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FDA mandates approval for all pancreatic enzyme replacements

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has announced its support of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) requirement that manufacturers of pancreatic enzyme replacements obtain FDA approval for their products within the next four years.

27 Apr 2004

A ten year study shows that surgery is not only effective, but the preferred treatment for select epilepsy patients

A study of ten years of patient outcomes shows that surgery is not only effective, but the preferred treatment for select epilepsy patients. In the most comprehensive study of long-term surgery success rates, Mayo Clinic physicians report that 73 percent of 491 Mayo Clinic patients were either seizure-free or experienced seizures only when medication was discontinued.

27 Apr 2004

UK scientists have discovered cancer cells life and death scenario following anti-cancer treatment

CANCER Research UK scientists have discovered how some cancer cells choose to live and others die following anti-cancer treatment, unveiling their findings in the prestigious journal PNAS today.

26 Apr 2004

Experimental immune-boosting drug interleukin-2 helps HIV Patients

National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists report that brief, widely-spaced courses of the experimental immune-boosting drug interleukin-2 (IL-2) allow people with HIV to maintain near normal levels of a key immune system cell for long periods.

26 Apr 2004

Anti-counterfeiting coalition supports Giuliani to protect public from fake drugs

The Partnership for Safe Medicines, a nonprofit coalition of more than 40 healthcare and anti-counterfeiting groups, today expressed support for Mayor Giuliani and the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) to educate Americans about the dangers of buying medicines from unknown, foreign sources and to tighten the rules for the distribution and sale of prescription drugs in the United States.

26 Apr 2004

FDA fast tracks human African sleeping sickness (Trypanosomiasis) drug

Immtech International, Inc. has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Immtech's first oral drug, DB289, fast track drug development designation for use to treat human African sleeping sickness (Trypanosomiasis).

26 Apr 2004

Research yields new epilepsy guidelines

In conjunction with the AMA, the American Academy of Neurology and the American Epilepsy Society on April 26 jointly announced new guidelines for treating epilepsy. The number of anti-epileptic drugs has more than doubled in the last decade.

26 Apr 2004

NICE issues guidance on use of newer drugs for epilepsy in adults

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has today issued guidance to the NHS in England and Wales on the use of newer drugs for the treatment of epilepsy in adults.

26 Apr 2004

Oxford researchers find possible new type of antibiotic

Dr Ben Davis in the Department of Chemistry at Oxford University, England and his collaborators have discovered a possible new route to antibiotics.

26 Apr 2004

Public Health Advisory for medical professionals with patients on anti-depression medication

On Monday, March 22, 2004 the Food and Drug Administration issued a Public Health Advisory for medical professionals to monitor for signs of suicidal ideation in individuals who have recently started taking anti-depression medication or have had a recent change in dosage, especially for children who are taking these medications. Antidepressant medications involved in this warning include: Prozac (Fluoxetine), Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox, Celexa, Lexapro, Wellbutrin, Effexor,, Serzone, and Remeron.

25 Apr 2004

Health Canada funds HIV/AIDS project for Aboriginal communities in Montreal

Health Minister Pierre Pettigrew announced today that Health Canada will contribute $105,000 to the Native Friendship Centre of Montreal for an HIV/AIDS community development program.

25 Apr 2004

7,000 U.S. hospital patients die each year and more than 750,000 are injured as a result of avoidable medication mistakes

Some 7,000 U.S. hospital patients die each year and more than 750,000 are injured as a result of medication mistakes. These errors have many causes, and many potential solutions, according to a Rutgers-Camden nursing scholar who has studied the topic extensively.

23 Apr 2004

Helping doctors to prescribe the right medication

With so many new drugs on the market to treat arthritis and related disorders, how do doctors know which ones to use?

23 Apr 2004

Canadian doctors oblivious to costs of prescribed drugs

For the most part, family physicians in British Columbia aren't even close when they guess the costs of the treatments and tests they prescribe for their patients, according to a new study published in the journal Canadian Family Physician.

23 Apr 2004

CellCept linked to reduced cancer incidence

A study presented today at an international transplant meeting showed that heart transplant patients treated with the immunosuppressant CellCeptÒ (mycophenolate mofetil) in standard immunosuppressive regimens had a significantly lower risk of developing cancer compared to those receiving non-CellCept-based treatment regimens.

23 Apr 2004

Nitric oxide, a chemical messenger involved in bodily functions shuts down a protein involved in Parkinson's disease

Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered that nitric oxide, a chemical messenger involved in bodily functions from erection to nerves' communication, also shuts down a protein involved in Parkinson's disease.

23 Apr 2004

GSK and WHO collaborate to fight malaria

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the World Health Organisation's Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (WHO-TDR) and the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) today announced the signing of a collaborative agreement, to develop a new-fixed dose artemisinin combination therapy drug (ACT), combining chlorproguanil, dapsone and artesunate (CDA) for the treatment of malaria.

23 Apr 2004

New steps to prevent drug card fraud

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mark B. McClellan, M.D., Ph.D. today announced efforts that CMS is undertaking to strengthen oversight of the Medicare-approved Discount Drug Card Program.

23 Apr 2004

Prominent ASTRO member appointed to APC panel

The American Society for Therapeutic Radiology would like to congratulate Louis Potters, M.D., a prominent radiation oncologist and a devoted ASTRO member, on his recent appointment to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Advisory Panel on Ambulatory Payment Classification Groups, also known as the APC Panel.

23 Apr 2004

Potential new drug may slow the progression of the Parkinson's disease

An international team of Parkinson's disease researchers has shown that a potential new drug is effective at treating patients in the early stages of Parkinson's and may even slow the progression of the disease. The results from the Parkinson Study Group are in the April 19 issue of the Archives of Neurology.

22 Apr 2004