Drug Development
Nanoparticles loaded with bee venom kill HIV
March 8, 2013 3:22 pm | by Julia Evangelou Strait, WUSTL | News | Comments
According to findings by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, nanoparticles carrying a toxin found in bee venom can destroy human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) while leaving surrounding cells unharmed. The finding is an important step toward developing a vaginal gel that may prevent the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
New gel material releases drug under patient’s pressure
March 14, 2013 10:39 am | News | Comments
A research team at the National Institute of Materials Science in Japan has recently developed a...
Scientists find chemical that might control cell behavior
March 14, 2013 10:09 am | News | Comments
Most people who are killed by cancer are victims of the spread of the original cancerous tumor,...
Nanoparticles loaded with bee venom kill HIV
March 8, 2013 3:22 pm | by Julia Evangelou Strait, WUSTL | News | Comments
According to findings by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis,...
XenoPort MS treatment fails in late-stage testing
May 20, 2013 12:01 pm | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsShares of XenoPort Inc. sank Monday after the drug developer said a potential treatment for multiple sclerosis patients failed in late-stage clinical testing, and it will stop developing the drug. The Santa Clara, Calif., company said the treatment, labeled arbaclofen placarbil, failed to show a statistically significant improvement for patients taking it compared to a fake drug.
Local CROs Unite for International Clinical Trials
May 20, 2013 3:41 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsGlobal CROs are no longer the obvious choice for companies looking to run international clinical trials. The motion is towards locally based CROs that are connected internationally to drive down R&D costs and leverage local know-how and quality.
United Tech donates $3M for Yale cancer research
May 15, 2013 1:20 pm | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsAerospace conglomerate United Technologies Corp. says it's donated $3 million to establish an endowed professorship at the Yale Cancer Center in New Haven. Lieping Chen will be the first United Technologies Corp. Professor in Cancer Research and is known for research leading to clinical trials of new cancer drugs that harness the body's immune system to fight cancer.
Eli Lilly ends development of lymphoma drug
May 10, 2013 1:06 pm | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsEli Lilly and Co. said Friday it will stop development of an experimental cancer drug after it failed in a late-stage clinical trial. The company was studying enzastaurin as a treatment for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, a cancer that affects a type of white blood cell. Lilly said patients who were treated with enzastaurin did not survive longer than patients treated with a placebo.
State pharmacy boards back more FDA oversight
May 9, 2013 2:47 pm | by MATTHEW PERRONE - AP Health Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsState pharmacy officials on Thursday threw their support behind a proposal giving the Food and Drug Administration authority over large compounding pharmacies, in an effort to head off more outbreaks tied to contaminated medications. The head of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy told Senate lawmakers that his group welcomes FDA action against pharmacies.
FDA OKs Bristol's HIV drug for younger patients
May 3, 2013 5:51 pm | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsBristol-Myers Squibb Co. said Friday that U.S. regulators expanded approval of its HIV drug Sustiva to children as young as three months old. The capsule-based drug was first approved in 1998 to treat HIV-infected children who are age three and older and weigh at least 22 pounds. The new approval expands the drug's use to children age three months to three years who weigh at least 7.7 pounds.
FDA device will screen for fake medicines overseas
April 24, 2013 1:19 pm | by MATTHEW PERRONE - AP Health Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsU.S. health officials are making a high-tech screening device available to African authorities to help spot counterfeit malaria pills in hopes that the technology may eventually be used to combat the fake drug trade worldwide. The FDA announced Wednesday that regulators in Ghana will begin using a federally developed handheld device to screen for fake or diluted versions of two common malaria pills.
Antibody evolution could guide HIV vaccine development
April 6, 2013 3:25 pm | News | CommentsObserving the evolution of a particular type of antibody in an infected HIV-1 patient has provided insights that will enable vaccination strategies that mimic the actual antibody development within the body. Spearheaded by Duke University, the multi-institution study included analysis from Los Alamos National Laboratory and used high-energy X-rays from the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory.
Vertex, Bristol-Myers ink hepatitis C partnership
April 5, 2013 12:00 pm | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsVertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Friday it will work with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. to study a potential hepatitis C treatment regimen that includes Bristol-Myers Squibb's drug daclatasvir and Vertex's VX-135. Both drugs are taken orally. Vertex said it will start a clinical trial of the once-per-day regimen during the second quarter.
Pfizer inks deal with nanotechnology drugmaker
April 3, 2013 1:36 pm | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsBIND Therapeutics said Wednesday that Pfizer Inc. has agreed to pay it $160 million per drug as part of a collaboration to develop targeted medicines using nanotechnology which use particles measured in billionths of a meter. BIND is developing an experimental group of targeted, programmable...
New world strategy aims to eradicate polio by 2018
April 2, 2013 5:44 pm | by LAURAN NEERGAARD - AP Medical Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsA new global plan aims to end most cases of polio by late next year, and essentially eradicate the paralyzing disease by 2018 — if authorities can raise the $5.5 billion needed to do the work, health officials said Tuesday. Part of the challenge will be increasing security for vaccine workers who have come under attack in two of the hardest-hit countries. And the plan calls for changing how much of the world protects against polio, phasing out the long-used oral vaccine in favor of a pricier but safer shot version.
FDA approves first-of-its-kind diabetes drug from J&J
March 29, 2013 3:38 pm | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsThe Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved a first-of-its-kind diabetes drug from Johnson & Johnson that uses a new method to lower blood sugar—flushing it out in patients' urine. The agency cleared J&J's Invokana tablets for adults with Type 2 diabetes, which affects an estimated 26 million Americans. The once-a-day medication works by blocking the kidneys from reabsorbing sugar, which occurs at higher levels in patients with diabetes than in healthy patients.
FDA approves new multiple sclerosis capsules
March 27, 2013 5:11 pm | by MATTHEW PERRONE - AP Health Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsThe Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it approved a new drug from Biogen Idec to control multiple sclerosis in adults with hard-to-treat forms of the disease. The twice-a-day capsules, called Tecfidera, offer a new option for multiple sclerosis, a debilitating disease in which the body attacks its own nervous system.
Novel Amgen virus-vaccine shrinks melanoma tumors
March 20, 2013 1:53 pm | by LINDA A. JOHNSON - AP Business Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsShares of drugmaker Amgen Inc. are rising on news its innovative melanoma drug, which uses a virus as a Trojan horse to infiltrate and destroy tumors, shrank far more tumors than a standard treatment in a late-stage test. The results, released late Tuesday, show there's promise for similar vaccines other companies are developing.
Drug-resistant MRSA bacteria here to stay
March 18, 2013 9:07 am | by Catherine Zandonella, Office of the Dean for Research | News | CommentsThe drug-resistant bacteria known as MRSA, once confined to hospitals but now widespread in communities, will likely continue to exist in both settings as separate strains, according to a new study. Researchers at Princeton University used mathematical models to explore what will happen to community and hospital MRSA strains, which differ genetically.
FDA approves imaging drug for cancer lymph nodes
March 13, 2013 1:45 pm | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsThe Food and Drug Administration has approved a new imaging drug to help doctors locate lymph nodes in patients with breast cancer and skin cancer. The drug Lymphoseek from Navidea Biopharmaceuticals Inc. is a radioactive imaging agent that is intended to help determine if breast cancer or melanoma has spread to a patient's lymph nodes.
Biogen seeks approval of hemophilia A treatment
March 12, 2013 11:24 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsBiogen Idec has filed for federal marketing approval of a longer-lasting treatment for hemophilia A. Biogen says the drug rFVIIIFc can be injected once or twice a week, while other treatments for hemophilia A need to be injected three or four times a week. The drug could be the first major advance in the treatment of hemophilia in more than 20 years.
Nanogels offer new way to attack lupus
March 1, 2013 3:22 pm | by Eric Gershon, Yale University | News | CommentsIn systemic lupus erythematosus, the body attacks itself for largely mysterious reasons, leading to serious tissue inflammation and organ damage. Current drug treatments address symptoms only and can require life-long daily use at toxic doses. Now, scientists at Yale University have designed and tested a drug delivery system that uses biodegradable nanoparticles to deliver low drug doses. The method shows early promise for improved treatment of lupus and other chronic, uncured autoimmune diseases.
Team develops trackable drug-filled nanoparticles
March 1, 2013 8:35 am | News | CommentsMany researchers have been investigating the potential of tiny particles filled with drugs to treat cancer. A team of scientists in Sweden have recently made an advance in this area of research by developing “theranostic” nanoparticles, which combine therapy and diagnostics in the same nanomaterial. They are trackable through magnetic resonance.
Shape matters for targeted chemotherapy drugs
February 27, 2013 10:32 pm | News | CommentsBioengineering researchers at University of California, Santa Barbara have found that changing the shape of chemotherapy drug nanoparticles from spherical to rod-shaped made them up to 10,000 times more effective at specifically targeting and delivering anti-cancer drugs to breast cancer cells. The findings could have a big impact on the effectiveness of anti-cancer therapies and reducing the side effects of chemotherapy
Chemists find help from nature in fighting cancer
February 27, 2013 7:52 am | by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office | News | CommentsInspired by a chemical that fungi secrete to defend their territory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology chemists have synthesized and tested several dozen compounds that may hold promise as potential cancer drugs.
Yeast study yields potential for new drugs
February 25, 2013 1:20 pm | News | CommentsWhile studying a mutant strain of yeast, Purdue University researchers may have found a new target for drugs to combat cholesterol and fungal diseases.
Sanofi says FDA starts review of diabetes drug
February 19, 2013 11:45 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsFrench drugmaker Sanofi said Monday the Food and Drug Administration is starting a review of its once-a-day diabetes treatment lixisenatide. Lixisenatide is a treatment for type 2 diabetes in adults. It works by increasing the body's insulin production and is part of a class of drugs called GLP-1 agonists.
NIH chief: Cuts put vital medical research at risk
February 14, 2013 2:24 pm | by LAURAN NEERGAARD - AP Medical Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsBetter cancer drugs that zero in on a tumor with fewer side effects. A universal flu vaccine that could fight every strain of influenza without needing a yearly shot. Research into potentially life-saving products like these will be delayed and newer discoveries shelved if Congress can't avert impending budget cuts that the director of the National Institutes of Health warns will have far-reaching effects.
Sustainable new catalysts fueled by a single proton
February 13, 2013 1:35 pm | News | CommentsChemists at Boston College have designed a new class of catalysts triggered by the charge of a single proton, the team reports in Nature. The simple organic molecules offer a sustainable and highly efficient platform for chemical reactions that produce sets of molecules crucial to advances in medicine and the life sciences.
