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Elan, Proteostasis create innovative drug discovery initiative for neurodegenerative disorders

Proteostasis Therapeutics and Elan Corporation today announced a strategic business relationship to advance Proteostasis' platform for the discovery and development of disease-modifying, small molecule drugs and diagnostics for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's, Huntington's, multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and a broad array of dementia-related diseases including Alzheimer's.

25 May 2011

Biogen Idec launches educational forum, 'Women in MS'

Biogen Idec today announced the launch of "Women in MS," an educational initiative to address both the advantages and challenges female clinicians experience in treating patients living with multiple sclerosis.

25 May 2011

Nanoscopic findings may lead to new experimental methods for early multiple sclerosis diagnosis

Laboratory studies by chemical engineers at UC Santa Barbara may lead to new experimental methods for early detection and diagnosis -- and to possible treatments -- for pathological tissues that are precursors to multiple sclerosis and similar diseases.

24 May 2011

African-Americans with multiple sclerosis have lower vitamin D levels

African-Americans who have multiple sclerosis have lower vitamin D levels than African-Americans who don't have the disease, according to a study published in the May 24, 2011, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

24 May 2011

Scientists direct embryonic, induced human stem cells to become astrocytes in lab dish

Pity the lowly astrocyte, the most common cell in the human nervous system. Long considered to be little more than putty in the brain and spinal cord, the star-shaped astrocyte has found new respect among neuroscientists who have begun to recognize its many functions in the brain, not to mention its role in a range of disorders of the central nervous system.

23 May 2011

Synthon opens state-of-the-art laboratory for biotechnology

Synthon opened its state-of-the-art laboratory for biotechnology today, an important step in the company’s development into a ‘specialty pharmaceutical’ firm. Ms. Renée Bergkamp, Director-General of Enterprise and Innovation of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, and Mr. Thom de Graaf, Mayor of Nijmegen, attended the official opening.

22 May 2011

EMA CHMP recommends conditional marketing authorization of FAMPYRA

The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicine Agency has recommended conditional marketing authorization of FAMPYRA (prolonged-release fampridine 10 mg tablets) for the improvement of walking in adult patients with multiple sclerosis with walking disability.

20 May 2011

New technique offers successful bone marrow, organ transplant for patients with autoimmune diseases

University of Minnesota Medical School researchers have discovered a method to quickly and exponentially grow regulatory T-cells - also known as "suppressor cells." The new process enables replication of the cells by tens of millions in several weeks, a dramatic increase over previous duplication methods. Historically, regulatory T-cells have been difficult to replicate.

19 May 2011

Epstein-Barr virus might cause multiple sclerosis, study confirms

The Epstein-Barr (EVB) virus -belonging to the herpesviruses family, which also includes the herpes simplex virus and the cytomegalovirus- is one of the environmental factors that might cause multiple sclerosis, a condition affecting the central nervous system, which causes are unknown.

18 May 2011

Coffee reduces prostate cancer risk

In the 20-year study of almost 50,000 men, researchers noted that those who drank at least six cups a day were 20 per cent less likely to get prostate cancer than those who never took coffee. Strikingly, they were 60 per cent less likely than the non-coffee drinkers to die of the disease. The researchers also say that decaffeinated coffee is just as effective.

17 May 2011

Patients with COPD can benefit from computer-based decision aid

A new program developed by researchers at Pennsylvania State College of Medicine and Pennsylvania State University may make it easier for patients with moderate/severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to make critical decisions regarding their care as their disease worsens.

17 May 2011

ProBioGen, Life Technologies' new cell line development kits now available for biologic drug production

Life Technologies Corporation and ProBioGen AG today announced the availability of Gibco Freedom Cell Line Development Kits, a new line of royalty-free products that integrate cells, reagents, culture media and protocols to bring simplicity and flexibility, eliminating up to two months in the earliest stages of new biological drug development.

17 May 2011

Karo Bio symposium to discuss research on ER-beta and therapeutic applications

Karo Bio AB is organizing a symposium in Stockholm on May 16-17, where key researchers from the industry and the academic community present and discuss the frontier of research in the field of estrogen receptor beta (ER-beta) and its therapeutic applications.

16 May 2011

Australian TGA approves Biogen Idec's FAMPYRA to improve walking ability in patients with MS

The Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has granted approval for FAMPYRA, (fampridine) 10 mg Modified Release (MR) tablet, for the symptomatic improvement of walking ability in adult patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) who have shown improvement after eight weeks of treatment.

16 May 2011

Researchers uncover unexpected role of estrogen receptors in brain inflammation

Researchers have uncovered an unexpected role for estrogen receptors in the brain in keeping inflammation under control. The findings reported in the May 13 issue of the Cell Press journal Cell may have important implications for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) and many other neurodegenerative diseases.

13 May 2011

UCSD scientists discover steroid hormone that inhibits brain inflammation

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered a steroid hormone that inhibits inflammation in the brain. The findings, to be published in the May 13 issue of the journal Cell, have implications for understanding the exaggerated inflammatory responses that are characteristic features of numerous neurodegenerative diseases.

13 May 2011

New method for mapping myelin sheaths of nerve cells

Researchers including members from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen have developed a new method for making detailed X-ray images of brain cells.

13 May 2011

Being mildly overweight benefits ALS patients

Patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, may be an exception to the rule that being overweight is a health hazard. In a retrospective study of over 400 ALS patients, Massachusetts General Hospital researchers found that those who were mildly obese survived longer than patients who were normal weight, underweight or even overweight.

12 May 2011

Adherence to disease-modifying drugs is low in patients with multiple sclerosis

Disease-modifying drugs (DMDs) are injected medications used to slow the progression of multiple sclerosis, and have been shown to reduce the frequency and severity of relapses. But according to a new study led by St. Michael's Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, adherence to all DMDs is low, with less than half of patients, or 44 per cent, continually adherent after two years.

11 May 2011

Scleroderma is an independent determinant for coronary calcification, study suggests

A new study by researchers in Hong Kong suggests that systemic sclerosis is an independent determinant for moderate to severe coronary calcification or atherosclerosis.

11 May 2011