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Boehringer Ingelheim's dabigatran etexilate receives positive opinion from EMA committee

Boehringer Ingelheim's novel oral anticoagulant dabigatran etexilate, received a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency's medicinal committee today.

16 Apr 2011

U.S. District Court grants preliminary injunction to POZEN's Treximet patent lawsuit

POZEN Inc., a pharmaceutical company committed to transforming medicine that transforms lives, announced today that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has granted a preliminary injunction ordering Par Pharmaceutical Inc. not to make, use, sell, offer to sell, or import into the United States a generic version of sumatriptan/naproxen sodium that competes with Treximet sold by GlaxoSmithKline in the United States under an exclusive license from the Company.

15 Apr 2011

Top-line results from Pfizer's tofacitinib Phase 3 study in rheumatoid arthritis

Pfizer Inc. announced today top-line results from the ORAL Scan Phase 3 study of tofacitinib, formerly known as tasocitinib, an investigational, novel, oral JAK inhibitor.

15 Apr 2011

Novocure receives FDA approval for NovoTTF-100A System to treat GBM

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved the NovoTTF-100A System, a new device to treat adults with glioblastoma multiforme that recurs or progresses after receiving chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

15 Apr 2011

Patients with heart failure can benefit from left ventricular assist device

Non-cardiac surgery can be performed safely in patients with a heart device typically implanted into patients waiting for a transplant, according to a study at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

15 Apr 2011

Merck begins tender offer for all Inspire shares

Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced the commencement of the tender offer for all outstanding shares of Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for $5.00 per share in cash without interest and less any applicable withholding taxes.

15 Apr 2011

New approach links cancer cell metabolism with poor clinical outcome

Identifying gene mutations in cancer patients to predict clinical outcome has been the cornerstone of cancer research for nearly three decades, but now researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson have invented a new approach that instead links cancer cell metabolism with poor clinical outcome. This approach can now be applied to virtually any type of human cancer cell.

15 Apr 2011

JNJ, Merck sign distribution agreement for REMICADE and SIMPONI

Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) and its subsidiary Centocor Ortho Biotech Inc., today announced that the companies have reached agreement to amend the distribution rights to REMICADE and SIMPONI, which treat chronic inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

15 Apr 2011

Study: Low-carb diet greatly reduces liver fat

Curbing carbohydrates is more effective than cutting calories for individuals who want to quickly reduce the amount of fat in their liver, report UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers.

15 Apr 2011

Saint Louis professor develops new high-flow brain bypass procedure

On the cover of a recent edition of the journal Neurosurgery, the highest circulation medical journal in the field, readers saw an artist's intricate depiction of the high-flow brain bypass technique developed by Saint Louis University professor of neurosurgery, Saleem Abdulrauf, M.D.

15 Apr 2011

Viewpoints: Ryan responds to Obama; calling Ryan's 'bluff'; 'magical solutions'

This week the House of Representatives will take the first real step in addressing our looming fiscal crisis by bringing "The Path to Prosperity," a budget resolution for next year and beyond, to the House floor. This budget offers a clear contrast to the president's speech on Wednesday. … [A] deficit speech that doesn't even rise to the level of a plan. Missing was a credible way to curb out-of-control spending.

15 Apr 2011

Patients with COPD can benefit from ICS use

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who are hospitalized for pneumonia and treated with inhaled corticosteroids have decreased mortality when compared to those who are not treated with ICS, according to a retrospective analysis of almost 16,000 COPD patients admitted to VA hospitals.

15 Apr 2011

Genentech receives FDA approval for Actemra to treat juvenile idiopathic arthritis

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Actemra, given alone or in combination with methotrexate, for the treatment of active systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis in children ages 2 years and older.

15 Apr 2011

RXi prices underwritten public offering of 11,950,000 shares of common stock

RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation, a biotechnology company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing innovative therapies addressing major unmet medical needs using immunotherapy and RNA-targeted technologies, today announced that it has priced an underwritten public offering of 11,950,000 units at a price to the public of $1.00 per unit for gross proceeds of approximately $12 million.

15 Apr 2011

First Edition: April 15, 2011

Today's headlines include reports about yesterday's passage of the short-term spending compromise as well as debate and detail regarding health care costs, entitlement reform and other long-term budget concerns.

15 Apr 2011

Patients with RLS more likely to develop cardiovascular conditions

Results from a two-year retrospective cohort study presented at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, Hawaii, U.S., showed that patients were significantly more likely to develop cardiovascular conditions, including hypertension, cardiac dysrhythmias and chronic ischemic heart diseases after an initial diagnosis of RLS, as compared to controls without RLS.

15 Apr 2011

Study: CCSVI may result from multiple sclerosis progression

A just released study on the relationship between multiple sclerosis and chronic cerebral venous insufficiency, a narrowing of the extracranial veins that restricts the normal outflow of blood from the brain, found that CCSVI may be a result of MS, not a cause.

15 Apr 2011

New research finds older adults consume more phytonutrients than youths

Although only one in 10 American adults eats enough fruits and vegetables, new research being presented at the Experimental Biology meeting this week in Washington, D.C., finds older adults are consuming higher levels of carotenoids, flavonoids and other phytonutrients found in fruits and vegetables that are thought to support healthy aging.

15 Apr 2011

New insights into dynamics of amyloid fibrils

A research study, published yesterday in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, demonstrates that the aggregation of amyloid-beta proteins into amyloid fibrils characteristic of Alzheimer's disease is not irreversible, as previously thought.

15 Apr 2011

Economists urge G20 finance ministers to support Tobin tax to fund global development

One thousand economists have signed a letter calling on G20 finance ministers, who are meeting in Washington this week, to support the "so-called 'Robin Hood tax' or Tobin tax on transactions in financial markets," the Guardian reports.

15 Apr 2011