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Nanodiamonds advance anticancer gene therapy

Gene therapy holds promise in the treatment of cancer as well as a large number of other diseases. However, developing a scalable system for delivering genes to cells both efficiently and safely has been challenging. Now, two teams of researchers have developed versatile nanotechnology-enabled platforms that could get therapeutic genes safely and efficiently into cancer cells.

23 Sep 2009

Golden nanotubes detect tumor cells, map sentinel lymph nodes

Biomedical researchers at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock have developed a special contrast-imaging agent made of gold-coated carbon nanotubes that is capable of molecular mapping of lymphatic endothelial cells and detecting cancer metastasis in sentinel lymph nodes.

23 Sep 2009

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles catalyze brain tumor death

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago Medical Center's Brain Tumor Center have developed a way to target brain cancer cells using inorganic titanium dioxide nanoparticles bonded to antibodies.

23 Sep 2009

Magnetic nanoworms and nanocrystals deliver siRNA to tumors

Small pieces of nucleic acid known as short interfering RNAs, or siRNAs, can turn off the production of specific proteins, a property that makes them one of the more promising new classes of anticancer drugs in development. Indeed, at least two siRNA-based anticancer therapies, both delivered to tumors in nanoparticles, have begun human clinical trials.

23 Sep 2009

Study of new swine flu vaccines looks for local children to take part

Paediatricians at Bristol Children's Vaccine Centre are looking for 170 children to take part in a study of the two swine 'flu vaccines due to be used in the UK this winter.

23 Sep 2009

Obama aides say media blitz helps; polls show majority of Americans unworried by costs, quality

White House advisers believe the strategy of blanketing the airwaves with President Obama's live speeches has been an effective one in gaining a foothold in the health care debate, Roll Call reports. After a particularly media-heavy month for the president, critics have said Obama is "overexposed." His aides, however, call that "dominating news cycles," a welcome change after an August in which harsh criticism of the president's plans stole headlines.

23 Sep 2009

Insurers, GOP react to criticism of letters to seniors

Insurers and Republicans react to the Obama administration's criticism of letters about health care reform from insurance companies, including Humana, to seniors. The Associated Press reports: "Republican lawmakers rebuked the Obama administration Tuesday for telling health insurance companies to stop warning elderly customers about proposed health care legislation, which some equated to a gag order."

23 Sep 2009

Some Medicare benefit cuts, increasing premiums could create 'political nightmare'

News outlets examine Medicare costs and long-term financing while the budget chief contradicts the president's repeated claim that seniors wouldn't see their Medicare benefits cut under health care reform.

23 Sep 2009

Morphotek receives NIAID grant to develop human mAb therapies against staphylococcal-derived pathogens

Morphotek(R), Inc., a subsidiary of Eisai Corporation of North America, announced today that it was awarded $843,289 in funding from the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, to support the development of human monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapies against staphylococcal-derived toxin(s).

23 Sep 2009

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics completes humanization of its ICT-37 and ICT-109 antibody candidates

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd. (OTCBB: IMUC), a clinical-stage biotechnology company that is developing immune based therapies for the treatment of brain and other cancers, announced today that it has completed humanization of ICT-37 and ICT-109.

23 Sep 2009

Oxygen Biotherapeutics to commence Phase II-b trial of Oxycyte in treating traumatic brain injury

Oxygen Biotherapeutics, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: OXBO) today announced that the company has received approval from Israel's Ministry of Health to begin a Phase II-b, dose escalation, clinical trial in that country for use of Oxycyte(R) in traumatic brain injury (TBI). Oxycyte is the Company's perfluorocarbon (PFC) therapeutic oxygen carrier.

23 Sep 2009

Trial lawyers push back on medical malpractice reform

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23 Sep 2009

The ThermoDox and MR-HIFU program shows great promise for treating life-threatening cancers

Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG; AEX: PHI) and Celsion Corporation (NASDAQ: CLSN) today announced that their joint research program to evaluate ThermoDox® in combination with MR-HIFU (Magnetic Resonance guided High Intensity Focused Ultrasound) as a combination therapy to non-invasively treat difficult cancers has successfully completed the feasibility stage.

23 Sep 2009

Safety tips for OTC and prescription medications

The beginning of October marks the start of Talk About Prescriptions Month, which is sponsored by the National Council on Patient Information and Education. In support of this annual awareness effort, Health Net, Inc. (NYSE:HNT) is sharing tips to help consumers safely take over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription medications.

23 Sep 2009

Four percent annual growth for chronic pain drug market

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that the chronic pain drug market will experience modest four percent annual growth from 2008 to 2018 in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Japan. Although the market will increase over the next decade, generic erosion will constrain sales of key branded agents such as Johnson & Johnson's Topamax (topiramate) and Pfizer's Celebrex (celecoxib).

23 Sep 2009

CareWebQI interactive software for real-time clinical data

Hospitals, health plans and other organizations can ease their care management and patient-tracking workload with new tools and features available in CareWebQI((R)) Version 1.9 from Milliman Care Guidelines.

23 Sep 2009

Aspect and Bruker BioSpin collaborate to develop a new high performance desktop preclinical MRI system

At the 2009 World Molecular Imaging Congress (WMIC) in Montreal, Aspect Magnet Technologies and Bruker BioSpin, a division of Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ: BRKR), today announced that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the development of a high performance desktop preclinical MRI system.

23 Sep 2009

New Fluorescence Molecular Tomography imaging systems from VisEn Medical

VisEn Medical Inc., a leader in fluorescence in vivo imaging from research through medicine, announced the launch and availability of a new Fluorescence Molecular Tomography (FMT) imaging system -- the FMT 1500, and an advanced version of its FMT 2500, the FMT 2500 LX.

23 Sep 2009

Results of Phase 3 CRYSTAL study of mCRC patients announced

The retrospective CRYSTAL analysis was conducted as a result of an effort to increase the tissue ascertainment rate to determine the K-ras status of patients’ tumors. The analysis included extended patient follow up of nearly 1.5 years and doubled the tissue ascertainment rate from 45% to 89%. These data are an update from the overall survival results from CRYSTAL that were published in the April 2009 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

23 Sep 2009

Philips and Bruker sign MOU to develop new imaging technology

At the 2009 World Molecular Imaging Congress (WMIC) in Montreal, Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) and Bruker BioSpin, a division of Bruker Corporation, today announced that they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the development of Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI) scanners, a new imaging technology, for the preclinical market.

From Philips Healthcare 23 Sep 2009