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FDA issues final guidance on genetically engineered animal regulation

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a final guidance for industry on the regulation of genetically engineered (GE) animals under the new animal drug provisions of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

19 Jan 2009

Eli Lilly to pay $1.415 billion for off-label promotion of Zyprexa

American pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company today agreed to plead guilty and pay $1.415 billion for promoting its drug Zyprexa for uses not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Department of Justice announced today.

19 Jan 2009

Biologically tagged nanowires integrated onto circuit chips

A handheld, ultra-portable device that can recognize and immediately report on a wide variety of environmental or medical compounds may eventually be possible, using a method that incorporates a mixture of biologically tagged nanowires onto integrated circuit chips, according to Penn State researchers.

19 Jan 2009

E. coli persists against antibiotics through HipA-induced dormancy

Bacteria hunker down and survive antibiotic attack when a protein flips a chemical switch that throws them into a dormant state until treatment abates, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the Jan.16 edition of Science.

19 Jan 2009

DREAM gene found to be a genetic candidate for explaining old age dementia

In 2002, a group of scientists at the University of Toronto was able to identify a gene which they dubbed DREAM (downstream regulatory element antagonistic modulator).

19 Jan 2009

Study looks at public attitudes toward early detection of dementia across different health-care systems

A new study has found that in spite of their universal health care system which facilitates access to free dementia care, older adults in the United Kingdom are less willing to undergo dementia screening than their counterparts in the U.S. because the Britons perceive greater societal stigma from diagnosis of the disease than do Americans.

19 Jan 2009

Genetic variations in DNA repair patterns may increase risk of pancreatic cancer

Genetic variations in DNA repair patterns may increase risk of pancreatic cancer by as much as threefold or decrease it by as much as 77 percent, depending on the genes involved, according to a report published in the January 15, 2009, issue of Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

19 Jan 2009

Depressed adolescents not harmed by being part of placebo group in clinical trial

In a national clinical trial, adolescents with moderate to severe depression first given a placebo treatment and then an antidepressant medication alone or in combination with therapy responded just as well over the long term as participants who received active treatment throughout the study, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report.

19 Jan 2009

Countries undergoing economic change urged to limit social and health costs for populations

Countries seeking to make massive changes in the way their economies are run, for example by privatising formerly state-run sectors, must take into account the potential impact of such changes on people's health, experts warn today.

19 Jan 2009

Cancer survivor needs examined beyond specialized care

According to the National Cancer Policy Board, it is estimated that by the year 2050 there will be more cancer survivors in the United States than those newly diagnosed with the disease.

19 Jan 2009

Tax on alcohol has a clear effect on drinking

With many local and national governments currently debating proposals to raise alcohol taxes, a timely new study published online in the February edition of Addiction journal finds that the more alcoholic beverages cost, the less likely people are to drink.

19 Jan 2009

Defects in critical DNA repair genes may predict pancreatic cancer risk

Abnormalities in genes that repair mistakes in DNA replication may help identify people who are at high risk of developing pancreatic cancer, a research team from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports in the Jan. 15 issue of Clinical Cancer Research .

19 Jan 2009

New approach to treat advanced melanoma

Skin cancer patient Debra Gardocki receives an injection from oncologist Dr. Sanjiv Agarwala as part of a study exploring a new approach to treat advanced melanoma -- an often fatal form of cancer for which there are limited effective treatment options.

19 Jan 2009

FDA approves RiaSTAP for bleeding in patients with congenital fibrinogen deficiency

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has licensed RiaSTAP, an orphan drug for the treatment of bleeding in patients with a rare genetic defect known as congenital fibrinogen deficiency. Without treatment, these patients are at risk of potentially life-threatening bleeding.

18 Jan 2009

Nanotubes sniff out cancer agents in living cells

A multidisciplinary team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed carbon nanotubes that can be used as sensors for cancer drugs and other DNA-damaging agents inside living cells. The sensors, made of carbon nanotubes wrapped in DNA, can detect chemotherapy drugs such as cisplatin as well as environmental toxins and free radicals that damage DNA.

18 Jan 2009

Artificial antibody delivers nanoparticles to tumors

Antibodies that target epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) have proven themselves as potent anticancer drugs. Now, a team of investigators led by Shuming Nie, Ph.D., and Lily Yang, Ph.D., both at the Emory University School of Medicine and members of the Emory-Georgia Tech Nanotechnology Center for Personalized and Predictive Oncology, is aiming to capitalize on this targeting ability, using a modified anti-EGFR antibody to delivery nanoparticles into tumor cells.

18 Jan 2009

Toxin-nanoparticle combo inhibits brain cancer invasion while imaging tumors

Working with a nanoparticle designed to target and image glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer, investigators at the University of Washington in Seattle have found that these same nanoparticles inhibit tumor cell invasion, one of the key events that leads to the metastatic spread of cancer. The investigators have also determined how the nanoparticles exert this potentially beneficial effect.

18 Jan 2009

Microfluidic devices capture and analyze single cancer cells

One of the grand goals in nanotechnology is to develop a single microfluidic device that integrates all of the components needed to perform polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based nucleic acid analyses. Experts predict that such a device would enable researchers to develop rapid assays for cancer and other life-threatening diseases while a patient is in the doctor's office.

18 Jan 2009

Biodegradable nanoprobe images new blood vessel growth

Angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels, plays a critical role in several chronic human diseases, including metastatic cancer. In fact, several new anticancer therapies are designed to starve tumors by shutting down angiogenesis, but the lack of a good assay for quantifying angiogenesis in the body has hampered the development of effective antiangiogenesis therapies.

18 Jan 2009

Polymer nanoparticle for oral anticancer drug delivery

One of the problems that cancer patients face is that many of the most potent anticancer therapies can be administered only by injection, which means that cancer patients must travel to receive their medication. But thanks to a new type of nanoparticle developed by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, future cancer patients may be able to receive their medication in pill form.

18 Jan 2009