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AstraZeneca submits sNDA for SYMBICORT in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

AstraZeneca today announced that it submitted a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval of a new indication for SYMBICORT (budesonide/formoterol fumarate dihydrate) Inhalation Aerosol for the treatment of patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). SYMBICORT is currently approved for the long-term maintenance treatment of asthma in patients 12 years and older.

30 Apr 2008

ISTA Pharmaceuticals announces new clinical findings to support Bepreve NDA

ISTA Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced positive results from the preliminary analysis of its second and final Bepreve (bepotastine ophthalmic solution) Phase III clinical study.

30 Apr 2008

Aspirin and other NSAIDs could lower the risk of breast cancer

Taking aspirin on a daily basis may lower women's risk of a particular type of breast cancer, according to results published in BioMed Central's open access journal Breast Cancer Research.

30 Apr 2008

Progesterone could prevent brain damage after head injury

A common component of the contraceptive pill (progesterone) could improve the neurologic outcome for patients with severe head injuries, according to a study published in BioMed Central's open access journal Critical Care.

30 Apr 2008

Silent fungus metabolism awakened for source of new drugs

U.S. scientists have re-awakened 'silent' metabolic pathways in fungi to reveal a new range of natural products. The research could provide not only a source of new drugs, but a way to "listen to what fungi are saying" to organisms around them.

30 Apr 2008

Mould in the home

Surely your bathroom is fungus-free once you've wiped the mould off the tiles? Not according to a study by French scientists in the Royal Society of Chemistry's Journal of Environmental Monitoring. They report that almost one in five rooms studied with no visible mould was in fact "highly contaminated" by fungus which could aggravate conditions such as asthma.

30 Apr 2008

Can we improve people's health by changing the way we use our land?

Land to Mouth, a new report from the Rural Economy and Land Use programme (Relu) suggests that by taking a new look at land use we could also produce food that is both healthier and safer.

30 Apr 2008

FDA begins multi-year hiring initiative

Biologists, chemists, medical officers, mathematical statisticians and investigators are among the experts in demand as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration begins a multi-year hiring initiative.

30 Apr 2008

Mothers and offspring can share cells throughout life - with positive and negative effects

Cutting the umbilical cord doesn't necessarily sever the physical link between mother and child. Many cells pass back and forth between the mother and fetus during pregnancy and can be detected in the tissues and organs of both even decades later. This mixing of cells from two genetically distinct individuals is called microchimerism. The phenomenon is the focus of an increasing number of scientists who wonder what role these cells play in the body.

30 Apr 2008

First sequence-based map of large-scale structural variation across the human genome

A nationwide team of researchers, funded in part by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has produced the first sequence-based map of large-scale structural variation across the human genome. The work, published today in the journal Nature, provides a starting point to examine how such DNA variation contributes to human health and disease.

30 Apr 2008

Discovery of quick method for making human monoclonal antibodies against flu

Human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) - highly specific, identical, infection-fighting proteins produced in large quantities in the lab in cell lines that are derived from a single antibody-producing cell - against influenza can be rapidly produced in the lab, according to a new report from scientists supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

30 Apr 2008

Study describes mechanism linking acohol with risk of breast cancer

The known association of alcohol consumption with an increased risk of breast cancer has been linked by researchers at the University at Buffalo to a process that causes genes that promote normal cell growth to produce proteins that precipitate unregulated cell growth, an action known as hypermethylation

30 Apr 2008