 2006

Single gene may hold key to schizophrenia

By deleting a single gene in a small portion of the brains of mice, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center found that the animals were affected in a way resembling schizophrenia in humans.

18 Jan 2006