Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

Researchers turn inanimate silicone and living cardiac muscle cells into a jellyfish

Using recent advances in marine biomechanics, materials science, and tissue engineering, a team of researchers at Harvard University and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have turned inanimate silicone and living cardiac muscle cells into a freely swimming "jellyfish."

23 Jul 2012

Kyprolis for multiple myeloma receives FDA approval under accelerated approval program

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Kyprolis (carfilzomib) to treat patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least two prior therapies, including treatment with Velcade (bortezomib) and an immunomodulatory therapy. A form of blood cancer that arises from plasma cells, multiple myeloma usually grows in bone marrow, the soft, spongy tissue found inside most bones.

21 Jul 2012

State roundup: Texas Medicaid fraud probes use controversial tool

When it comes to finding cost savings in the state's unwieldy Medicaid program, the Health and Human Services Commission's Office of Inspector General gets high marks. … But OIG's dollar-recovery strategy -- which includes an increased reliance on a rule that allows investigators to freeze financing for any health provider accused of overbilling -- has enraged doctors, dentists and other providers who treat Medicaid patients.

21 Jul 2012

Study identifies genetic markers that influence protein involved in regulating oestrogen, testosterone levels

A research study led by the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Exeter, and Boston University School of Medicine, in collaboration with a global consortium, has identified genetic markers that influence a protein involved in regulating oestrogen and testosterone levels in the bloodstream.

21 Jul 2012

Training EMS to interpret ECGs can expedite treatment for severe heart attacks

A new program that trains emergency medical service technicians (EMS) to read electrocardiograms so that they can evaluate patients with chest pain, and expedite treatment for the severe heart condition known as ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), a serious form of heart attack, has excellent results and should become the standard of care, according to two studies published in the current issue of the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.

21 Jul 2012

FDA grants accelerated approval for Kyprolis to treat multiple myeloma

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated today announced that its licensee, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, received accelerated approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Kyprolis (carfilzomib) for Injection, a proteasome inhibitor indicated for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least two prior therapies, including bortezomib and an immunomodulatory agent, and have demonstrated disease progression on or within 60 days of completion of the last therapy.

21 Jul 2012

Research roundup: Gastric bypass costs, paying for psychotherapy

Health Expenditures Among High-Risk Patients After Gastric Bypass and Matched Controls -- A few studies have shown that bariatric surgery can help reduce health care spending by obese patients, particularly those with conditions such as diabetes. This latest study looked at 847 patients who received bariatric surgery through the Veterans Affairs medical system. Inpatient and outpatient spending both before and after surgery were compared to 847 obese patients who did not have the operation.

21 Jul 2012

Pfizer receives positive opinion from EMA CHMP for crizotinib to treat ALK-positive NSCLC

Pfizer announced today that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has adopted a positive opinion recommending that crizotinib be granted conditional marketing authorization in the European Union (EU), for the treatment of adults with previously treated anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

21 Jul 2012

FDA grants accelerated approval to Onyx's Kyprolis for treatment of multiple myeloma

Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted accelerated approval of Kyprolis (carfilzomib) for Injection, a proteasome inhibitor, indicated for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least two prior therapies, including bortezomib and an immunomodulatory agent, and have demonstrated disease progression on or within 60 days of completion of the last therapy.

21 Jul 2012

Regeneron, Sanofi initiate enrollment in SAR236553/REGN727 Phase 3 program

Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that several trials within ODYSSEY, the Phase 3 clinical program of SAR236553/REGN727, have initiated patient enrollment.

21 Jul 2012

Scientists uncover how internal mechanisms in nerve cells wire the brain

Scientists at the University of Manchester have uncovered how the internal mechanisms in nerve cells wire the brain. The findings open up new avenues in the investigation of neurodegenerative diseases by analysing the cellular processes underlying these conditions.

21 Jul 2012

Study identifies genetic markers that influence sex hormone-binding globulin

A research study led by Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, in collaboration with a global consortium, has identified genetic markers that influence a protein involved in regulating estrogen and testosterone levels in the bloodstream.

21 Jul 2012

Placenta-derived endothelial colony-forming cells are more vasculogenic: Study

A study comparing whether endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs) derived from human placenta or those derived from human umbilical cord blood are more proliferative and better for forming new blood vessels has found that ECFCs derived from human placenta are more vasculogenic.

20 Jul 2012

Phosphate binders may cause unexpected harm to blood vessels in patients with CKD

Drugs commonly prescribed to patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) may not be as strongly effective as once thought, and may cause unexpected harm to blood vessels, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).

20 Jul 2012