pharmaceutical

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After 20 Years, Scientists Crack HIV Puzzle

Enzyme integrase made visible for first time

(Newser) - After 40,000 failed trials and "painstakingly slow progress," scientists have solved a puzzle that stumped AIDS researchers for more than 20 years—and their findings could help develop more effective HIV drugs. The researchers at Harvard and Imperial College London grew a crystal that for the first...

Blue Dog Gets Real Estate Windfall From Drug Company

USA Drug overpaid for Ross' wife's pharmacy

(Newser) - Arkansas Rep. Mike Ross, a Blue Dog Democrat who’s taken a leading role in the health care debate, sold a piece of commercial real estate to a pharmaceutical company for an eye-popping sum in 2007, Pro Publica reports. USA Drug paid $420,000 for the property in Prescott, Ark....

HIV Genome Decoded, Raising Hopes for Treatment

(Newser) - The entire structure of the virus that causes AIDS has been decoded for the first time, a breakthrough that may eventually lead to effective treatments for the disease and others like it, Reuters reports. University of North Carolina researchers, using a new method they liken to zooming out on a...

Longer-Lasting Botox Rival Nears US Approval

Reloxin's makers claim it lasts longer

(Newser) - After a 7-year run as the only show in town, Botox could soon face some competition. Awaiting FDA approval, Reloxin—the US version of a French product called Dysport—is being marketed as a quicker and longer-lasting treatment for botulinum toxin fans. But doctors themselves are confused about what differences,...

DNA Tests Can Improve Health&mdash;and Ruin Privacy
DNA Tests Can Improve Health—and Ruin Privacy
ANALYSIS

DNA Tests Can Improve Health—and Ruin Privacy

Testing labs can sell genomes to Big Pharma

(Newser) - Genetic testing is quickly becoming cheaper and widely available, prompting questions of whether the privacy of this most personal data can be ensured, writes Peter Dizikes for Salon. Companies such as 23andMe and Navigenics can study your genes for $399 or so to determine if you're at risk for a...

FDA Approves Drug Made From Gene-Tweaked Goats

Landmark decision could signal start of large-scale 'pharming' for drugs

(Newser) - An FDA decision to approve a drug made from genetically engineered goats is being called a milestone decision likely to lead to many more "pharm animals," the Boston Globe reports. Biotech firm GTC says the milk from a single genetically modified goat can produce as much of the...

Lung Drugs Linked to Heart Risks: Study

Treatments for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease targeted

(Newser) - Two medications widely prescribed to emphysema and chronic bronchitis sufferers significantly increase the risk of heart attacks and cardiovascular disease, USA Today reports. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed a 53% increased risk of heart attacks and an 80% increased risk of cardiovascular death...

How Congress Can Help Ted Kennedy
How Congress Can Help
Ted Kennedy
Opinion

How Congress Can Help Ted Kennedy

New bill would give terminally ill access to unproven drugs

(Newser) - Ted Kennedy has, at best, about two years to live. A drug exists that might extend his life, but Kennedy, and legions of other cancer sufferers, won’t get it because it hasn’t been through Phase III FDA trials. But congress could yet come to the rescue; a bill...

Quit-Smoking Drug Linked to Heart Trouble, Dizziness

FAA bans pilots and air controllers from using Chantix after report

(Newser) - Pfizer smoking-cessation drug Chantix has been linked to nearly a thousand serious incidents in the last quarter of 2007, the Wall Street Journal reports. A report from a drug safety group found that some users of the drug—already linked to depression and suicide—suffered heart trouble, diabetes, or accidents...

For Infections, Try Gator-cillin

Scientists probe reptile's impressive immune system

(Newser) - Scientists are trying to harness the power of alligator blood to fight disease, bacterial infections, and even HIV, Cox News reports. Proteins in the reptiles' blood have antibiotic properties thanks to the animals' long evolution and frequent exposure to bacteria; their exceptionally effective immune systems can fight off invaders without...

New Aspirin Spares Users Stomachaches

Italian scientists alter key molecule in painkiller

(Newser) - Aspirin is one of the world’s top painkillers, but it has a nasty way of attacking the stomach lining. That could soon be a thing of the past, thanks to a team of Italian researchers who have molecularly altered the drug. The new aspirin “has no side effects,...

Senate to Hold Drug Water Hearings
Senate to Hold Drug Water Hearings

Senate to Hold Drug Water Hearings

Lawmakers press EPA to establish task force on contaminants

(Newser) - Alarmed by an AP story, two top senators vowed yesterday to probe drug traces in US drinking water. Sen. Barbara Boxer and Sen. Frank Lautenberg plan to lead hearings next month to "protect our residents and clean up our water supply," Lautenberg said. The first of AP's three...

Drugs Found in US Water Supply
Drugs Found in US Water Supply

Drugs Found in US Water Supply

Water drunk by 41M people contaminated

(Newser) - Small amounts of a wide range of prescription and over-the-counter drugs have been found in drinking water used daily by 41 million Americans in 24 major cities. A major AP investigation found pain killers, anti-seizure drugs, angina and cholesterol medications, mood-altering drugs, and other pharmaceuticals in tap water, the water...

Heparin Supply Chain Shaky in China
Heparin
Supply Chain Shaky in China

Heparin Supply Chain Shaky in China

Troubles could trace back to vulnerable raw materials

(Newser) - With at least four US patients dead and hundreds suffering complications from the blood-thinning drug heparin, the New York Times follows the supply chain back to Chinese slaughterhouses that deal with the pig intestines that provide raw material for the drug. Though companies say the chain is secure, the Times...

Puerto Rican Drug Plants Shipped Tainted Pills: FDA

Quality control a problem at factories producing US' top-selling drugs

(Newser) - The Caribbean island that produces 13 of the 20 best-selling drugs in the US has sold tainted pills and is struggling with quality control at its pharmaceutical plants, AP reports.  FDA inspections of 13 Puerto Rican plants between 2003 and 2007 revealed problems such as machinery pins left in...

Risky Errors on Rise With Sound-Alike Drugs

Study finds prescription mix-ups more than doubled since 2004

(Newser) - The problem of drug-name mix-ups is growing in the US, with harmful and sometimes even fatal consequences for patients, USA Today reports. A study undertaken by the group that regulates generic drug names found that the rate of mix-ups has more than doubled since 2004. In one case, a 7-year-old...

Dutch Pharma Firm Preps Pot Pill
Dutch Pharma Firm Preps
Pot Pill

Dutch Pharma Firm Preps Pot Pill

Drug may hit shelves in 5 years for migraine, Parkinson's victims

(Newser) - Why smoke pot when you can pop a pill? Echo Pharmaceuticals is jumping into Phase II trials for a new cannabis pill that could snag 20%-30% of the booming medical marijuana market, Reuters reports. The Dutch firm plans to sell the pill within 5 years, giving medical marijuana users a...

Street Yawns at Genentech Quarterlies
Street Yawns at Genentech Quarterlies

Street Yawns at Genentech Quarterlies

Despite beating analysts' revenue and profit forecast, biotech's share price drops

(Newser) - Drug maker Genentech – struggling with near-flat sales of its two premier drugs, Avastin and Rituxan – managed to outperform analyst’s fourth quarter expectations – barely, reports the Associated Press. The one-time biotech uber star, which recorded phenomenal growth in each of the two previous years, showed only a...

Chinese Drugs Go Unchecked
Chinese Drugs Go Unchecked

Chinese Drugs Go Unchecked

Loophole allows pharma-producing chemical companies to bypass regulation

(Newser) - China’s massive prescription drug industry has an equally massive flaw: pharmaceuticals made by chemical companies are not held to regulatory standards. Of nearly 500 Chinese companies at a recent drug trade show, 82 were unregulated and uncertified, the New York Times discovered. “This is definitely against the law,...

Pfizer Down 77% on Loss of Exubera
Pfizer Down 77% on Loss
of Exubera

Pfizer Down 77% on Loss of Exubera

Third-quarter earnings take hit on failure of inhaled-insulin drug

(Newser) - The world's largest drug maker took a 77% hit in third-quarter net income after dropping Exubera, its inhaled insulin product. Competition from generic drugs also pulled down sales, Pfizer announced this morning, as the company lowered its 2007 net-income forecast.

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