Sarcoidosis News and Research

Latest Sarcoidosis News and Research

Merck's boceprevir Phase III studies for HCV to be presented at 61st AASLD

Merck today announced that final results from two pivotal Phase III studies of boceprevir, its investigational oral hepatitis C protease inhibitor, will be presented in oral plenary sessions at the 61st Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), which is taking place from Oct. 29 through Nov. 2 in Boston. Results for boceprevir in response-guided therapy strategies, which evaluated treatment durations shorter than current standard therapy, will be presented during the meeting.

4 Oct 2010

Merck's two pivotal boceprevir Phase III registration studies for chronic HCV meet primary endpoint

Merck reported that two pivotal Phase III registration studies for boceprevir, its investigational oral hepatitis C protease inhibitor, have been completed and met the primary endpoints: in both studies in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1 infection, the addition of boceprevir to treatment with PEGINTRON® and REBETOL® significantly increased the number of patients who achieved sustained virologic response, compared to control groups that received Peg/riba plus placebo.

5 Aug 2010

Merck signs non-exclusive license agreement with LabCorp for commercialization of genetic test

Merck announced a non-exclusive license agreement with Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings for the commercialization of a genetic test that may help predict the response of patients with Hepatitis C virus infection to peginterferon alpha-based therapy.

28 Jul 2010

Twelve residents receive one-year fellowship grant to study medical dermatology

Twelve dermatology residents from leading medical schools around the country each received a $40,000, one-year fellowship grant to study medical dermatology. The fellowships, awarded by the National Psoriasis Foundation, provide support to eligible institutions to develop and enhance opportunities for physicians training for careers in medical dermatology.

1 Jul 2010

Excess levels of a protein associated with TNF may produce cognitive decline: Studies

Two new studies suggest that excess levels of a protein associated with inflammation, TNF, may produce cognitive decline. TNF regulates both inflammation and brain function. TNF is elevated in the blood in many autoimmune diseases, and in the fluid surrounding the brain in Alzheimer's disease.

2 Jun 2010

Johns Hopkins researchers identify a key protein that triggers sarcoidosis

Lung researchers at Johns Hopkins have identified a possible protein trigger responsible for sarcoidosis, a potentially fatal inflammatory disease marked by tiny clumps of inflammatory cells that each year leave deep, grainy scars on the lungs, lymph nodes, skin and almost all major organs in hundreds of thousands of Americans.

4 May 2010

PhRMA President honors Ron and Raychel Bartek for driving awareness of Friedreich's ataxia

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America President and CEO Billy Tauzin today honored Ron and Raychel Bartek for their dedicated work driving awareness of Friedreich's ataxia, a debilitating, life-threatening, rare disease.

19 Mar 2010

Quercetin may prevent hepatitis C infection; findings may lead to less toxic treatments

Researchers have identified two cellular proteins that are important factors in hepatitis C virus infection, a finding that may result in the approval of new and less toxic treatments for the disease, which can lead to liver cancer and cirrhosis.

6 Jan 2010

Interim data from Schering-Plough's narlaprevir Phase IIa study

Schering-Plough Corporation reported that interim results from an ongoing Phase IIa study of narlaprevir (SCH 900518), its investigational, once-daily protease inhibitor, demonstrated potent antiviral activity in treatment-naive patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1.

3 Nov 2009

Schering-Plough receives FDA complete response letter regarding PEGINTRON

Schering-Plough Corp. announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a complete response letter to the company's supplemental Biologics License Application regarding PEGINTRON® (pegylated interferon alfa-2b) for the adjuvant treatment of patients with stage III malignant melanoma after complete lymphadenectomy.

31 Oct 2009

Schering-Plough to present data on boceprevir at the AASLD 2009 Annual Meeting

Schering-Plough announced that data on boceprevir, an investigational hepatitis C virus (HCV) protease inhibitor, will be reported in an oral presentation at the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) Annual Meeting in Boston, Oct. 30-Nov. 3.

19 Oct 2009

Schering-Plough receives FDA recommendation approval for PEGINTRON

Schering-Plough Corp. announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) recommended approval by a vote of six to four for PEGINTRON® (pegylated interferon alfa-2b) in the adjuvant treatment of patients with Stage III malignant melanoma.

6 Oct 2009

National Cancer Institute grants $9.1M award to BUSM

The Black Women's Health Study (BWHS) of the Sloan Epidemiology Center at Boston University School of Medicine's (BUSM) has received a five-year continuation of grant funding award from the National Cancer Institute. The $9.1M award will cover years 16-20 of the largest follow-up study of the health of African-American women.

30 Sep 2009

Chronic pediatric cough linked to reflux and allergies

New research shows that chronic cough in children is most often caused by gastroesophageal reflux and allergies. Researchers from Tulane University in New Orleans, LA, evaluated 40 patients aged 5 to 12 years with chronic cough (> 8 weeks in duration) with no obvious cause. Each patient underwent extensive multispecialty testing. Results showed that reflux was the single most commonly associated factor of chronic cough by itself (27.5 percent), followed by allergy (22.5 percent).

8 Sep 2009

InterMune receives $20 million event payment from Roche for initiating the Phase 2b trial of RG7227/ ITMN-191

Roche (SIX: ROG.VX; RO.S, OTCQX: RHHBY) and InterMune, Inc. (Nasdaq: ITMN) today announced that the first patient has been dosed in a Phase 2b study evaluating the hepatitis C virus (HCV) protease inhibitor, RG7227/ ITMN-191, in combination with PEGASYS(R) (pegylated interferon alfa-2a) and COPEGUS(R) (ribavirin). The study, to be conducted at 45 sites globally, will further define the safety and efficacy profile of RG7227/ ITMN-191, for a treatment duration of up to 24 weeks. Approximately 300 treatment-naive patients chronically infected with HCV genotype 1 - the most difficult to treat form of the virus - will participate.

20 Aug 2009

Autoantibodies may be created in response to bacterial DNA

Autoimmune diseases have long been regarded as illnesses in which the immune system creates autoantibodies to attack the body itself. But today, researchers at the California non-profit Autoimmunity Research Foundation (ARF) explain that the antibodies observed in autoimmune disease actually result from alteration of human genes and gene products by hidden bacteria.

27 Apr 2009

May hepatic granulomas be part of the histological spectrum of chronic hepatitis C?

While older large series of patients with hepatic granulomas have found sarcoidosis and tuberculosis to be the most common causes of hepatic granulomas, recent works have noted some patients with chronic hepatic C and hepatic granulomas and no other obvious associations.

30 Dec 2008

Biomarkers identified for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

The first evidence of a distinctive protein signature that could help to transform the diagnosis and improve the monitoring of the devastating lung disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is being reported by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers in this month's edition of PLoS Medicine, an open-access journal of the Public Library of Science.

28 Apr 2008

Highlights of pulmonary and critical care symposium

New perspectives on lung cancer screening, complications of sleep apnea, cystic fibrosis, and other key topics in pulmonary and critical care medicine are presented in the special January issue of The American Journal of Medical Sciences, published by the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation and Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, provider of leading healthcare content, context and consulting.

3 Jan 2008

Dermatology's role in advancing the science of wound care

Cosmetic, medical and surgical dermatologists all play a role in the treatment and management of wounds, according to an editorial in the October issue of Archives of Dermatology, a theme issue on wound healing.

16 Oct 2007