Health News

Clinical Trial Supply West Coast Returns To San Francisco, 29-30 May 2013

Date: Mar-25-2013
Following from the success of Arena's past five conferences, Clinical Trial Supply West Coast 2013 will return on 29-30 May in San Francisco to bring brand new and interesting clinical supply concepts that will help revolutionize the management of the clinical supply chain. This year, a broad scope of topics will be covered throughout the supply chain specifically researched and selected to reflect the challenges affecting the West Coast market...

Biobankers Express Concern Over Sample Waste, 3rd Annual Biobanking Conference, 24-25 June 2013, London

Date: Mar-25-2013
In a first-of-its kind national survey published earlier this year by Genome Medicine, nearly 70% of the 456 US biobankers questioned, are worried that specimen samples are being underused. Nature Medicine With this in mind it is now more important than ever to build sustainable biobanks having improved access and longer bio-specimen lifecycles. In addition to the concerns of retention, Biobanks are under constant pressure to meet quality standards and international regulations...

We Need A Better Flu Vaccine Before Considering Mandatory Vaccination Of Health Care Workers

Date: Mar-25-2013
Until we have a better influenza vaccine, it is premature to consider mandatory vaccination for health care workers, states a commentary published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). There has been an increasing push for mandatory vaccination of health care workers in Canada. In this country, vaccination against the flu for health care workers is mostly voluntary, with a maximum uptake rate of around 60%; in some US hospitals, influenza vaccination is mandatory, and vaccination rates can be 95% or higher...

New Nanoparticle Chemo Is Gentler On Fertility

Date: Mar-25-2013
Using nanoparticles as "Trojan horses", scientists have designed and lab-tested a way to deliver an arsenic-based chemo drug that ferociously attacks cancer, but is gentler on the ovaries. They hope the new method will help to protect the fertility of women undergoing cancer treatment.  The team also developed a rapid way to test existing and new chemo drugs for their effect on ovarian function, so doctors and their female patients can make treatment decisions that minimize damage to ovaries and thus increase the chance of having a future family...

STREAM Trial Data Supports An Early Fibrinolysis-Based Strategy For Patients With STEMI Who Cannot Undergo Primary PCI

Date: Mar-25-2013
New data published in NEJM demonstrates that patients with STEMI who cannot undergo primary PCI within 60 minutes of first medical contact have similar clinical outcomes with early fibrinolysis with Metalyse® (tenecteplase, TNK-tPA) in combination with clopidogrel and enoxaparin, followed by timely angiography (pharmaco-invasive strategy), compared to patients given primary PCI after the 60-minute window.(1) "In STEMI patients, the most important thing is to re-establish blood supply to the heart...

New Method Developed To Expand Blood Stem Cells For Bone Marrow Transplant

Date: Mar-25-2013
More than 50,000 stem cell transplants are performed each year worldwide. A research team led by Weill Cornell Medical College investigators may have solved a major issue of expanding adult hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) outside the human body for clinical use in bone marrow transplantation - a critical step towards producing a large supply of blood stem cells needed to restore a healthy blood system...

BUSM Researchers Identify Chemical Compounds That Halt Virus Replication - Could Lead To Development Of Broad Spectrum Antivirals For Deadly Viruses

Date: Mar-25-2013
Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have identified a new chemical class of compounds that have the potential to block genetically diverse viruses from replicating. The findings, published in Chemistry & Biology, could allow for the development of broad-spectrum antiviral medications to treat a number of viruses, including the highly pathogenic Ebola and Marburg viruses...

Effect Of Genzyme's LEMTRADA Maintained In Patients Beyond Two-Year Pivotal MS Studies

Date: Mar-25-2013
Genzyme, a Sanofi Company (EURONEXT: SAN and NYSE: SNY), have announced interim results from the first year of the extension study of LEMTRADA™ (alemtuzumab), being developed for the treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS). In this analysis of the first year of the extension study, relapse rates and sustained accumulation of disability remained low among patients who had previously received LEMTRADA in either of the Phase III CARE-MS I and CARE-MS II studies. In these pivotal studies, LEMTRADA was given as two annual courses, at the start of the study and 12 months later...

Gilenya® (Fingolimod) Demonstrates Consistent Benefits In Reduction Of Relapses And Brain Volume Loss In Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis

Date: Mar-25-2013
Data presented at the 65th annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) show Gilenya® (fingolimod), the first and only once-daily oral therapy reimbursed to treat highly active relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), significantly and consistently reduced the rate of brain volume loss and reduced relapse rates compared to interferon beta-1a IM or placebo.(1,2,4) The new data add to the growing body of evidence for fingolimod regarding its early efficacy benefits and long-term safety profile...

MU Discovery Could Increase Efficacy Of Promising Cystic Fibrosis Drug

Date: Mar-25-2013
A little more than a year after the FDA approved Kalydeco (Vx-770), the first drug of its kind to treat the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis, University of Missouri researchers believe they have found exactly how this drug works and how to improve its effectiveness in the future. Described in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, MU researchers have redefined a key regulatory process in the defective protein responsible for cystic fibrosis that could change the way scientists approach the lethal genetic disease...