Efficacy News and Research

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WHO renews call for effective malaria treatment

More than 600 million people, most of them children living in sub-Saharan Africa, face the daily threat of death from malaria because new, effective treatments are not available where they live. Existing, cheaper medicines, which have been used for many years, are no longer effective in most places because the malaria parasite has developed resistance to them.

22 Apr 2004

FDA approval for drug to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

McNeil Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals has received an approvable letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the use of CONCERTA® (methylphenidate HCl) CII Extended-release Tablets in adolescents with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and to expand labeling to include a 72 mg dosing regimen.

22 Apr 2004

Fish oil reduces heart attack and blood vessel disease

Fish oil can help reduce deaths from heart disease, according to new evidence reports announced today by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

22 Apr 2004

FDA approves Advair Diskus® for children with asthma

GlaxoSmithKline has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of Advair 100/50 in children four years to eleven years of age with asthma who are symptomatic on inhaled corticosteroid therapy alone.

22 Apr 2004

500,000 patients have now been treated with REMICADE® worldwide

Centocor, Inc., announced today that more than a half million patients worldwide have now been treated with the anti-TNF agent REMICADE® (infliximab) since it was introduced in the United States five years ago.

21 Apr 2004

Cardiac Science receives warning from FDA

Cardiac Science, Inc., a leading manufacturer of life-saving automated public-access defibrillators (AED) and provider of comprehensive AED/CPR training services, said today that it received a Warning Letter following a routine inspection of its manufacturing facility in Minneapolis conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration

20 Apr 2004

Functional genomics provide improved drug discovery

Functional genomics and proteomics have been quite successful in identifying functions of potential therapeutic targets such as encoded proteins.

20 Apr 2004

New ways to fight type 2 diabetes

Adults with type 2 diabetes who have just one additional risk factor for heart disease should be taking medication to lower cholesterol levels, according to new guidelines from the American College of Physicians (ACP).

19 Apr 2004

Preclinical data on Histamine's ability to prevent liver damage

These new results demonstrate the ability of histamine to prevent LPS-induced liver injury in a rodent model by showing efficacy when delivered in a manner mimicking oral administration.

19 Apr 2004

FDA announces science-based approach to protecting Americans from unsafe dietary supplements

Speaking before the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) and the American Society for Nutritional Sciences, Dr. Lester M. Crawford, Acting Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), today outlined the agency's science-based approach to protecting American consumers from unsafe dietary supplements.

19 Apr 2004

Women get better picture on hormone replacement therapy

Detailed results of the "estrogen-alone" study within the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), which was terminated in early March 2004, are providing some of the first answers to questions about the efficacy of estrogen alone to prevent chronic disease in healthy, postmenopausal women who have had a hysterectomy.

14 Apr 2004

Lung tumor therapies improved by combining scanning technologies

Physicians targeting lung tumors for radiation therapy can substantially improve their aim by combining data from two scanning techniques, according to Washington University researchers at Siteman Cancer Center and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.

14 Apr 2004

Gene therapy helps damaged heart cells regain strength and beat normally

Researchers at Jefferson Medical College and Duke University have used gene therapy to help damaged heart cells regain strength and beat normally again in the laboratory. The work takes the scientists one step closer to eventual clinical trials in humans.

12 Apr 2004

New research into Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer is the second-most prevalent cancer in women and, despite encouraging improvements in screening leading to earlier detection, cervical cancer still kills many women every year. The risk of cervical cancer is increased by infection with certain types of human papilloma virus (HPV).

12 Apr 2004

Bush Administration Undermining World Health Organisation Guidelines

Since the release of President George W. Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the U.S. global AIDS coordinator and former CEO of Eli Lilly, Randall Tobias, and other Bush administration officials have made public remarks that question the quality of generic antiretroviral drugs and undermine international quality standards set by the World Health Organization.

11 Apr 2004

The Cambridge-MIT Institute has launched a project to tackle the bottlenecks that slow development of new drugs

The Next-Generation Drug Discovery Community will unite researchers at Cambridge University and MIT with partners from the information technology, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries to find ways to speed up development of the next generation of drugs--particularly those that treat diseases with complex causes such as cancers, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and diabetes.

7 Apr 2004

Molecular analyses of leukemia patients suggest strategies for better treatments

The cure rate for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) might continue to rise with improved use of conventional therapies. But even more effective and less toxic therapies based on genetic and pharmacogenetic studies might one day push the success rate close to 100 percent, according to an article published by investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the April 8 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

7 Apr 2004

FDA accepts REMICADE® (infliximab) for the treatment of early rheumatoid arthritis

Centocor, Inc., announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted its filing of a supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for REMICADE® (infliximab) as first-line therapy, in combination with methotrexate, for the treatment of early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with moderately-to-severely active disease. REMICADE®, in combination with methotrexate, is currently indicated in the U.S. for reducing signs and symptoms, inhibiting the progression of structural damage and improving physical function in patients with moderately-to-severely active RA who have had an inadequate response to methotrexate alone.

6 Apr 2004

Cephalosporins three times more effective than penicillin

Pediatricians treating a child who has strep throat should reconsider the role of penicillin given that a newer class of antibiotics called cephalosporins are three times more effective, according to a study being published in the April issue of Pediatrics. The findings will spark widespread debate, because they contradict long-established guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Heart Association,and World Health Organization.

5 Apr 2004

ULTRACET® Effective And Well Tolerated For Post-Surgical Pain

A new study published in the latest edition of a leading medical journal has shown that treatment with ULTRACET® (37.5 mg tramadol hydrochloride/325 mg acetaminophen tablets) demonstrates similar efficacy and better tolerability than TYLENOL® with Codeine No. 3 when each is compared to placebo.

5 Apr 2004