Preclinical News and Research

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Drinking black tea might help combat type 2 diabetes

In an unexpected discovery Scottish scientists have found that black tea may help combat type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease.

5 Mar 2008

Experimental cancer drug MI-219 promising in preclinical studies

Researchers have long searched for a novel cancer drug that activates a certain protein to kill tumor cells.

4 Mar 2008

FDA approves Aloxi injection for prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting

Eisai Corporation of North America, its U.S. subsidiary, MGI PHARMA, INC., and Helsinn Healthcare SA today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Aloxi (palonosetron hydrochloride) injection for the prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) for up to 24 hours following surgery.

4 Mar 2008

Preclinical antitumor efficacy evaluation of dendrimer-based methotrexate conjugates

Although a variety of nanoparticles continue to show promise for improving cancer imaging and therapy, regulators and drug developers are concerned that these delivery systems may prove difficult to manufacture on a consistent basis, which is key for any agent designed for use in humans.

3 Mar 2008

Mouse model tightly matches pediatric tumor syndrome, will speed drug hunt

Frustrated by the slow pace of new drug development for a condition that causes pediatric brain tumors, a neurologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis decided to try to fine-tune the animal models used to test new drugs.

3 Mar 2008

Simple screening questionnaire for kidney disease outperforms current clinical practice guidelines

The general public is not sufficiently aware that chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a serious and progressive medical condition.

1 Mar 2008

Stress and fear affects cancer's recurrence

After the surgical removal of a malignant tumor, the chance that cancer will re-appear in a different location of the body remains high.

28 Feb 2008

Discovery of potential drug targets for sepsis

"We have identified a key connection of signaling pathways in the cascade of events leading to sepsis. This defines a crucial point where the immune system spirals out of control to cause severe sepsis and where there is an opportunity for therapeutic intervention," says Scripps Research Professor Wolfram Ruf, who led the research with his postdoctoral fellow Frank Niessen.

28 Feb 2008

Nasal vaccine for smallpox protects animals against 77 times the potentially lethal dose of smallpox

Scientists at NanoBio Corporation and the University of Michigan have demonstrated their nasally delivered vaccinia vaccine can protect animals against 77 times the potentially lethal dose of smallpox, and without the safety risks of current vaccines for smallpox.

27 Feb 2008

Brain stress system shows promise as a new therapeutic target for alcoholism

A brain circuit that underlies feelings of stress and anxiety shows promise as a new therapeutic target for alcoholism, according to new studies by researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

27 Feb 2008

ImClone Systems enrols first patient in clinical trial of IMC-1121B to treat liver cancer

ImClone Systems Incorporated has announced that it has enrolled the first patient in a disease-directed Phase II clinical trial of IMC-1121B to treat patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer).

26 Feb 2008

Advanced Cell Technology demonstrates highly efficient process for the generation of high-purity hepatocytes

Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. has reported for the first time a robust and highly efficient process for the generation of high-purity hepatocytes (liver cells).

21 Feb 2008

Ocular melanoma - potential new treatment options

Ocular melanoma is rarely detected before it has grown large enough to impair vision or to metastasize.

20 Feb 2008

Australian neuroscientist tests Chantix

UQ pharmacy graduate Dr Selena Bartlett is starting clinical trials of a new drug that could potentially curb addictions such as smoking, drinking, gambling even depression.

20 Feb 2008

Scorpion venom may hold key to controlling cystic fibrosis

Researchers have discovered a peptide in scorpion venom that may hold the key to understanding and controlling cystic fibrosis and other secretory diseases.

17 Feb 2008

Potential new strategy for treating lupus

Immune cells that would normally die in healthy people accumulate in bodies of patients who have lupus and contribute to the disease, according to new Saint Louis University research published in the Feb. 15 issue of Immunity.

17 Feb 2008

What do marathoners and heart failure patients have in common?

The new study shows that the fatigue that marathoners and other extreme athletes feel at the end of a race is caused by a tiny leak inside their muscles that probably also saps the energy from patients with heart failure.

12 Feb 2008

Potential method for repairing misspelling in DNA code that causes spinal muscular atrophy

Researchers at the University of Delaware have discovered a novel technique - that acts like a "spell-checker" for correcting a misspelling in the DNA code - to repair the defective gene that causes spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

12 Feb 2008

Experimental drug shows promise for cystic fibrosis

An experimental drug that has proven effective in treating muscular dystrophy also works for cystic fibrosis, according to researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

5 Feb 2008

microRNAs may help predict survival in liver cancer

Tiny molecules that help cells regulate which proteins they make might one day help doctors predict which liver-cancer patients are likely to live longer than others, new research suggests.

4 Feb 2008