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Also in global health news: Museveni on Uganda anti-gay bill; Zambia, India on collaboration; media examines water issues; Southern Sudan conflict

The Associated Press reports that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said that the anti-gay bill to be considered late next month or early March by the country's parliament "is too harsh and [he] has encouraged his ruling National Resistance Movement Party to overturn the death sentence provision. Several lawmakers have agreed and say they will push to remove the statute."

9 Jan 2010

Boston Scientific's PROMUS Everolimus-Eluting Coronary Stent System receives Japanese marketing approval

Boston Scientific Corporation announced today that it has received approval from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) to market its PROMUS® Everolimus-Eluting Coronary Stent System for the treatment of coronary artery disease. The Company plans to launch the product as soon as reimbursement approval is granted, which is expected in the coming weeks.

9 Jan 2010

Economist examines innovative mechanisms for funding global health programs

The Economist examines the "dramatic" change in funding for projects aimed at fighting diseases in the developing world. "In 1990 more than two-thirds of the $5.6 billion spent on global health assistance came from governments.

9 Jan 2010

One million seniors get more generous prescription drug benefits

As of Jan. 1, more than 1 million low-income seniors "are newly eligible for more generous prescription drug benefits under the 'extra help' program" in Medicare, The Associated Press reports.

9 Jan 2010

Genentech's ACTEMRA approved to treat RA

Genentech, Inc., a wholly owned member of the Roche Group, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ACTEMRA® (tocilizumab) for the treatment of adult patients with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who have had an inadequate response to one or more tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonist therapies.

8 Jan 2010

Synta Pharmaceuticals announces pricing of public offering of shares

Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp., a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing small molecule drugs to treat severe medical conditions, today announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 5,555,556 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $4.50 per share for gross proceeds of approximately $25 million.

8 Jan 2010

ESF-UB Conference to concentrate on potentially clinically relevant polymorphisms

Pharmacogenetics started in the fifties with the discovery of primaquine-related haemolysis among glucose-6-phosphate deshydrogenase deficient patients. At the end of the century, it progressively evolved into Pharmacogenomics, investigating simultaneously multiple gene targets till covering the whole genome in relation with altered drug response.

8 Jan 2010

Sinexus renamed as Intersect ENT; begins clinical study on new bioabsorbable stent

Sinexus has changed its name to Intersect ENT. Intersect's initial focus is a bioabsorbable drug eluting stent to treat patients with chronic sinusitis, a debilitating condition that affects 37 million people each year and is more prevalent than heart disease or asthma.

8 Jan 2010

Pharmaceutical companies working on nearly 100 life-changing medicines for HIV/AIDS

Medical News Today recently reported that America's pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies are working on nearly 100 life-changing medicines for diseases affecting people with HIV/AIDS, according to a new report released by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

8 Jan 2010

Researchers discover rules that dictate the three-dimensional shapes of RNA molecules

University of Michigan researchers have discovered the rules that dictate the three-dimensional shapes of RNA molecules, rules that are based not on complex chemical interactions but simply on geometry.

8 Jan 2010

Non-insulin-dependent patients with type 2 diabetes do not benefit from glucose self-monitoring

Contrary to the widely-held belief, there is no proof that non-insulin-dependent patients with type 2 diabetes benefit from glucose self-monitoring. Moreover, it remains unclear whether an additional benefit is displayed by the blood test compared to the urine test or vice versa, in other words, whether one or other of the tests might offer an advantage to patients.

8 Jan 2010

Proteostasis Therapeutics enters into exclusive license agreement with New York University

Proteostasis Therapeutics announced today that it has entered into an exclusive license agreement with New York University for intellectual property related to discoveries from the laboratory of David Ron, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Julius Raynes Professor of Cell Biology at NYU Langone Medical Center’s Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine.

8 Jan 2010

Breakthrough findings could lead to new treatments for prostate, brain and skin cancers

Researchers at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research of the Jewish General Hospital and McGill University in Montreal have discovered a previously unsuspected link between two different genetic pathways which suppress the growth of cancer tumours.

8 Jan 2010

Initiation of double blind placebo controlled multi-center trial of DAS181 announced

NexBio, Inc. announced today the initiation of a double blind placebo controlled multi-center trial in the U.S. and Mexico of DAS181 (Fludase®) for the treatment of laboratory confirmed influenza infection.

8 Jan 2010

Biovest International receives Orphan Drug Designation for its personalized lymphoma vaccine

Biovest International, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug Designation to BiovaxID®, Biovest’s personalized lymphoma vaccine. BiovaxID represents a new class of active immunotherapy and is one of the few select late-stage patient-specific cancer vaccines vying to be among the first to reach market.

8 Jan 2010

Epigenetic diagnosis and therapies, a new strategy for treating cancer

A tumor's genetic profile is often useful when diagnosing and deciding on treatment for certain cancers, but inexplicably, genetically similar leukemias in different patients do not always respond well to the same therapy.

7 Jan 2010

High or low blood calcium levels linked to increased risk of premature death in kidney disease patients

Abnormally high or low blood calcium levels are linked to an increased chance of premature death in non-dialysis kidney disease patients, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN).

7 Jan 2010

FDA issues Fast Track Designation to Sopherion Therapeutics' Myocet

Sopherion Therapeutics, LLC, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of anti-cancer therapies, announced today that it has received Fast Track Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for nonpegylated liposomal doxorubicin (Myocet(TM)) for first-line therapy of HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer.

7 Jan 2010

Rx Locker device to secure prescription medications

Due to the rising statistics about teens and prescription drug abuse, Dr. Drew Pinsky, host of Celebrity Rehab and Loveline, recently debuted the Rx Locker, a device designed to secure prescription medications within the home to restrict unauthorized access and prevent abuse.

7 Jan 2010

Apoteket and Medco Health Solutions develop centralized prescription safety program

Apoteket, Sweden's largest pharmacy chain, and Medco Health Solutions, Inc. today announced that it has developed one of the first national centralized drug utilization review (DUR) programs outside of the United States to improve prescription safety by reducing adverse drug events and thereby reducing the risk of costly hospitalizations.

7 Jan 2010

Drugs News and Research

Also in global health news: Museveni on Uganda anti-gay bill; Zambia, India on collaboration; media examines water issues; Southern Sudan conflict

Boston Scientific's PROMUS Everolimus-Eluting Coronary Stent System receives Japanese marketing approval

Economist examines innovative mechanisms for funding global health programs

One million seniors get more generous prescription drug benefits

Genentech's ACTEMRA approved to treat RA

Synta Pharmaceuticals announces pricing of public offering of shares

ESF-UB Conference to concentrate on potentially clinically relevant polymorphisms

Sinexus renamed as Intersect ENT; begins clinical study on new bioabsorbable stent

Pharmaceutical companies working on nearly 100 life-changing medicines for HIV/AIDS

Researchers discover rules that dictate the three-dimensional shapes of RNA molecules

Non-insulin-dependent patients with type 2 diabetes do not benefit from glucose self-monitoring

Proteostasis Therapeutics enters into exclusive license agreement with New York University

Breakthrough findings could lead to new treatments for prostate, brain and skin cancers

Initiation of double blind placebo controlled multi-center trial of DAS181 announced

Biovest International receives Orphan Drug Designation for its personalized lymphoma vaccine

Epigenetic diagnosis and therapies, a new strategy for treating cancer

High or low blood calcium levels linked to increased risk of premature death in kidney disease patients

FDA issues Fast Track Designation to Sopherion Therapeutics' Myocet

Rx Locker device to secure prescription medications

Apoteket and Medco Health Solutions develop centralized prescription safety program

Drug Discovery - Second Edition eBook

Leveraging the power of automation to boost research

Automating research - solutions and best practices

How can microdialysis benefit drug development

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