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FDA approves Novartis’ Zortress to prevent organ rejection after liver transplantation in adults

Novartis announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Zortress (everolimus) for the prophylaxis of organ rejection in adult patients receiving a liver transplant.

16 Feb 2013

Improving tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis: an interview with Professor Madhukar Pai, MD, PhD

TB is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Nearly 9 million people develop TB every year, and TB kills nearly 1.4 million individuals each year. While the incidence of TB has steadily declined in the west, it remains a huge public health problem in many developing countries, with India having the highest burden.

15 Feb 2013

Prediabetes associated with impaired lung function

Japanese researchers have found a significant association between prediabetes and impaired lung function.

14 Feb 2013

Bronchiectasis finding reveals COPD patients at mortality risk

Bronchiectasis is independently associated with mortality risk among patients with moderate-to-severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Spanish research shows.

12 Feb 2013

Bronchiectasis independently associated with increased mortality risk in COPD patients

Bronchiectasis is independently associated with an increased mortality risk in patients with moderate-to-severe COPD, according to a new study from researchers in Spain.

10 Feb 2013

Washington Post examines relationship between counterfeit drugs, rise of drug-resistant TB

The Washington Post examines the emergence of drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis (TB) around the world, writing, "One culprit in the rise of untreatable TB is counterfeit drugs, which can undermine treatment efforts by packing insufficient active ingredients to fully kill off bacteria, breeding new, stronger super-strains of the disease."

7 Feb 2013

CDC, State Department, World Bank should lead fight against fake, substandard TB drugs

"Thanks to billions of dollars spent on diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis (TB) over the past decade, deaths and infections are slowly declining," but "fake and poorly made antibiotics are being widely used to treat tuberculosis," according to a study "to be published Tuesday in the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease," Roger Bate, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and an author of the study, writes in a New York Times opinion piece.

6 Feb 2013

Three NIH-sponsored influenza trials begin to enroll volunteers

Three clinical trials that seek to find more effective treatments for influenza are enrolling volunteers with influenza at the National Institutes of Health's Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md., and at several dozen other domestic and international sites.

6 Feb 2013

COPD underdiagnosed in Chinese lung cancer patients

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is underdiagnosed and undertreated among lung cancer patients in China, study results show.

4 Feb 2013

Double transplants can be successful with donor lungs from heavy smokers

Lungs from carefully selected donors with a heavy smoking history can be used with good results in adult, double-lung transplants, according to a study released today at the 49th Annual Meeting of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons held at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

29 Jan 2013

Left ventricular hypertrophy prevalent in lung disease patients

The prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy is increased in normoxemic patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, results from a pilot study suggest.

25 Jan 2013

SLU team discovers molecular pathway that contributes to triple-negative breast cancer

In research published in the Jan. 17 issue of The Journal of Cell Biology, a team led by Susana Gonzalo, Ph.D., assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Saint Louis University, has discovered a molecular pathway that contributes to triple-negative breast cancer, an often deadly and treatment resistant form of cancer that tends to strike younger women.

23 Jan 2013

Call for more COPD screening for smokers

Screening smokers with spirometry for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease picks up more cases than symptom-based detection, research suggests.

22 Jan 2013

Psychiatrist claims medical marijuana dangerous for treatment of psychiatric problems

Using medical marijuana to treat conditions such as anxiety and depression is dangerous and has no basis in medical science, says Dr. Timothy R. Jennings, a prominent Tennessee psychiatrist and consultant to The Center for Counseling and Health Resources in Edmonds, WA.

22 Jan 2013

Current smokers with HIV more likely to get bacterial pneumonia

Bacterial pneumonia is one of the commonest and most serious infections occurring in people infected with HIV. A metanalysis of cohort and case control studies published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine finds that current smokers with HIV were at double the risk of bacterial pneumonia than non-smoking counterparts, but that when people stopped smoking their risk was reduced.

21 Jan 2013

Bladder cancer risk associated with childbearing factors

The risk for bladder cancer in women may decline with increased parity and older age at first birth, researchers report.

21 Jan 2013

ECLS system supports flu patients in their recovery from severe respiratory problems

In recent weeks the intensive critical care units at University Health Network's Toronto General Hospital have used Extra Corporeal Lung Support (ECLS) to support five influenza (flu) patients in their recovery from severe respiratory problems.

19 Jan 2013

FDA clears Sanovas’ Vas Zeppelin Smart Catheter to treat chronic pulmonary diseases, lung cancer

Sanovas Inc., a life science technology company developing and commercializing the next-generation of micro-invasive diagnostics, devices and drug delivery technologies, announced today that it has filed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for clearance of the company's Vas Zeppelin Smart Catheter for the treatment of chronic pulmonary diseases and lung cancer.

17 Jan 2013

Astellas announces FDA acceptance of Tarceva sNDA for EGFR activating mutation-positive NSCLC

Astellas Pharma US, Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc., today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for filing a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for Tarceva (erlotinib) for first-line use in people with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors have epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) activating mutations.