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Centocor Ortho Biotech receives FDA approval for Zytiga to treat prostate cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Zytiga in combination with prednisone to treat patients with late-stage castration-resistant prostate cancer who have received prior docetaxel.

28 Apr 2011

Justices question Vermont's effort to restrict drug data mining

During Tuesday's oral arguments, the justices suggested that the state law, which restricts pharmaceutical marketers' ability to obtain data on doctor prescribing habits, may violate free-speech rights.

28 Apr 2011

Anesthetia does not appear to influence children's brain

Young children exposed to a brief, single anesthetic did not show any evidence of adverse long-term effects on the brain, according to a new Danish study published in the May issue of Anesthesiology.

28 Apr 2011

AstraZeneca introduces new CRESTOR and NEXIUM customer service websites

AstraZeneca announced today the launch of "click-to-chat" on CRESTOR.com and PurplePill.com. The new "click-to-chat" technology gives consumers an option to contact a live AstraZeneca customer service representative with just a click of a button.

28 Apr 2011

Novo Nordisk first quarter net profit increases 23% to DKK 4,073 million

Novo Nordisk has completed a pre-specified meta-analysis based on the Degludec phase 3a trial programme. The meta-analysis confirmed that Degludec is associated with a lower risk of hypoglycaemia compared to insulin glargine, both on the total number of confirmed hypoglycaemic events, and on the number of confirmed nocturnal hypoglycaemic events. Both findings are statistically significant.

From Novo Nordisk 28 Apr 2011

Study focuses on calcium intake among U.S. population

Americans may not be getting enough calcium in their diets, according to a new study published in the May 2011 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

28 Apr 2011

Cotinine can reduce plaques linked with dementia and prevent memory loss

Cotinine, a compound derived from tobacco, reduced plaques associated with dementia and prevented memory loss in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease, a study led by researchers at Bay Pines VA Healthcare System and the University of South Florida found.

28 Apr 2011

Researchers begin approved drugs screening for clinical use against rare diseases

Researchers have begun screening the first definitive collection of thousands of approved drugs for clinical use against rare and neglected diseases. They are hunting for additional uses of the drugs hoping to find off-label therapies, for some of the 6,000 rare diseases that afflict 25 million Americans.

28 Apr 2011

Pfizer announces global launch of new child nutrition products

Pfizer Inc. today announced the global launch of its new advanced GOLD range of child nutrition products, developed to meet the changing nutritional and feeding needs of young children. The GOLD range of infant and follow-on formulas, and growing-up milks provides the right balance of high-quality nutrients needed to support ideal health, growth and development in growing children.

28 Apr 2011

Seattle BioMed study to identify biomarkers for malaria vaccine design

In the first study of its type in the malaria field, Seattle BioMed has been awarded an $8.9 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to identify biomarkers that will allow malaria vaccine design based on robust predictors of protective immunity.

28 Apr 2011

NIH awards UH with $361,000 grant for chikungunya vaccine study

It is spread to humans by mosquito bites, causing arthritic symptoms so severe that some victims can't even walk. While rarely fatal, the effects of the chikungunya virus can last up to a year.

28 Apr 2011

Janssen, Beactica enter drug discovery agreement

Beactica, the leading Swedish fragment-based drug discovery company, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Janssen Research & Development, a division of Janssen Pharmaceutica NV.

28 Apr 2011

FOIA request on Avastin filed with the FDA

Leaders in the battle with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to retain metastatic breast cancer (mbc) as an indication for the drug Avastin today filed a Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") request with the FDA.

28 Apr 2011

Study clarifies ginkgo's pain-reducing effects

Experiments in rats show that a standardized ginkgo extract—injected either into the spinal canal or directly into the injured area—effectively reduces inflammation and some types of pain, according to a report in the May issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society.

28 Apr 2011

Promising pain medication may decrease ability to fight off sepsis

Pain researchers from the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children's National Medical Center have discovered that resiniferatoxin, a drug that has shown early promise as an option for chronic, severe pain sufferers, may decrease the body's ability to fight off bacterial infections, particularly sepsis.

27 Apr 2011

CMAJ: Canada needs national pharmacare program

Canada needs a national pharmacare program and federal leaders must commit adequate funding, states an editorial in CMAJ.

27 Apr 2011

Clinical study: Plant extract can fight effectively against hay fever

Fighting hay fever with a plant extract - this works, as was shown in a clinical study conducted by researchers of the Center of Allergy & Environment of Helmholtz Zentrum München and Technische Universität München.

27 Apr 2011

Rwanda launches Africa's first nationwide cervical cancer vaccination, detection program

Rwandan First Lady Jeannette Kagame on Tuesday, in collaboration with two companies, launched a national cervical cancer vaccination and screening program, the first of its kind in Africa, the New Times reports.

27 Apr 2011

Socioeconomic status linked to medication non-adherence in children with epilepsy

An examination of medication adherence among children with newly diagnosed epilepsy found that nearly 60 percent showed persistent nonadherence during the first 6 months of therapy, and that lower socioeconomic status was associated with higher non-adherence, according to a study in the April 27 issue of JAMA.

27 Apr 2011

MSF letter criticizes Johnson & Johnson for not joining Medicines Patent Pool

Medecins Sans Frontieres recently sent a letter to Johnson & Johnson criticizing the pharmaceutical company for "refusing to make patents on three HIV drugs available to a program that would reduce the cost of the medicines in developing countries," the Star-Ledger reports.

27 Apr 2011