Liver Disease News and Research

RSS

The liver is one of the largest solid organs of the body. It is located in the upper right part of the abdomen. Most of the organ lies under cover of the rib cage.

Measures to reduce BMI could improve outcome for patients with cirrhosis

Researchers from the United States and Europe involved in an NIH-funded multicenter study have determined that increased body mass index (BMI) is an independent predictor of clinical decompensation in patients with compensated cirrhosis, independent of portal pressure and liver function.

22 Jul 2011

Galectin, University of Michigan enter collaboration to study role of Galectins in cardiovascular disease

Galectin Therapeutics Inc. today announced that it has entered into a research collaboration with Dr. Jose Jalife of the University of Michigan Medical School to better understand the relationship of Galectin-3 to cardiac fibrosis in chronic cardiac arrhythmias.

21 Jul 2011

Roche, Merck sign new non-exclusive agreement for HCV triple combination therapy

Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, announced today that it has signed a new non-exclusive agreement with Roche, through the companies' respective subsidiaries, for the global promotion, upon appropriate marketing approvals, of VICTRELIS (boceprevir) as part of a triple combination therapy regimen with peginterferon alfa and ribavirin.

21 Jul 2011

Millennium submits VELCADE sNDA to FDA to add OS data for previously untreated multiple myeloma

Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company with its parent company Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited today announced the submission of a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for VELCADE® (bortezomib) for injection to add overall survival data after a five-year follow up to the product label.

20 Jul 2011

Obesity in kids reaches extreme levels

According to a Victoria's top childhood obesity experts, toddlers are becoming so obese they need hospital treatment and 10-year-olds so overweight they risk heart disease. This comes from Dr Matt Sabin, co-head of the Royal Children's Hospital weight management clinic who labeled Victoria's obesity epidemic as extreme. He said he often saw three-year-olds weighing 35kg - more than double their healthy weight - and 15-year-olds tipping the scales at up to 200kg.

18 Jul 2011

FDA approves Shire's Lialda for maintenance of remission of ulcerative colitis

Shire plc, the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Lialda® (mesalamine) Delayed Release Tablets for the maintenance of remission in patients with ulcerative colitis.

18 Jul 2011

DARA's DB959 shows promise against type 2 diabetes

A new peroxisome proliferator activated receptor agonist currently in development, DB959, will most likely be administered orally once a day, according to a presentation made by researchers recently at the American Diabetes Association's 71st Scientific Sessions.

14 Jul 2011

Sequana Medical's ALFApump System for liver cirrhosis receives CE Mark approval

Sequana Medical announced today that it has received CE Mark approval for the commercial sale of its ALFApump System.

13 Jul 2011

Gilead announces expansion of global access program for HIV medications

Gilead Sciences, Inc. announced today an expansion of its global access program in an effort to provide accelerated access to Gilead medicines for the treatment of HIV/AIDS.

12 Jul 2011

Infected astrocytes can cause neuroAIDS

A longstanding medical mystery - why so many people with HIV experience memory loss and other cognitive problems despite potent antiretroviral therapy - may have been solved by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.

2 Jul 2011

Aflatoxin treatment project in Kenya faces challenge in marketing product to poor farmers

IRIN examines an 18-month project in Kenya testing a maize treatment aimed at controlling "a deadly fungus, aflatoxin," which has the potential to cause cancer, immune system suppression, growth retardation, liver disease and death among the "literally billions of people in the developing world" who are chronically exposed to the fungus.

2 Jul 2011

Gene PNPLA3 offers potential therapeutic target in chronic hepatitis C liver damage

New research confirms that a variant on the patatin-like phospholipase-3 (PNPLA3) gene increases risk of steatosis and fibrosis progression in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV). The PNPLA3 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs 738409 may represent an important genetic predictor and potential therapeutic target in chronic HCV liver damage.

29 Jun 2011

Prototype small molecule drugs could suppress hepatitis C

Targeted multi-drug treatments for hepatitis C patients that could stop the virus in its tracks have come a step closer, thanks to researchers at the University of Leeds, UK.

29 Jun 2011

Combination therapies inhibiting P7 could prevent spread of HCV

British researchers have identified specific resistance mutations for two classes of p7 inhibitor, which may explain their lack of effectiveness in clinical trials combined with current standard of care.

29 Jun 2011

Eating more soluble fiber and engagement in moderate activity reduces belly fat

All fat is not created equal. Unsightly as it is, subcutaneous fat, the fat right under the skin, is not as dangerous to overall health as visceral fat, the fat deep in the belly surrounding vital organs.

27 Jun 2011

Incivek-combination therapy increases chances of HCV patients achieving viral cure

The drug Incivek, when given in combination with two other medications, can dramatically increase the chances of people chronically infected with untreated genotype 1 hepatitis C virus achieving a viral cure. That's the finding of a study published in the June 23rd issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

23 Jun 2011

Telaprevir drug shows promise in curing hepatitis C infection

The drug telaprevir (Incivek) provides a dramatic improvement in the treatment of the most common form of hepatitis C infection, says an international team of investigators led by Dr. Ira M. Jacobson of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

23 Jun 2011

Foods and lifestyles that cause most weight gain: Study

New research shows that eating more potato chips and French fries and watching too much TV are likely to lead to a bigger weight gain over the years than the weight change associated with eating more of other foods.

23 Jun 2011

Angioplasty may be an option for liver transplant candidates with heart disease

A small, retrospective study determined that percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was safe in patients with significant coronary artery disease (CAD) who were referred for liver transplantation. Larger studies are needed to determine the effectiveness of angioplasty in patients with end-stage liver disease (ESLD). Details of the study are available in the July issue of Liver Transplantation, published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

22 Jun 2011