Pain News and Research

Latest Pain News and Research

First edition: September 28, 2009

A look at today's headlines reveals that specific issues regarding the health overhaul effort continue to get significant attention and trigger debate.

28 Sep 2009

Podiatric experts recommend team approach for diabetic foot care

Every 30 seconds, across the globe an individual loses a limb due to poor diabetes management. In the U.S., diabetes affects nearly 24 million people. When poorly controlled, diabetes results in nerve damage and poor circulation to the legs and feet.

28 Sep 2009

Initial clinical results for Mpathy Medical's Omnisure sling released

Mpathy Medical, a rapidly growing medical device company which has developed and brought to market a range of less invasive surgical solutions used to restore pelvic health to women, released the initial clinical results for its newest product, Omnisure™, a novel full length sling for treatment of female stress urinary incontinence (SUI) at the American Urogynecologic Society’s (AUGS) Annual Meeting.

26 Sep 2009

Research study sheds light on mechanisms of pain alteration in infancy and adolescence

Scientists at Georgia State University have uncovered the mechanisms of how pain in infancy alters how the brain processes pain in adulthood.

26 Sep 2009

HORIZONS-AMI clinical trial demonstrates efficacy of drug-eluting stent

Late-breaking data from the landmark HORIZONS-AMI clinical trial, presented at the 21st annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium, demonstrated that after two years, in heart attack patients, the use of a drug-eluting stent (paclitaxel) was safer and more effective than a bare-metal stent; and that the administration of the anticoagulant medication bivalirudin enhanced safety and efficacy compared to the use of heparin + GPIIb/IIIa inhibitors.

25 Sep 2009

Stelara approved by the FDA for treating psoriasis

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Stelara (ustekinumab), a biologic product for adults who have a moderate to severe form of psoriasis.

25 Sep 2009

Phase III PLATO study proves that ticagrelor is more effective than clopidogrel

New data from the phase III PLATO study showed that ticagrelor (BRILINTA((TM))) provided greater reduction of cardiovascular (CV) events (composite of CV death, heart attack and stroke) than clopidogrel (9.02% vs. 10.65%,>

25 Sep 2009

Baylor Health Care receives $20 million donation from Sammons Enterprises

Today the Baylor Health Care System Foundation announced gifts exceeding $20 million for what will be North Texas' largest outpatient cancer center and first dedicated hospital focusing on cancer patients.

25 Sep 2009

Neuroscience professor receives Institutes of Health Director's New Innovator Award

Leon Reijmers, PhD, assistant professor of neuroscience at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, is one of 55 recipients of the National Institutes of Health Director's New Innovator Award. Reijmers is investigating the way memories are stored in the brain, specifically focusing on the proteins involved in long-term memory storage.

25 Sep 2009

Results from COGENT clinical trial presented at TCT symposium

Results from a late breaking clinical trial called COGENT demonstrate that the combination of giving patients clopidogrel, a blood thinner commonly prescribed to patients with cardiovascular disease, and stomach medicines such as omeprazole, known as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), did not lead to adverse events, as some prior studies had suggested.

25 Sep 2009

Versa Card opens the first spine treatment center in Houston

Versa Card, Inc., doing business as "Spine Pain Management, Inc." (the "Company"), is pleased to announce that the first spine treatment center has opened in Houston, Texas.

25 Sep 2009

Pfizer to continue its Aricept agreement with Eisai

Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) today announced that its agreement with Eisai to provide Aricept to patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease will continue without interruption. Under this redefined alliance, which resolves a previously disclosed dispute, Pfizer and Eisai will continue to co-promote Aricept in the U.S., Japan and key markets in Europe, and Pfizer will continue to have an exclusive license to sell Aricept in the other countries where it has rights.

25 Sep 2009

Qrxpharma forms an alliance with Liaoning Nuokang Medicines to commercialise its venomics assets

QRxPharma Limited,announced today a strategic alliance with Liaoning Nuokang Medicines Co. Ltd. ("Nuokang"), a Chinese biopharmaceutical company based in Shenyang, China, to develop and commercialise QRxPharma's venomics assets for the Chinese market.

25 Sep 2009

Combination drug to limit the dangerous side effects of morphine

University of Michigan scientists have developed a combination drug that promises a safer, more precise way for medics and fellow soldiers in battle situations to give a fallen soldier both morphine and a drug that limits morphine's dangerous side effects.

25 Sep 2009

Fear of back pain from care work is predictive of actually developing it

Whether from heaving, twisting, bending or bad lifting postures, it's well known that caring for the sick or elderly can lead to back pain. This often results in time off work or dropping out of caring professions altogether. Now Danish research published in the online open access journal BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders suggests that the fear of getting back pain from care work is predictive of actually developing it.

24 Sep 2009

Controlled release pills and capsules with dose dumping tendency should be tested

Controlled release pills and capsules that show a tendency in the standard laboratory test toward "dose dumping" - releasing their medicine in a faster and potentially unsafe manner in patients who have consumed alcohol - should be withheld from the market until proven safe with testing in people. That's the conclusion of a review of existing studies in the September-October issue of ACS' Molecular Pharmaceutics, a bi-monthly journal.

24 Sep 2009

NIH awards three UNC Scientists for high risk and innovative research

Three scientists from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center have received prestigious awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) aimed at encouraging "high risk" and innovative research.

24 Sep 2009

National Day of Action to be celebrated on September 26

Saturday, September 26 officially has been designated as National Day of Action, in support of National Pain Awareness Month. To help promote awareness of chronic pain and how to access help, Valley Pain Specialists, an 11-member physicians group of board-certified, fellowship-trained pain medicine specialists, are launching a speaking circuit where they plan to meet with groups of patients and physicians throughout the community to raise awareness about pain, highlight the issues surrounding pain management and address the lack of access to pain care.

24 Sep 2009

46 million Americans uninsured

The uproar at this summer's raucous town hall meetings, Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst in Congress and the endless debate over whether some opposition to healthcare reform is racially-tinged are a major disservice to the millions of Americans who need healthcare reform. Rep. Wilson doesn't worry about costs if a member of his family falls ill; he is covered. The majority of the people screaming and waving signs at town hall meetings don't worry either. They are covered. Their family members walk into a doctor's office or hospital emergency room, flash insurance cards and receive the best treatment available.

24 Sep 2009

FDA endorses Covidien's REMS program for EXALGO tablets

Covidien (NYSE:COV), a leading global provider of healthcare products, today announced that it presented information to members of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Advisory Committee on the New Drug Application and proposed Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program for EXALGOTM (hydromorphone HCl extended release) tablets, an opioid formulation.

24 Sep 2009