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EBV vaccine could prevent mononucleosis and cancers linked to virus

In a new article from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and Harold Varmus, M.D., director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), join Gary Nabel, M.D., Ph.D., director of NIAID's Vaccine Research Center, and Jeffrey Cohen, M.D., chief of NIAID's Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, in summarizing a recent meeting of experts who gathered to map directions toward an EBV vaccine.

3 Nov 2011

Exendin-4 drug could prevent later development of diabetes in children

Pediatric researchers who tested newborn animals with an existing human drug used in adults with diabetes report that this drug, when given very early in life, prevents diabetes from developing in adult animals. If this finding can be repeated in humans, it may become a way to prevent at-risk infants from developing type 2 diabetes.

3 Nov 2011

Synthetic artemisinin discovery could make malaria treatments more affordable, accessible

"Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the biotech start-up Amyris have developed a process to manufacture artemisinin, a crucial ingredient in first-line malaria drugs that until now had to be extracted from a natural crop called sweet wormwood," PBS NewsHour reports.

3 Nov 2011

Benefits of combined therapy for men with high-risk prostate cancer

Men with locally advanced or high-risk prostate cancer who receive combined radiation and hormone therapy live longer and are less likely to die from their disease, shows clinical research led by radiation oncologists at the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) Cancer Program, University Health Network.

3 Nov 2011

Exenatide's rapid anti-inflammatory effect may inhibit atherosclerosis

Exenatide, a drug commonly prescribed to help patients with type 2 diabetes improve blood sugar control, also has a powerful and rapid anti-inflammatory effect, a University at Buffalo study has shown.

3 Nov 2011

Researchers use diabetes drug to permanently reprogram insulin-producing cells

3 Nov 2011

Allergy shots are cost-effective and deliver relief in weeks

Allergy shots, an age-old treatment for allergy sufferers, are getting a shot in the arm from new research. This proven therapy saves money; accelerated schedules deliver relief in weeks, rather than months; and alternative methods are on the horizon, according to allergists at the annual scientific meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in Boston, Nov 3-8.

3 Nov 2011

Promedior's Pentraxin-2 effectively suppresses liver fibrosis

Promedior, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company developing novel therapies to treat fibrotic, inflammatory and neovascular diseases, today announced that data from preclinical studies of Serum Amyloid P (Pentraxin-2) will be presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD 2011), being held November 4-8, 2011, in San Francisco, CA.

3 Nov 2011

UC Merced professor designs powerful chemical inhibitor against HIV

In a significant step toward reducing the threat of HIV, UC Merced Professor Patricia LiWang has designed what may be the most effective chemical inhibitor against infection of the virus.

3 Nov 2011

Nicotine might prime the brain to enhance behavioral effects of cocaine

A landmark study in mice identifies a biological mechanism that could help explain how tobacco products could act as gateway drugs, increasing a person's future likelihood of abusing cocaine and perhaps other drugs as well, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health. The study is the first to show that nicotine might prime the brain to enhance the behavioral effects of cocaine.

3 Nov 2011

Many spinal fusion surgery patients have low levels of vitamin D

A new study indicates that many patients undergoing spine surgery have low levels of vitamin D, which may delay their recovery. In a study of 313 patients undergoing spinal fusion surgery, orthopaedic surgeons at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that more than half had inadequate levels of vitamin D, including one-fourth who were more severely deficient.

3 Nov 2011

FDA approves Endo Pharmaceuticals' Felodipine Extended-release Tablets

Endo Pharmaceuticals today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Felodipine Extended-release Tablets USP, 2.5mg, 5mg and 10mg.

3 Nov 2011

ADHD drugs don’t raise risk for heart attacks or stroke: Study

Drugs known as stimulants, that are used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder do not increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes or sudden death, U.S. researchers said on Monday. This study finding should reassure millions of parents whose children take the drugs.

2 Nov 2011

Americans overdosing on prescription pain killers

According to figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 40 Americans die from prescription painkiller abuse each day. Overdoses of opioid prescription drugs now kill more people in the U.S. than do overdoses from heroin and cocaine combined the report says. Twelve million Americans say they abused prescription drugs in the last year.

2 Nov 2011

Prescription drug shortages: Endocrine Society calls for mandatory reporting by manufacturers

The Executive Order President Obama issued Monday directing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to take action to reduce prescription drug shortages is a commendable first step, but the White House could strengthen its directive and address the full scope of the problem by ordering mandatory reporting by manufacturers, which The Endocrine Society calls for in its Position Statement on drug shortages.

2 Nov 2011

Scientists identify distinct tobacco transporter for nicotine metabolism

A team of Virginia Tech and Purdue University scientists have identified a distinct transporter used by tobacco plant cells for nicotine metabolism. The research appears in the Oct. 17 online before print issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in the article, "A tobacco nicotine uptake permease effects alkaloid metabolism."

2 Nov 2011

Researchers identify small-molecule drug candidates for many metabolic conditions

A new discovery by Californian scientists may lead to a pharmaceutical breakthrough for a wide range of illnesses that involve the hydration of cells that line the inner surfaces of our body's organs and tissues. In a new report appearing in the FASEB Journal, the researchers describe how they used high-throughput screening to identify small-molecule drug candidates which help cells bypass defective channels that normally move salt and water through cell membranes.

2 Nov 2011

Obama takes action to address drug shortages

President Barack Obama issued an executive order Monday directing the Food and Drug Administration to, among other steps, speed up reviews of manufacturers' applications to begin or alter production of a drug in potentially short supply.

2 Nov 2011

Prostate cancer patients with bone metastases benefit from repeated 188Re-HEDP therapy

For prostate cancer patients with bone metastases, repeated administrations of radionuclide therapy with 188Re-HEDP are shown to improve overall survival rates and reduce pain, according to new research published in the November issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

2 Nov 2011

ADHD medications do not increase risk of heart attack in children, young adults

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) medications do not increase the risk for heart disease or heart attack in children and young adults, according to a Vanderbilt study of 1.2 million patients taking drugs including Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta and Strattera between 1998 and 2005.

2 Nov 2011