Pharmaceutical News

RSS

Low temperature vacuum drying process for production of probiotics

Probiotic bacteria are rapidly gaining ground as healthy food supplements. However, the production of this "functional food" has its pitfalls: only few probiotic bacterial strains are robust enough to survive conventional production processes.

7 Jul 2011

Study finds link between genetic variation and cetuximab rectal cancer therapy

team of researchers led by Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) oncologist Heinz-Josef Lenz, M.D., has identified a genetic marker that may predict which patients with rectal cancer can be cured by certain chemotherapies when combined with surgery.

7 Jul 2011

Improved global safety monitoring of HIV drugs is needed

With at least five million people worldwide taking antiretroviral therapy for HIV infection, the International Forum for Collaborative HIV Research, in a PLoS Medicine Policy Forum published on Tuesday, "recommends that improved and sustained global drug safety monitoring, including monitoring for substandard products, drug diversion, inappropriate use, and toxicity, is critical," a press release from PLoS states.

7 Jul 2011

Simpler antibiotic combination could help prevent TB in patients with and without HIV

Johns Hopkins and South African scientists have further compelling evidence that new, simpler and shorter treatments with antibiotic drugs could dramatically help prevent tens of millions of people worldwide already infected with the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis, and especially those co-infected with HIV, from developing full-blown TB.

7 Jul 2011

Hydrogel capsule could simultaneously deliver different types of drugs

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have designed a multiple-compartment gel capsule that could be used to simultaneously deliver drugs of different types. The researchers used a simple "one-pot" method to prepare the hydrogel capsules, which measure less than one micron.

7 Jul 2011

AIDS vaccine may be far off, but path to it is getting clearer

In his latest Washington Post opinion piece, columnist Michael Gerson highlights scientific efforts to create an AIDS vaccine, noting the work of researchers at the Vaccine Research Center.

6 Jul 2011

Drug companies' desires to maintain status quo are 'lethal'

In the second of a two-part Al Jazeera opinion piece series "examining the methods by which multinational drug corporations inflate their expenses and justify their pricing strategies," Khadija Sharife, a journalist and visiting scholar at the Center for Civil Society, looks at U.S. tax laws, lax oversight of international clinical trials, the cost of research on new pharmaceutical compounds, and vaccine manufacturing.

6 Jul 2011

Treating migraines with behavioral approaches can make financial sense

Treating chronic migraines with behavioral approaches - such as relaxation training, hypnosis and biofeedback - can make financial sense compared to prescription-drug treatment, especially after a year or more, a new study found.

6 Jul 2011

New biological insights into fat tissue

For better or worse, a popular class of anti-diabetic drugs does more than lower blood sugar. One known as rosiglitazone has been in the spotlight for its possible link to increased cardiovascular events, but it also seems to come with unexplained vascular benefits and an unwelcome tendency for weight gain.

6 Jul 2011

Infants treated with certain HIV medication more likely to experience adrenal dysfunction

Infants of human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) infected mothers who were treated before and after birth with the protease inhibitor lopinavir-ritonavir were more likely to experience adrenal dysfunction, including life-threatening adrenal insufficiency in premature infants, compared with a zidovudine-based regimen, according to a preliminary report in the July 6 issue of JAMA.

6 Jul 2011

PET imaging technique may identify TKI-responsive lung cancer

A non-invasive PET imaging technique may identify lung cancers that respond best to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), allowing doctors to better select patients for personalized therapy, according to research presented at the 14th World Conference on Lung Cancer in Amsterdam, hosted by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.

5 Jul 2011

Antidepressants during first trimester linked to increased risk of autism

Prenatal exposure to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, especially during the first trimester, is associated with a modest increase the risk of developing an autism spectrum disorder, according to a report published Online First in the Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

5 Jul 2011

Anti-depressants during early pregnancy linked to increased risk of autism

Exposure to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors anti-depressants in early pregnancy may modestly increase risk of autism spectrum disorders, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published online in the current issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

5 Jul 2011

New study reaffirms safety of seasonal flu and H1N1 vaccines

Back in spring 2009, the H1N1 influenza virus crossed the U.S. border and raised concerns that it might cause a full-scale epidemic in the fall. The Food and Drug Administration worked with other Health and Human Services agencies and vaccine manufacturers to quickly develop, license and distribute a vaccine to protect the public from this particularly virulent strain of the flu.

5 Jul 2011