Toxicology News and Research

Latest Toxicology News and Research

NephRx initiates NX001 Phase I clinical trial to prevent DGF in kidney transplant patients

NephRx Corporation today announced that it has initiated a Phase I clinical trial of its lead compound NX001 and has successfully dosed the first subject in the study. NX001, a kidney growth factor peptide that has demonstrated good safety and promising efficacy in two animal models of acute renal failure, is in development for the prevention of delayed graft function (DGF) in kidney transplantation patients.

11 Nov 2010

Evotec revenues increase 33% to € 38.8 m during first nine months of 2010

Evotec AG today reported financial results and a corporate update for the first nine months of 2010.

11 Nov 2010

Cortex applauds Servier for intent to move High Impact AMPAKINE compound into Phase I clinical studies

Cortex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that it had been notified by Les Laboratoires Servier ("Servier"), France's largest privately held pharmaceutical company, of their intent to move forward into Phase I clinical studies with the jointly-discovered High Impact AMPAKINE® compound S47445 (CX1632).

11 Nov 2010

Water purification woes

According to an expert desalination plants that are built close to sewage outflows risk contaminating drinking water. An Australian National University professor of infectious diseases and microbiology Peter Collignon said that membrane technology is not fool proof when it comes to screening bugs. This comes coincidentally just after a “reporting error” by Sydney Water that showed E.coli had been found in processed drinking water at its $1.9 billion Kurnell desalination plant in Sydney's south. The plant's intake, which collects water to supply 1.5 million Sydney homes, is about 2.5km north of the Cronulla near-shore sewage outflow.

8 Nov 2010

XenoPort third quarter net loss decreases to $19.9 million

XenoPort, Inc. announced today financial results for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2010. Revenues for the third quarter were $0.4 million, compared to $0.4 million for the same period in 2009. Net loss for the third quarter was $19.9 million, compared to a net loss of $24.4 million for the same period in 2009.

8 Nov 2010

Aeolus receives $489,000 grant under QTDP program for two lead compounds

Aeolus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that it has been awarded a total of approximately $489,000 under the Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Grant Program (QDTP) administered by the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Health and Human Services.

4 Nov 2010

Effective treatment for brain cancer in daffodils

When looking for new ways to treat aggressive brain cancers, an international team of scientists turned a new leaf and "discovered" the lowly daffodil. A new research study published in the November 2010 print issue of The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) offers hope that a natural compound found in daffodil bulbs, called narciclasine, may be a powerful therapeutic against biologically aggressive forms of human brain cancers.

2 Nov 2010

SRA receives five-year contract to support NTP, NIEHS programmatic initiatives

SRA International, Inc., a leading provider of technology, research, and strategic consulting services and solutions to government organizations and commercial clients, today announced that the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded the company a contract for up to five years to provide statistical, mathematical, bioinformatic, and computational expertise and support for the National Toxicology Program (NTP) and other NIEHS programmatic initiatives. The contract has a potential total dollar value of $15.5 million.

2 Nov 2010

Researchers generate bioengineered human liver organoid using bioscaffold

Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center's Institute for Regenerative Medicine demonstrated the generation of a bioengineered human liver organoid using a liver bioscaffold made from an intact liver extracellular matrix, and filled (seeded) with primary human liver progenitor and endothelial cells.

1 Nov 2010

Geron 2010 third quarter revenue increases from $494,000 to $546,000

Geron Corporation today reported financial results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2010.

29 Oct 2010

MRI awarded $31M NIH contract to provide chemistry support for National Toxicology Program

Midwest Research Institute (MRI), one of the nation's leading independent research organizations, with more than 65-years of experience in scientific research, has been awarded a $31 million contract from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Under the 5-year contract, MRI scientists will provide chemical procurement, handling, and analytical chemistry services requested by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) for toxicology studies in progress throughout the U.S.

28 Oct 2010

High urine BPA levels associated with decreased sperm quality

Increasing urine BPA (Bisphenol-A) level was significantly associated with decreased sperm concentration, decreased total sperm count, decreased sperm vitality and decreased sperm motility, according to a Kaiser Permanente study appearing in the journal of Fertility and Sterility.

28 Oct 2010

Elevated amounts of SP2 protein turn stem cells into cancerous tumors: Research

Researchers at North Carolina State University have found that the overproduction of a key protein in stem cells causes those stem cells to form cancerous tumors. Their work may lead to new treatments for a variety of cancers.

28 Oct 2010

WHO regulation on human toxicity helps in reducing acute pesticide poisoning

Current WHO pesticide classifications are based on toxicity in rats but basing regulation on human toxicity will make pesticide poisoning less hazardous and prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths globally without compromising agricultural needs. These are the key findings from a study by Andrew Dawson (South Asian Clinical Toxicology Research Collaboration, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka) and colleagues published in this week's PLoS Medicine.

27 Oct 2010

Duke Center releases online atlas of ultra-high-resolution mouse brain

The most detailed magnetic resonance images ever obtained of a mammalian brain are now available to researchers in a free, online atlas of an ultra-high-resolution mouse brain, thanks to work at the Duke Center for In Vivo Microscopy.

26 Oct 2010

Research finds succimer drug not effective in removing mercury

Succimer, a drug used for treating lead poisoning, does not effectively remove mercury from the body, according to research supported by the National Institutes of Health. Some families have turned to succimer as an alternative therapy for treating autism.

25 Oct 2010

Altogen Biosystems releases PEG-Liposome siRNA In Vivo Transfection Kit

Altogen Biosystems announced the release of its second generation of in vivo RNAi transfection reagent in the company's popular in vivo delivery product line: PEG-Liposome siRNA In Vivo Transfection Kit. This reagent is also compatible for in vivo transfection of other negatively charged molecules – RNA, DNA, and small proteins.

22 Oct 2010

New research center to study effects of BPA, phthalates on children

A new research center based at the University of Illinois will investigate whether regular exposure to bisphenol A and phthalates - chemicals widely used in plastics and other consumer products - can alter infant and adolescent development, cognition or behavior.

22 Oct 2010

Idera announces IMO-3100 Phase 1 clinical trial results for autoimmune disease

Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced results from its single-dose, dose-escalation Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating the safety and mechanism of action of IMO-3100, its lead Toll-like Receptor (TLR) 7 and TLR9 antagonist drug candidate for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

22 Oct 2010

SO2 emission raise health concerns

Kilauea Volcano on Hawaii's big island has been erupting on its east rift since 1983. But, in March 2008, an additional eruption vent opened at the volcano's summit, resulting in about triple the amount of sulfur dioxide gas (SO2) emissions drifting to the local community of Ka'u, raising health concerns over the risks associated with exposure to "vog," as the islanders refer to this volcanic air pollution.

21 Oct 2010