Month: June 2013
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Supreme Court Rules Federal Drug Rules Preempt State Laws
The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday ruled 5-4 that in cases involving generic drugs, federal laws take precedence over an individual’s right to sue in state courts. The case, Mutual Pharmaceutical Co., v. Bartlett, overturned lower-court rulings in favor of the plaintiff, who sued the generic drug manufacturer Mutual Pharmaceutical — now part of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries…
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Intensive Care Units in U.K. Cut Blood Infection Rates
Intensive care units at hospitals in England sharply cut their rates of serious blood stream infections over a two-year period, according to researchers at University of Leicester and University of Birmingham in the U.K. The latest results were reported last week in the journal Implementation Science, following up on an evaluation of an infection-reduction program…
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Late-Stage Trial to Test Biosimilar Psoriasis Treatment
The Sandoz division of the global pharmaceutical company Novartis started a late stage clinical trial of a treatment for psoriasis biologically similar to the therapy etanercept, marketed by Amgen and Pfizer as Enbrel. The trial is expected to support the company’s application for regulatory approval in the U.S. and Europe. Biosimilars is the name given…
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3-D Cellular-Level Brain Atlas and Database Developed
Neuroscientists at McGill University in Montreal, Canada and Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine in Jülich, Germany, with colleagues from other institutes in Germany, developed a three-dimensional atlas of the brain, providing ultra-high resolution and the ability to zoom into different parts of the brain down to the cellular level. The team led by Alan Evans…
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FDA Grants Breakthrough Status to Heart Failure Drug
The pharmaceutical company Novartis, based in Switzerland, says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration designated its drug candidate RLX030 (serelaxin) a breakthrough therapy for the treatment of acute heart failure. Serelaxin is an engineered form of the natural hormone human relaxin-2 proposed for use in emergency rooms. FDA assigns breakthrough status to expedite drugs in…
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Light-Enabled Nanoparticles Detect Early Infection Signs
Biomedical and genomic researchers at Duke University in North Carolina developed a technique with light and silver nanoparticles to detect infections earlier than when patients may even report symptoms. The team led by biomedical engineering professor Tuan Vo-Dinh and genomic medicine professor Geoffrey Ginsburg published its findings online in a recent issue of the journal…
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Energy-Efficient Process Devised to Convert CO2 to Methanol
Chemistry researchers at Université Laval in Québec City, Canada and Université de Toulouse in France developed a new process that converts carbon dioxide into the alternative fuel methanol in a single, more efficient step. The team led by Laval professor Frédéric-Georges Fontaine published its findings online earlier this month in the Journal of the American…
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Silver Improves Antibiotic Performance Against Bacteria
Researchers at Harvard University and Boston University found adding a silver compound to several types of antibiotics improved their performance against a range of bacterial infections in lab and animal tests. The team led by James Collins, a faculty member at both institutions, published its findings in this week’s issue of the journal Science Translational…
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Study: Walking and Talking with Mobile Phone Don’t Mix
Urban planning researchers at Ohio State University in Columbus found more than 1,500 pedestrians using mobile phones were treated in emergency rooms in 2010, with the number of inuries rising sharply since 2004. Jack Nasar, a professor in Ohio State’s architecture school, and former graduate student Derek Troyer published their findings in the August 2013…
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Biotech Developing Genetics Therapies Gains $101M in IPO
The biotechnology company bluebird bio in Cambridge, Massachusetts developing therapies for genetic disorders raised $101 million through its initial public offering (IPO) of 5.9 million shares priced at $17.00 a share. The company’s stock, trading on the NASDAQ under the code BLUE was priced at $26.00 a share at 11:00 am ET today. bluebird bio…