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New ACR guidelines recommend use of topical NSAIDs for older patients with knee OA

The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Subcommittee on Osteoarthritis Guidelines has approved and issued several updates to clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA).

31 Mar 2012

Best Practices develops Pharmaceutical Launch Excellence Services

The launch landscape for new pharmaceutical products has shifted dramatically, with physician access and payer influence two of the biggest changes facing launch teams. At the same time, the pressure for successful new products has never been greater with the pharmaceutical industry facing pipeline deficits, patent expirations and increasing development costs.

31 Mar 2012

'Large-scale action' needed in Myanmar to prevent spread of artemisinin-resistant malaria parasites

In this New York Times opinion piece, Frank Smithuis, director of Medical Action Myanmar in Yangon, and Nick White, professor of tropical medicine at the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit in Bangkok, recount a brief history of the development of anti-malaria drugs and their contribution to "a significant global reduction in malaria" and note that this progress "is now threatened by the emergence of malaria parasites that are resistant to artemisinin on the Cambodia-Thailand border ..., the same place where chloroquine resistance emerged 50 years ago and spread across Asia and Africa to claim millions of lives."

31 Mar 2012

Modern delivery practices contribute to increase in labor duration

Women take longer to give birth today than did women 50 years ago, according to an analysis of nearly 140,000 deliveries conducted by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. The researchers could not identify all of the factors that accounted for the increase, but concluded that the change is likely due to changes in delivery room practice.

31 Mar 2012

Teva introduces generic Provigil

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. announces the launch of the authorized generic of Provigil (modafinil).

31 Mar 2012

IMS supports new guidance on glucocorticoid use

The International Osteoporosis Foundation, along with the European Society for Calcified Tissue, launched new guidance on glucocorticoid use at the European Congress on Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis (which took place in Bordeaux from March 21 - 24, 2012). Given the special relevance to postmenopausal women, the International Menopause Society (IMS) is supporting the publication of the guidance.

31 Mar 2012

Cardium launches Excellagen wound care product

Cardium Therapeutics today announced market introduction of its Excellagen professional-use, syringe-based wound care product for the management of diabetic foot ulcers, pressure ulcers and other dermal wounds.

31 Mar 2012

Study looks at how health care providers react to medication alerts in EMR systems

A study by Regenstrief Institute and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs investigators provides the first in-depth look at how health care providers react to medication alerts generated by electronic medical record systems. The researchers plan to use this information to improve the design of medication alerts and diminish the phenomenon known as alert fatigue, where providers can become desensitized and may start unintentionally ignoring some important warnings.

30 Mar 2012

New synthetic small molecules could treat obesity, diabetes and sleep disorders

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have synthesized a pair of small molecules that dramatically alter the core biological clock in animal models, highlighting the compounds' potential effectiveness in treating a remarkable range of disorders-including obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, and serious sleep disorders.

30 Mar 2012

Study explains how rapamycin also causes insulin resistance

A Penn- and MIT-led team explained how rapamycin, a drug that extends mouse lifespan, also causes insulin resistance. The researchers showed in an animal model that they could, in principle, separate the effects, which depend on inhibiting two protein complexes, mTORC1 and mTORC2, respectively.

30 Mar 2012

Consumer should be centre of care when offering alternative medicine brands

NPS is reminding pharmacists to place patient care first and avoid multiple switching of medicine brands for patients who may be at higher risk of confusion from switching, as price disclosure arrangements come into effect this weekend.

29 Mar 2012

FDA extends review period for Almirall and Forest Labs' aclidinium bromide NDA

Forest Laboratories, Inc. and Almirall, S.A. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will require a three-month extension to complete its review of the data supporting the New Drug Application (NDA) for aclidinium bromide, a new long-acting antimuscarinic for the maintenance treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

29 Mar 2012

Vaccination for HPV reduces risk of renewed disease

The vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) reduces the risk of a renewed HPV-associated illness in patients who have already had diseases as a consequence of an HPV infection.

29 Mar 2012

Daiichi Sankyo, NGM to discover and develop new treatments for diabetes

Daiichi Sankyo Company, Ltd. and NGM Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that they have entered into a research collaboration and license agreement to discover and develop novel therapeutics that modulate beta-cell regeneration for the treatment of diabetes.

29 Mar 2012

UTHealth, PLx Pharma to test phosphatidylcholine-enriched version of indomethacin in PDA model

PLx Pharma Inc, a Houston-based pharmaceutical company developing a medical discovery made at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School, has been awarded $565,449 for the first year of a potential two-year $1,118,398 grant to conduct research designed to enhance a treatment for premature babies with a common congenital heart defect.

29 Mar 2012

Hawthorn and Cypress settle Medicaid fraud lawsuit

Hawthorn Pharmaceuticals Inc. and its parent company, Cypress Pharmaceutical Inc., have paid the federal government and certain states a total of $2.8 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit filed by Phillips & Cohen LLP that alleged Hawthorn falsely marketed unapproved prescription drugs as being eligible for reimbursement by Medicaid and other government health care programs.

29 Mar 2012

Researchers design new treatment approach for invasive brain tumors

Researchers from Emory and the Georgia Institute of Technology have designed a new treatment approach that appears to halt the spread of cancer cells into normal brain tissue in animal models.

29 Mar 2012

EMA grants orphan designations to Ultragenyx UX001, UX003 for treatment of HIBM and MPS 7

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc., a biotechnology company focused on developing treatments for rare and ultra-rare genetic disorders, today announced that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has granted orphan drug designations for sialic acid for the treatment of hereditary inclusion body myopathy (HIBM) and recombinant human beta-glucuronidase for the treatment of mucopolysaccharidosis type 7.

29 Mar 2012

Amerigroup announces successful efforts at preventing premature births

Amerigroup Corporation announced its successful efforts at preventing premature births – as well its commitment to protecting access to affordable drug therapies for at-risk mothers – at the annual Norfolk/Virginia Beach March of Dimes kick-off breakfast for the March for Babies.

29 Mar 2012

Scientists explore number of strategies to prevent anesthesia-induced injury in infants

Recent clinical studies have shown that general anesthesia can be harmful to infants, presenting a dilemma for both doctors and parents. But new research at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center may point the way to treatment options that protect very young children against the adverse effects of anesthesia.

29 Mar 2012