http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Once famously described as "orphan diseases, too small to be noticed, too small to be funded" in the Hollywood drama Lorenzo's Oil, rare diseases are getting unprecedented attention today among drug manufacturers, who are ramping up research efforts and marketing new medicines that promise fuller lives for children and other patients with these heartbreaking conditions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-renaissance-drugs-rare-diseases.html Medications Mon, 13 May 2013 08:36:10 EST news287652957 A major factor in the advance of heart disease is the death of heart tissue, a process that a team of scientists at Temple University School of Medicine's (TUSM) Center for Translational Medicine think could be prevented with new medicines. Now, the researchers are one step closer to achieving that goal, thanks to their discovery of a key molecule in an unexpected place in heart cells – mitochondria, tiny energy factories that house the controls capable of setting off cells' self-destruct sequence. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-clues-heart-disease-unexpected.html Cardiology Fri, 12 Apr 2013 11:42:31 EST news284985742 In almost 90 per cent of cases, novel drugs tested on humans by pharmaceutical companies do not work as intended and must be scrapped. Often the drugs do not work, while at worst, test subjects die. New research from the University of Southern Denmark now shows that this number can be reduced. The secret is to test the drug on cells grown as 3D structures. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-cutting-edge-cell-safer-medical-humans.html Medical research Wed, 10 Apr 2013 14:41:17 EST news284823498 Changes in brain function may foreshadow schizophrenia as early as puberty, nearly a decade before most patients begin showing obvious symptoms, new research from the University of North Carolina shows. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-schizophrenia-early.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 04 Apr 2013 10:00:02 EST news284282078 India's Supreme Court on Monday rejected drug maker Novartis AG's attempt to patent an updated version of a cancer drug in a landmark decision that health activists say ensures poor patients around the world will get continued access to cheap versions of lifesaving medicines. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-drug-maker-india-patent.html Medications Mon, 01 Apr 2013 04:28:55 EST news284009309 For medicines intended for chronic use, the number of patients studied before regulatory approval is insufficient to properly evaluate safety and long-term efficacy, requiring the need for new legislation, according to a study by European researchers published in this week's PLOS Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-drugs-insufficient-patients-safety.html Medications Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:00:05 EST news282927624 A US-led Pacific free trade pact faces further delays as a row between Big Pharma and activists supporting access to generic drugs erupts ahead of an October deadline, officials say. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-big-pharma-threatens-pacific-pact.html Medications Sun, 10 Mar 2013 06:40:02 EST news282115829 The widely held belief that the UK supply of innovative new medicines has conspicuously dwindled in recent decades, is not borne out by the evidence, reveals research published in the online journal BMJ Open. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-myth-uk-pharma-drugs.html Medications Wed, 20 Feb 2013 18:30:02 EST news280604669 New research has shown that a protein, known as IL-13, could be the key to the development of fibrosis in Crohn's disease. This breakthrough could help to advance new medicines to treat people suffering with the disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-fibrosis-crohn-disease.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:31:53 EST news278775018 One of yesterday's most promising new tools for speeding the development of new medicines—"microdosing"—has found niches in that process today, and they include uses unanticipated a decade ago. That topic, an update on microdosing, is the cover story in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News. C&EN is the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-microdosing-role-medicines.html Medications Wed, 23 Jan 2013 10:48:00 EST news278160467 A compound from the South African toothbrush tree inactivates a drug target for tuberculosis in a previously unseen way. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-medicinal-toothbrush-tree-yields-antibiotic.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 14 Jan 2013 09:09:24 EST news277376947 The world's biggest food group Nestle is moving into traditional Chinese medicine by joining forces with Chinese pharma group Chi-Med, the Swiss group said on Wednesday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-nestle-ventures-chinese-medicine-pharma.html Other Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:59:12 EST news273337139 (Medical Xpress)—A new test designed to classify tonsil and throat cancers into one of two groups should help deliver the right treatment to the right patients, according to research being presented at the NCRI Cancer Conference in Liverpool next week. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-hpv-oral-cancers-patient-outcomes.html Cancer Mon, 05 Nov 2012 07:42:42 EST news271323753 Washington State University researchers have developed a new drug candidate that dramatically improves the cognitive function of rats with Alzheimer's-like mental impairment. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-prospective-alzheimer-drug-brain-cell.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Thu, 11 Oct 2012 04:04:39 EST news269147063 Scientists affiliated with VIB and UGent have discovered a mechanism used by the protein A20 to combat inflammation. This could be a very important point of focus in the search for a treatment for autoimmune diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, in which the patient suffers from chronic, uncontrolled inflammation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-focus-treatment-rheumatoid-arthritis-autoimmune.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Tue, 09 Oct 2012 11:07:42 EST news268999655 New research proves the validity of one of the most promising approaches for combating Alzheimer's disease (AD) with medicines that treat not just some of the symptoms, but actually stop or prevent the disease itself, scientists are reporting. The study, in the journal ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, also identifies a potential new oral drug that the scientists say could lead the way. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-evidence-easing-inflammation-brain-cells.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Wed, 03 Oct 2012 14:50:25 EST news268494610 (AP)—Advisers to European Union regulators have recommended approval of a new anti-clotting drug for use by adults with a common irregular heart rhythm that boosts risk of strokes or blood clots, drugmakers Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Pfizer Inc. said. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-anti-clot-drug-eu.html Medications Fri, 21 Sep 2012 13:09:06 EST news267451731 A big international study has identified a special gene that regulates bone density and bone strength. The gene can be used as a risk marker for fractures and opens up opportunities for preventive medicine against fractures. The study, led by the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, was published in the journal PLoS Genetics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-gene-medicine-fractures.html Genetics Tue, 18 Sep 2012 10:58:59 EST news267184733 A new collaboration based at the University of Cambridge will aim to discover and develop new medicines to treat liver disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-collaboration-treatments-liver-disease.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 07 Sep 2012 06:10:18 EST news266217012 Drug interactions and drug side effects occur all-too-often in patients' lives. Now there's a new online resource to help guide pharmaceutical developers as they endeavor to improve testing for potentially harmful drug interactions before new medicines reach consumers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-online-tool-industry-drug-interactions.html Medications Wed, 05 Sep 2012 08:11:04 EST news266051448 (Medical Xpress)—Researchers at King's have established a significant link between asthma and an immune response called 'Th17', previously only attributed to inflammatory conditions such as multiple sclerosis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-reveals-link-asthma.html Immunology Thu, 23 Aug 2012 08:49:34 EST news264930563 Medicines for Malaria Venture has developed a framework to evaluate the risk of resistance for the antimalarial compounds in its portfolio. A paper based on this work: A framework for assessing the risk of resistance for antimalarials in development has been published in the Malaria Journal today. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-mmv-framework-resistance-antimalarial-compounds.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 22 Aug 2012 03:31:07 EST news264825028 In their quest to treat cardiovascular disease, researchers and pharmaceutical companies have long been interested in developing new medicines that activate a heart protein called APJ. But researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) and the Stanford University School of Medicine have now uncovered a second, previously unknown, function for APJ—it senses mechanical changes when the heart is in danger and sets the body on a course toward heart failure. This means that activating APJ could actually be harmful in some cases—potentially eye-opening information for some heart drug makers. The study appears July 18 in Nature. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-discovery-heart-failure-trigger-cardiovascular.html Cardiology Wed, 18 Jul 2012 13:00:05 EST news261825983 Amid the growing recognition that only a small fraction of the cells and genes in a typical human being are human, scientists are suggesting a revolutionary approach to developing new medicines and treatments to target both the human and non-human components of people. That's the topic of an article, which reviews work relating to this topic from almost 100 studies, in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-drugs-human-non-human-cells-people.html Medical research Wed, 11 Jul 2012 15:45:05 EST news261240297 Scientific insights that expand on the teachings of Mendel, Watson and Crick, and underpinnings of the Human Genome Project are moving drug companies along the path to development of new medicines based on deeper insights into how factors other than the genetic code influence health and disease. That's the topic of the cover story in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-dna-epigenetics-revolution-fostering-medicines.html Genetics Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:27:59 EST news253970793 Pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb Company announced it was acquiring Inhibitex, Inc., a company specializing in treatment of hepatitis C, for $2.5 billion (1.9 billion euros). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-bristol-myers-squibb-inhibitex-billion.html Medications Sun, 08 Jan 2012 06:59:59 EST news245228187 (AP) -- Breast cancer experts are cheering what could be some of the biggest advances in more than a decade: two new medicines that significantly delay the time until women with very advanced cases get worse. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-big-breast-cancer-drugs.html Cancer Thu, 08 Dec 2011 05:30:02 EST news242540493 Lung cancer patients could receive safer and more efficient treatment through a system being developed by researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-inhaler-treatment-lung-cancer.html Cancer Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:10:36 EST news237553828 Tropical plants may contain the basis of new and effective treatments for ovarian cancer, according to researchers at the Universities of Strathclyde and Portsmouth. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-pave-ovarian-cancer-treatments.html Cancer Thu, 25 Aug 2011 09:48:47 EST news233484509