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FDA's decision on Avastin will take away choice for many patients, says Breastcancer.org

Dr. Marisa Weiss, president and founder of Breastcancer.org and a breast oncologist in the Philadelphia area submitted a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration prior to the Oncology Drug Advisory Committee (ODAC) meeting to review data for Avastin's use in metastatic HER2-negative breast cancer. In light of today's news that the FDA has recommended removing Avastin's approval to treat breast cancer, Breastcancer.org is making public Dr. Weiss' ODAC letter in its entirety.

17 Dec 2010

Antidepressants may have adverse effect on elders when prescribed for the first time

More than half of older Americans who were prescribed antidepressants for the first time were already taking a medication that could adversely interact with the antidepressant, according to a new study from Thomson Reuters.

17 Dec 2010

Pediatric plastic surgeon reconstructs patient's jaw

Pediatric plastic surgeon Rohit Khosla, MD, had never seen a case like it: the 12-year-old boy's face ballooned with a rare, aggressive bone tumor. Although it was non-cancerous, the tumor was destroying the patient's jaw. Khosla knew he would need an innovative approach to save the boy's ability to chew.

17 Dec 2010

'Histone code' needs to be used with caution

The function of histones -- the proteins that enable yards of DNA to be crammed into a single cell -- depends on a number of chemical tags adorning their exterior. This sophisticated chemical syntax for packaging DNA into tight little coils or unraveling it again -- called the "histone code" -- is the latest frontier for researchers bent on understanding how genetics encodes life.

17 Dec 2010

Mayo Clinic ACTS project supports African-American dementia caregivers

With a rapidly expanding population of elders, the number of dementia caregivers in Florida is increasing exponentially. According to the Alzheimer's Association, nearly 10 million caregivers provide unpaid care to people with Alzheimer's disease. Finding the best way to support caregivers, especially with fewer state resources available, is one focus of ongoing research at Mayo Clinic in Florida.

17 Dec 2010

AHA recognizes UC Irvine Medical Center's commitment to high-quality cardiac care

The American Heart Association has recognized UC Irvine Healthcare's commitment to the highest standards of care for heart failure patients.

17 Dec 2010

Viron's Phase 2a trial for VT-111 meets primary, secondary endpoints in ACS patients

Viron Therapeutics Inc. today announced that the results of Viron's Phase 2a trial for VT-111 were published today in Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions. In the study led by Dr. Jean-Claude Tardif, Director of the Research Centre at the Montreal Heart Institute, VT-111, also known as Serp-1, met both its primary and secondary endpoints of safety and biological activity in Acute Coronary Syndrome patients receiving coronary stents.

17 Dec 2010

Whitehead Institute Founding Member named recipient of 2011 Warren Triennial Prize of MGH

Whitehead Institute Founding Member Rudolf Jaenisch has been named a recipient of the 2011 Warren Triennial Prize of Massachusetts General Hospital.

17 Dec 2010

Prions responsible for BSE can survive in new host environment

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have shown that prions, bits of infectious protein that can cause fatal neurodegenerative disease such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy or "mad cow disease," have the ability to adapt to survive in a new host environment.

17 Dec 2010

Genentech confirms EMA, FDA updates on Avastin for metastatic breast cancer

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, confirmed that following the reviews of Avastin® (bevacizumab) in metastatic breast cancer by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the following regulatory announcements were made by the individual health authorities:

17 Dec 2010

Emotional intelligence and cognitive skills sharpen after 60

Older people have a hard time keeping a lid on their feelings, especially when viewing heartbreaking or disgusting scenes in movies and reality shows, psychologists have found. But they're better than their younger counterparts at seeing the positive side of a stressful situation and empathizing with the less fortunate, according to research from the University of California, Berkeley.

17 Dec 2010

Electronic cigarettes much safer than real cigarettes, says BUSPH researcher

In a new report that bucks the concerns raised by the Food and Drug Administration, a Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) (sph.bu.edu) researcher concludes that electronic cigarettes are much safer than real cigarettes and show promise in the fight against tobacco-related diseases and death.

17 Dec 2010

Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota praises fix of orphan drug discount under 340B program

Families who were facing the prospect of huge increases in the cost of life-saving drugs for their children can breath easier thanks to a new law that will preserve discounts on specialized, so-called "orphan drugs."

17 Dec 2010

UIC introduces robotic kidney transplantation surgery for obese recipients

Surgeons at the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago are the first to offer robotic kidney transplantation to morbidly obese patients and report fewer complications among this high risk population.

17 Dec 2010

Global Fund approves 79 grants with two-year commitment of $1.7B

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Board of Directors on Wednesday approved 79 grants with a two-year commitment of "$1.7 billion dollars for projects against the diseases, amid warnings that some hard-hit African countries were being left out," Agence France-Presse reports. The commitment, according to Ethiopian Health Minister Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who chairs the Global Fund's board, "shows that even in hard economic times, we can continue to expand the fight against the three diseases" (12/15).

17 Dec 2010

Catalyst receives $4.0M milestone payment from Pfizer under hemophilia Factor VIIa program

Catalyst Biosciences, Inc., the leading company in the discovery and development of engineered proteases, today announced the receipt of a $4.0 million milestone payment from Pfizer Inc. under the terms of the collaboration agreement for the development of improved recombinant human Factor VIIa variants for the treatment of hemophilia and other bleeding disorders.

17 Dec 2010

Study suggests blood test may detect persons with CKD

An infrequently used blood test can effectively identify individuals at increased risk of developing complications associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD), according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN).

17 Dec 2010

MDA awards Repligen $1.4M for research of new compound with therapeutic potential for SMA

The Muscular Dystrophy Association today announced it has awarded $1.4 million in new research funding to the biopharmaceutical firm Repligen of Waltham, Mass., to complete the preclinical work needed to begin human clinical trials of a promising therapeutic compound for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

17 Dec 2010

Merck, sanofi-aventis enter global cancer research and development agreement

Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, announced today that Merck, has signed a worldwide research and development agreement with sanofi-aventis U.S. Inc., under which Merck Serono and sanofi-aventis U.S. Inc. will collaboratively investigate novel experimental combinations of agents that could block specific pathways in cancer cells. This collaboration could deliver novel targeted oncology treatments with high therapeutic potential.

17 Dec 2010

Researchers discover new molecular mechanism of Alzheimer's disease through protein interaction

Through a complex analysis of protein interactions, researchers from IRB Barcelona and the Joint Programme IRB-BSC have discovered new molecular mechanisms that may be involved in the development of Alzheimer's disease.

17 Dec 2010

Medical News

FDA's decision on Avastin will take away choice for many patients, says Breastcancer.org

Antidepressants may have adverse effect on elders when prescribed for the first time

Pediatric plastic surgeon reconstructs patient's jaw

'Histone code' needs to be used with caution

Mayo Clinic ACTS project supports African-American dementia caregivers

AHA recognizes UC Irvine Medical Center's commitment to high-quality cardiac care

Viron's Phase 2a trial for VT-111 meets primary, secondary endpoints in ACS patients

Whitehead Institute Founding Member named recipient of 2011 Warren Triennial Prize of MGH

Prions responsible for BSE can survive in new host environment

Genentech confirms EMA, FDA updates on Avastin for metastatic breast cancer

Emotional intelligence and cognitive skills sharpen after 60

Electronic cigarettes much safer than real cigarettes, says BUSPH researcher

Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota praises fix of orphan drug discount under 340B program

UIC introduces robotic kidney transplantation surgery for obese recipients

Global Fund approves 79 grants with two-year commitment of $1.7B

Catalyst receives $4.0M milestone payment from Pfizer under hemophilia Factor VIIa program

Study suggests blood test may detect persons with CKD

MDA awards Repligen $1.4M for research of new compound with therapeutic potential for SMA

Merck, sanofi-aventis enter global cancer research and development agreement

Researchers discover new molecular mechanism of Alzheimer's disease through protein interaction

Advancing brain microphysiological systems (bMPS)

PhD researcher at LifeArc

Unveiling Hidden Potential: Organoids for Disease Modeling in Neuroscience Research

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