Tag: Drug

Regulators flag second potential carcinogen in China-made heart drug

The findings have already prompted recalls in more than 50 countries, affecting several Chinese and Indian companies.  (iStock) European and North American regulators have said they are examining a second potentially cancer-causing substance in a commonly-used blood pressure drug made by Chinese firm Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceuticals. Statements from health regulators in the EU, United States

Early-stage clinical trial of antimalarial drug begins

Enrollment has begun in a Phase 1 clinical trial to test the safety of a new investigational drug designed to treat malaria, as well as its effect on the human body. The first-in-human study is sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and

£19,000-a-year MS drug is ‘too expensive for the NHS’

Thousands will be denied £19,000-a-year drug for multiple sclerosis Thousands will be denied £19,000-a-year drug for multiple sclerosis which could keep them out of a wheelchair because it’s too expensive for the NHS Ocrelizumab is the first-ever drug to effectively treat primary progressive MS But NHS rationing watchdog NICE said £9,600 price rag did not

Hopes rise again for a drug to slow Alzheimer’s disease

Experimental Alzheimer’s drug raises hopes after it appears to slow down effects of the degenerative disease for more than 100 trial patients On cognitive tests, patients who received the highest dose of the drug performed 30 percent better At the beginning of the study, all the participants had signs of plaques in the brain that

Newly developed therapeutic shown to combat drug addiction

A new therapeutic may help reverse chemical imbalances made to the brain by habitual drug use and could one day help recovering drug addicts avoid future drug use. Researchers from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston developed and tested a treatment on rats and found it effective in reducing the animals’ cravings. Their

New drug halves hearing loss in children following cancer treatment

Giving the drug sodium thiosulphate after chemotherapy reduces hearing loss in children treated for liver cancer, according to findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine today. Results from the Cancer Research UK funded SIOPEL-6 clinical trial show that giving sodium thiosulphate (STS), after a type of chemotherapy called cisplatin, reduces hearing loss by

This ‘light-activated’ drug could treat Parkinson’s

The drug — which is activated by shining light down an optical fiber implanted in the brain — reduced Parkinson’s symptoms and improved motor function in mice. In a paper about the work now published in the Journal of Controlled Release, the international team suggests that the “light-operated” drug could potentially treat other movement disorders.

Drug resistance genes shared among bacteria in hospitals can be deadly

A hospital outbreak of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) became more worrisome when researchers found resistance genes being shared among unrelated bacteria via plasmids and other mobile genetic elements. This new research will be presented at ASM Microbe, the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, held from June 7th through June 11th in Atlanta, Georgia.

Drug combination slows growth of most common type of advanced breast cancer

The combination of taselisib and fulvestrant has shown to slow the growth of cancer in post-menopausal women with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) negative, PIK3CA-mutant, inoperable, locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer. Researchers from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) presented this data, from the SANDPIPER trial, in a press conference