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Enzyme therapy slows progression of Batten disease in dogs

Batten disease is a rare, fatal genetic disorder that affects children. Currently, no effective treatment exists for the disease, which ultimately kills all who are affected. Dachshunds also suffer from Batten disease, and now researchers from the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine and School of Medicine, in collaboration with BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., have developed a treatment for the disease that has significantly delayed the onset and progression of symptoms in the Dachshunds.

12 Feb 2013

Valor, Oxygen Biotherapeutics enter License and Supply Agreement for Dermacyte

Oxygen Biotherapeutics, Inc., announced today that it has entered into a License and Supply Agreement with the Cosmetics Division of Valor SA of Lausanne, Switzerland, for Dermacyte, a perfluorocarbon based cosmetic product currently manufactured and distributed by Oxygen Biotherapeutics.

11 Feb 2013

FDA hears concerns on new narcotic pain pill rules

Survivors of those who died from opioid overdoses urge changes in the drugs' labels, but some patients express concerns that they might have trouble getting the drugs.

11 Feb 2013

Review describes long-term side-effects of molecularly targeted therapies in children with cancer

A University of Colorado Cancer Center review published this week in the journal Lancet Oncology describes possible long-term side-effects of new, targeted therapies in pediatric cancer patients: what we don't know may hurt us.

11 Feb 2013

FDA issues draft guidance on developing new treatments for Alzheimer's

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a proposal designed to assist companies developing new treatments for patients in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, before the onset of noticeable (overt) dementia.

11 Feb 2013

Amlexanox also reverses obesity, diabetes and fatty liver in mice

Researchers at the University of Michigan's Life Sciences Institute have found that amlexanox, an off-patent drug currently prescribed for the treatment of asthma and other uses, also reverses obesity, diabetes and fatty liver in mice.

11 Feb 2013

sFRP3 protein appears to be target of both antidepressant drugs and electroconvulsive therapy

Through a series of investigations in mice and humans, Johns Hopkins researchers have identified a protein that appears to be the target of both antidepressant drugs and electroconvulsive therapy.

11 Feb 2013

Scientists demonstrate new approach for quickly assembling drug-like compounds

A team of scientists anchored at Yale University has demonstrated a new, highly versatile approach for quickly assembling drug-like compounds, establishing a broad new route to drug discovery and medical treatment.

11 Feb 2013

Infusions of regulatory T cells turn off autoimmune attack on joints

Farber Cancer Institute scientists have demonstrated a new strategy for treating autoimmune disease that successfully blocked the development of rheumatoid arthritis in a mouse model. They say it holds promise for improved treatment of arthritis and other autoimmune disorders in people.

10 Feb 2013

Combination of two antibodies prevents growth and spread of triple-negative breast tumors

Cancer drugs of the new, molecular generation destroy malignant breast tumors in a targeted manner: They block characteristic molecules on tumor cells - receptors for the hormones estrogen or progesterone, or a co-receptor, called HER2, that binds to many growth factors. But about one in every six breast tumors has none of these receptors. Such cancers, called triple-negative, are particularly aggressive and notoriously difficult to treat.

10 Feb 2013

Inhibiting JNK enzyme protects against ischemic/reperfusion injury

Using two different compounds they developed, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have been able to show in animal models that inhibiting a specific enzyme protects heart cells and surrounding tissue against serious damage from heart attacks.

10 Feb 2013

Tat-beclin 1 shows promise against infections, neurodegenerative disorders and cancer

UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists have synthesized a peptide that shows potential for pharmaceutical development into agents for treating infections, neurodegenerative disorders, and cancer through an ability to induce a cell-recycling process called autophagy.

10 Feb 2013

Single gene therapy session can cure diabetes

Researchers from the Universitat Aut-noma de Barcelona (UAB), led by F-tima Bosch, have shown for the first time that it is possible to cure diabetes in large animals with a single session of gene therapy. As published this week in Diabetes, the principal journal for research on the disease, after a single gene therapy session, the dogs recover their health and no longer show symptoms of the disease.

10 Feb 2013

Health law provisions saved seniors $5.7B on Rx drugs

Seniors have saved about $5.7 billion on prescription drugs since January 2011 because of provisions in the 2010 health care law meant to close the Medicare "doughnut hole," the government plans to announce today.

10 Feb 2013

Celgene's Pomalyst receives FDA approval for treatment of multiple myeloma

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Pomalyst (pomalidomide) to treat patients with multiple myeloma whose disease progressed after being treated with other cancer drugs.

10 Feb 2013

Celgene receives FDA approval for POMALYST to treat multiple myeloma

Celgene Corporation today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved POMALYST brand therapy (pomalidomide) for patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least two prior therapies including lenalidomide and bortezomib and have demonstrated disease progression on or within 60 days of completion of the last therapy.

10 Feb 2013

Shire, Impax resolve pending generic Adderall XR litigation

Impax Laboratories, Inc. today announced that it has settled all pending litigation with Shire LLC and Shire Laboratories, Inc. relating to supply of its authorized generic Adderall XR under the parties' License and Distribution Agreement that was signed in January 2006.

10 Feb 2013

MMRF joins multiple myeloma community in celebrating FDA accelerated approval of Pomalyst

The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) today joined the multiple myeloma community in celebrating the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) decision to grant accelerated approval of Pomalyst (Celgene Corporation, pomalidomide) for the treatment of patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma who no longer respond to currently available treatments.

10 Feb 2013

TGFβ inhibition enhances chemotherapy action against triple negative breast cancer

Due to chemotherapy resistance and a high rate of relapse, triple negative cancers are among the most difficult breast cancers to treat. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers led by Carlos Arteaga at Vanderbilt University identified a protein, TGF-β, that is highly expressed in triple negative breast cancer cells after chemotherapy.

10 Feb 2013

Viewpoints: 'Empty budget gestures'; GOP should endorse 'doomsday' sequester; 'Imagined dangers' imperil vaccine successes

President Obama on Tuesday called on Congress to put off -- again -- the start of the "sequester," a series of across-the-board spending cuts that would save $1.2 billion over 10 years.

9 Feb 2013