Category Archives: Drugs

By Makiko Kitamura and Robert Langreth - 2012-06-04T04:00:01Z Two experimental GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) drugs that block genes tied to lethal skin cancer worked better than chemotherapy in studies that tested them individually, paving the way for final-phase trials on their use together. About 80 percent of patients with advanced melanoma given Glaxos trametinib were alive after six months, compared with 67 percent on chemotherapy used as a standard treatment. Separately, Glaxos dabrafenib delayed disease progression by 5.1 months, compared with 2.7 months for chemotherapy. The Glaxo-funded research is being reported today at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago. The individual research followed an early-stage study in 77 patients that found the drugs used together resulted in fewer skin lesions than previously reported with Roche Holding AG (ROG)s Zelboraf, a therapy cleared last year that targets a mutant gene found in half of advanced melanoma cases. Glaxo has begun two final-stage trials on the combo therapy, the company said. The combination is where we have the most enthusiasm right now, said Keith Flaherty, director for developmental cancer therapeutics at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and an author on the trametinib study. It looks better in terms of efficacy, … Continue reading →

NEW YORK, June 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue: Leading Anti-Cancer Drugs and Associated Market 2012-2022 http://www.reportlinker.com/p0819459/Leading-Anti-Cancer-Drugs-and-Associated-Market-2012-2022.html#utm_source=prnewswire&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=Drug_and_Medication Report Details Cancer treatments - discover which products have greatest potential Where are cancer-treating drugs heading? Visiongain's report shows you potential revenues to 2022, with data, forecasts and discussions. This study investigates leading drugs to treat human cancers. It lets you assess potential sales trends at world market, therapeutic submarket, product and national level to 2022. How will 25 leading products - including Avastin, Rituxan, Herceptin and Glivec/Gleevec - perform from 2012? See potential revenues and other information. The study also assesses eight recently approved drugs. Our investigation gives you business research and analysis with sales forecasts. You also see forecasting of five submarkets to 2022, finding potential revenues: Traditional antineoplastic agents View original post here: Leading Anti-Cancer Drugs and Associated Market 2012-2022 … Continue reading →

NEW YORK, June 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue: World Biological Drugs Market 2012-2022 http://www.reportlinker.com/p0470101/World-Biological-Drugs-Market-2012-2022.html#utm_source=prnewswire&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=Drug_and_Medication Report Details Your guide to biopharma industry trends and revenue prospects Where is the market for biological drugs heading? Visiongain's report shows you potential revenues to 2022, with data, forecasts and discussions. Our new study investigates biotechnology in pharma - biological drugs (biopharmaceuticals, biologics). It lets you assess potential sales trends at world market, submarket, product and regional level to 2022. How will 20 leading biologics - including Avastin, Enbrel, Humira and Herceptin - perform from 2012? Our investigation gives you business research and analysis with sales forecasts. You also see forecasting of submarkets to 2022, finding potential revenues: Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and fusion proteins Go here to read the rest: World Biological Drugs Market 2012-2022 … Continue reading →

CHICAGO Medical science efforts to harness the power of the immune system against cancer are beginning to bear fruit after decades of frustration, opening up a hopeful new front in the long battle against the disease. In studies being presented Saturday, researchers said two experimental drugs by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. significantly shrank tumors in some patients with advanced skin, lung and kidney cancers. Especially promising was that the drugs worked against several types of cancer, researchers said of the early findings. Most of the patients whose tumors responded significantly to the treatment saw long-term results. The new drugs empower the immune system to recognize cancer cells as an enemy and attack them, although the treatments can have serious side effects. The immune system's ability to fight off the body's invaders has long been recognized against infectious disease. But cancer has largely escaped its reach and for decades fended off researchers' efforts to find a weakness. It turns out cancer shields itself by essentially putting the brakes on the human immune system. Recent discoveries have led to advances in how to unleash the immune system, though one challenge has been to jump-start the body's defenses without injury to healthy, normal cells. … Continue reading →

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash., June 2 (UPI) -- Military prosecutors said Friday saying Staff Sgt. Robert Bales had been drinking and taking steroids before a killing spree in Afghanistan. In a new charge sheet, prosecutors say Bales killed 16 people, not 17, as initially reported, the Los Angeles Times said. Prosecutors say one of the victims was double-counted when the number was given as 17. Prosecutors did not say Bales acted under the influence of alcohol and drugs. The charge sheet says he violated military law by their use while he was at an outpost near the town of Belambay. Bales faces 16 counts of murder, six of attempted murder and six of assault in the March 11 incident. He faces another assault charge for allegedly beating an Afghan man in February. A defense lawyer said Friday that Bales did not have a drinking problem. "He was not an alcoholic," Emma Scanlan said. "The allegation that he may have used a limited amount of alcohol does not mean that alcohol fueled some kind of homicidal rage." Read more here: Alcohol, drugs a factor in killing spree? … Continue reading →

CHICAGO Lynn and Neil Balter always dreaded stage productions at their son Jack's elementary school. When Jack was up there with the other performers, the noise, the lights, the crowd almost always got to him, and he would "start spinning," wandering around the stage or turning in circles, Lynn says. "It usually turned into an embarrassing situation," she adds. But at a dance performance at Jack's Scottsdale, Arizona, school last December, something was different. "He was half a beat behind in the dance, but he did the whole thing," Neil says. "He participated and took the bow with his class." Afterward, Jack's teacher greeted the Balters in tears. "I don't know what is going on with this kid, but there is this miracle happening and I have a different kid at school," she told the Balters. Jack, 9 years old, has autism. What his teacher didn't know is that Jack was taking part in a clinical trial for a drug aimed at overcoming some of the social impairment associated with autism, a spectrum of disorders that range from the social awkwardness and narrow interests seen in Asperger syndrome to severe communication and intellectual disabilities. For years the best that doctors … Continue reading →

CARPENTERSVILLE - Nearly $8,000 worth of illegal synthetic drugs has been seized from two Carpentersville retailers as a part of a statewide crack down, according to authorities. Carpentersville police and Illinois attorney general investigators confiscated 448 packages of synthetic drugs Tuesday as a part of Operation Smoked Out, an initiative aimed at eliminating the sale of synthetic drugs at retail stores. Authorities seized 356 packages from Buddeez Smoke Shop, 3 N. Washington St., and 92 packages from Egors, 2 Wisconsin St., according to the Illinois attorney generals office. The drugs are worth approximately $6,936 and $994, respectively. Synthetic drug use has grown rapidly in Illinois, particularly among teens and young adults, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said in a news release. These store visits are part of our ongoing effort to spread awareness about the extreme danger these drugs pose and to send a message to community retailers that these illegal substances have no business being sold in their establishments. Sold under names such as K2 and Spice Gold, the smokeable herbal products laced with synthetic cannabinoids mimic the high of marijuana with more dangerous side effects, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The five chemicals used to make … Continue reading →

Drugs, homosexuality, alcohol in yearbook For the first time in Volusia County history, this year's "Athenian" takes a candid look at life at DeLand High School with a 12-page insert that talks about everything from homosexuality to tanning, showing pictures of students with tattoos and quotes from others talking about using drugs and alcohol. The principal and the yearbook advisor both signed off on the insert, calling it a student journalism project. A school district spokesperson said hopefully it sparks a conversation between parents and their kids, but some parents believe that's not up for the school to decide. "That might be reality, but it's not what we want to see and read," said Jennifer Lightfoot, who normally has a house full of teenagers. Like most parents, she was never told these controversial topics were being printed in the yearbook. "It's up to the parent what they're willing to discuss," said Lightfoot. "I don't think it should really be public discussion for others to have with my children." "A heads-up might have been a good thing," said Mike Graves, whose son will graduate Sunday. "That way, it wouldn't have been as shocking to some." And they're not alone. There's plenty … Continue reading →

Discarded wrapper from a packet of Spice, a popular synthetic cannabis mixture. Photo: Matto Fredriksson/Flickr The war on drugs has a new front, and so far it appears to be a losing one. Synthetic mimics of marijuana, dissociative drugs and stimulants such as the bath salts allegedly consumed by Randy Eugene, the Florida man shot after a horrific face-eating assault are growing in popularity and hard to control. Every time a compound is banned, overseas chemists synthesize a new version tweaked just enough to evade a laws letter. Its a giant game of chemical Whack-a-Mole. Manufacturers turn these things around so quickly. One week youll have a product with compound X, the next week its compound Y, said forensic toxicologist Kevin Shanks of AIT Laboratories, an Indiana-based chemical testing company. Its fascinating how fast it can occur, and its fascinating to see the minute changes in chemical structure theyll come up with. Its similar, but its different, Shanks continued. 'What does chemically similar really mean?' Active ingredients in the drugs are compounds originally synthesized by institutional researchers whose esoteric scientific publications were mined by as-yet-unidentified chemists and neuroscientists working in Asia, where most of the new drugs appear to come … Continue reading →

Roger Clemenss chief accuser told a former client that the star pitcher used performance-enhancing drugs to recuperate and push himself to the limit, according to court testimony Tuesday. A former client of Clemenss strength coach told jurors in the baseball legends perjury trial that Brian McNamee also kept syringes from injections he allegedly gave professional ballplayers to protect himself from possible prosecution. Im not going to get thrown under the bus, so Ive taken care of it, the witness, Anthony Corso, said McNamee told him. During a workout in 2002 or 2003, McNamee first told Corso that human growth hormone or HGH had helped athletes like Clemens recover. He said it was the kind of medication that would allow the athletes to continue working out as they were getting older and breaking down, Corso told jurors. McNamee mentioned that Clemens was one of the athletes he was getting positive results from. Defense attorneys had tried to block Corso, a financial consultant, from testifying about his conversations with McNamee. But U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton allowed prosecutors to question Corso Tuesday to try to back up the strength coachs testimony. McNamee is the only witness with firsthand knowledge of Clemenss alleged … Continue reading →