Nervous System News and Research

Latest Nervous System News and Research

QRxPharma's A$14 million Placement oversubscribed

QRxPharma Limited has today announced a Placement which raised A$14 million and which was significantly oversubscribed.

1 Oct 2010

Noven acquires global rights to Daytrana from Shire affiliates

Noven Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that it has completed the acquisition of global rights to Daytrana® (methylphenidate transdermal system) from affiliates of Shire plc.

1 Oct 2010

Intra-Cellular Therapies demonstrates ability of ITI-002 to improve motor and non-motor behaviors in PD

Intra-Cellular Therapies, Inc. today announced results from studies demonstrating the anti-Parkinson and other beneficial effects of ITI-002 (IC200214), the Company's novel and selective phosphodiesterase type I (PDE1) inhibitor.

1 Oct 2010

American Brain Tumor Association awards $100,000 clinical research grant

The Section on Tumors of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and Congress of Neurological Surgeons has announced a $100,000 two-year ($50,000/year) clinical research grant funded by the American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA). The application is open exclusively to neurosurgeons who are members of the AANS/CNS Section on Tumors.

30 Sep 2010

Study shows immunotherapy improves survival rate in children with neuroblastoma

Using immunotherapy biologic agents that stimulate the body's immune system pediatric oncologists have achieved the first substantial increase in over a decade in cure rates for the childhood cancer neuroblastoma. A newly released study shows that the new treatment improved two-year survival rates by 20 percent, compared to standard treatment for an aggressive form of neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system.

30 Sep 2010

New form of immunotherapy increases survival in children with neuroblastoma

Administering a new form of immunotherapy to children with neuroblastoma, a nervous system cancer, increased the percentage of those who were alive and free of disease progression after two years, according to researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and fellow institutions. The percentage rose from 46 percent for children receiving a standard therapy to 66 percent for children receiving immunotherapy plus standard therapy, according to the study published in the Sept. 30, 2010 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

30 Sep 2010

Research shows dexamethasone treatment effective for bacterial meningitis

New research shows that an intravenous (IV) treatment may cut a person's risk of dying from bacterial meningitis. The research is published in the September 29, 2010, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The treatment is called dexamethasone.

30 Sep 2010

Researchers receive NIH award to investigate regenerative potential of retinal cells

Zhang and co-principal investigators Sheng Ding, PhD, from The Scripps Research Institute, and Thomas Reh, PhD from the University of Washington, received the highest possible scores for their proposal to investigate the regenerative potential of retinal cells. Their long-term goal is to restore visual function lost through diseases such as macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.

30 Sep 2010

FDA, EMA and Health Canada approve Progenics' RELISTOR in pre-filled syringes

Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), along with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) of the European Union (E.U.) and Health Canada, the Canadian Regulatory Agency, have each approved single-use, pre-filled syringes of RELISTOR® (methylnaltrexone bromide) Subcutaneous Injection for use in their respective territories. These pre-filled syringes provide a simplified dosing option for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation (OIC) in palliative-care patients with advanced illness.

30 Sep 2010

New immunotherapy regimen improves survival rate in children with neuroblastoma: Research

30 Sep 2010

NEUROKIN accentuates its leadership in the treatment of acute neurological diseases

Bbiotechnology company NEUROKIN, dedicated to the development of neuroprotective drugs to treat acute neurological diseases, announces today that the European Patent Office (EPO) has granted patent EP 1998778 protecting the use of NK-102, its most advanced drug candidate. This first European award constitutes an important milestone for NEUROKIN. An application for registration is under way in Brazil, Canada, China, USA and Japan.

29 Sep 2010

Social rejection can ‘brake’ your heart

Latest study shows that a social rejection can not only break a person’s heart but also result in a drop in the heart rate. The researchers from Netherlands found that the disappointment of feeling not loved or not liked can cause both psychological and physical reactions.

29 Sep 2010

NeurAxon closes convertible debenture financing

NeurAxon, Inc., a development-stage pharmaceutical company that is designing and developing next-generation pain therapeutics targeting neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), today announced that it has closed a convertible debenture financing in which the convertible debentures are convertible under specified circumstances into existing class B preferred shares for a total of approximately $14 million.

29 Sep 2010

NINDS establishes new sites as part of Morris K. Udall Centers of Excellence in Parkinson's Disease Research

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a component of the National Institutes of Health, has established two new sites as part of the Morris K. Udall Centers of Excellence in Parkinson's Disease Research. The NINDS grants will provide a five-year investment totaling more than $16 million for Emory University in Atlanta and the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, N.Y.

29 Sep 2010

Neurons that control sexual behavior mapped

How the bundles of neurons in the brain controls behaviour remains an ongoing mystery. Researchers from the Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), in Vienna, Austria, and the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB/MRC), Cambridge, United Kingdom, have mapped neurons of the fruit fly, Drosophila, that controls sexual behavior. "We literally untangled the mess of wires in the fly brain and laid the ground plans for investigating a complex behavior in a simple organism," says Jai Yu, whose doctoral work is published in Current Biology.

29 Sep 2010

Unexpected social rejection reflects transient slowing of heart rate: Study

Social rejection isn't just emotionally upsetting; it also upsets your heart. A new study finds that being rejected by another person makes your heart rate drop for a moment. The study is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

29 Sep 2010

Critical piece of puzzle in treatment of Spinal Muscular Atrophy

University of Missouri researchers believe they have found a critical piece of the puzzle for the treatment of Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) - the leading genetic cause of infantile death in the world. Nearly one in 6,000 births has SMA, and it is estimated that nearly one in 30 to 40 people have the trait that leads to SMA.

29 Sep 2010