Strategies & Technologies Driving Drug Discovery to Market
Loophole in Pancreatic Cancer Defenses?
March 28, 2013 12:27 pm | News | CommentsScientists have discovered that pancreatic cancer cells' growth and spread are fueled by an unusual metabolic pathway that someday might be blocked with targeted drugs. Cancer cells are known to "wire" their metabolic circuits differently from normal cells to provide energy for cancerous growth.
CRT, ICR Pair With Janssen on Myeloma Drug
March 28, 2013 11:51 am | News | CommentsCancer Research Technology and The Institute of Cancer Research are collaborating with Janssen Biotech Inc. to discover a potential new multiple myeloma drug. Multiple myeloma is often effectively treated initially, but many patients become resistant to treatment, and there is an urgent need for new therapies.
FDA Approves New MS Drug
March 28, 2013 7:31 am | News | CommentsThe Food and Drug Administration announced that it has approved Tecfidera to control multiple sclerosis, or MS, in adults with hard-to-treat forms of the disease, a debilitating illness in which the body attacks its own nervous system. There is no cure for multiple sclerosis.
Trovagene Launches HPV Test
March 27, 2013 3:13 pm | by Linda A. Johnson | News | CommentsTrovagene Inc. has launched a urine-based test for a common, sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer, some other cancer types, and genital warts. HPV lurks in an estimated 79 million American women and men, most of whom don't know it.
Pozen Submits NDA for Aspirin Alternatives
March 27, 2013 12:01 pm | News | CommentsPozen Inc. announced the submission of a new drug application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the marketing approval of two potential cardiovascular drugs. Posen's PA32540 and PA8140 are both intended as alternatives to plain aspirin for the prevention of cardiovascular disease.
Drug Prevents Aging, Cancer Progression
March 27, 2013 11:50 am | News | CommentsResearchers have discovered that the antidiabetic drug metformin reduces the production of inflammatory cytokines that normally activate the immune system, but if overproduced can lead to pathological inflammation, a condition that both damages tissues in aging and favors tumor growth.
Ganetespib Shows Potency Against Lung Cancer
March 27, 2013 11:23 am | News | CommentsGanetespib, a drug that indirectly impairs the function of several cancer-driving proteins, including anaplastic lymphoma kinase, may be an effective new treatment for patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive non-small cell lung cancer.
FDA Accepts Immunotherapy BLA
March 27, 2013 10:30 am | News | CommentsMerck announced that the Biologics License Application for its investigational Timothy grass pollen allergy immunotherapy tablet has been accepted for review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Merck previously submitted a BLA to the FDA for its investigational ragweed pollen AIT.
GSK, Texas A&M Establish Vaccine Facility
March 26, 2013 11:54 am | News | CommentsGlaxoSmithKline and Texas A&M announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has approved the establishment of a $91 million influenza-vaccines manufacturing facility as the anchor of the Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing in Bryan-College Station, Texas.
T-cell Therapy Eradicates Leukemia
March 26, 2013 11:40 am | News | CommentsTwo children with an aggressive form of childhood leukemia had a complete remission of their disease—showing no evidence of cancer cells in their bodies—after treatment with a novel cell therapy that reprogrammed their immune cells to rapidly multiply and destroy leukemia cells.
Rejuvenating Blood
March 26, 2013 11:12 am | News | CommentsA research group has succeeded in rejuvenating the blood of mice by reversing, or re-programming, the stem cells that produce blood. These findings indicate that it may not primarily be damage to DNA that causes blood to age, but rather reversible epigenetic changes.
Findings to Help Design HFM Drug
March 26, 2013 10:37 am | News | CommentsNew research findings may help scientists design drugs to treat a virus infection that causes potentially fatal brain swelling and paralysis in children. The virus, called enterovirus 71, causes hand, foot and mouth disease and is common throughout the world.
Researchers Find Way to Regulate Beta Cells
March 26, 2013 12:00 am | News | CommentsBringing scientists a step closer to new treatments for diabetes, researchers have discovered a mechanism that regulates the replication of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Regenerating beta cells to restore insulin production has moved to center stage in the quest for diabetes therapies.
Japan OKs Pfizer RA Drug
March 25, 2013 4:44 pm | by Linda A. Johnson | News | CommentsDrugmaker Pfizer Inc. said that its new rheumatoid arthritis drug, Xeljanz, has been approved for use in Japan. Xeljanz, known chemically as tofacitinib, is the first approved pill in a new class of medicines called JAK inhibitors. It was approved in the United States in November.
Researchers Decode Biology of Blood Disorders
March 25, 2013 12:28 pm | News | CommentsTwo studies shed light on the molecular biology of three blood disorders, leading to novel strategies to treat these diseases. The studies propose two new treatments for beta-thalassemia, a blood disorder which affects thousands of people globally every year.
