Category: Regulations
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Intermediate Trial Shows Ebola Vaccines Safe
27 March 2015. An intermediate-stage clinical trial in Liberia testing two new vaccines to prevent Ebola infections, shows the vaccines appear to be safe, allowing for larger-scale assessments. Initial results of the trial were reported yesterday by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of National Institutes of Health. The 2014-15 Ebola virus…
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Sharp Rise in Livestock Antimicrobial Use Expected
26 March 2015. An international research consortium estimates that global use of antibiotics in livestock is expected to jump by two-thirds by the year 2030, imperiling attempts to overcome antibiotic resistance and posing a threat to public health. The team led by Princeton University environmental researcher Ramanan Laxminarayan published its findings last week in Proceedings…
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FDA Approves Inhalational Anthrax Treatment
25 March 2015. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved a treatment for inhalational anthrax, a rare but dangerous respiratory condition that can result from a bioterrorist attack. The drug is marketed as Anthrasil by Emergent BioSolutions Inc. in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Anthrax is caused by Bacillus anthracis, bacteria found naturally in soil and commonly…
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Clinical Trial to Test Ketamine to Treat Rett Syndrome
23 March 2015. A clinical trial is planned to test an anesthetic used in surgery as a treatment for Rett syndrome, a rare developmental disorder affecting girls. The trial testing the anesthetic ketamine will be conducted by Case Western Reserve University medical school in Cleveland, funded by a $1.3 million grant from Rett Syndrome Research Trust.…
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Alcohol Ignition Locks Seen Preventing 83% of DUI Deaths
20 March 2015. A statistical projection shows some 59,500 deaths over 15 years could be prevented if new cars in the U.S. had alcohol ignition locks that stop drunk drivers from starting their engines. Medical and transportation researchers at University of Michigan, led by professor of emergency medicine Patrick Carter, published their findings yesterday in…
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Device Shown to Reduce Stroke in Heart Valve Replacements
16 March 2015. First results from a clinical trial in Europe and Israel show an experimental mesh device deployed during heart valve replacement surgery sharply reduces strokes and cognitive damage, complications associated with the procedure. A team from Yale University School of Medicine presented its findings yesterday of the study testing TriGuard, made by Keystone…
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Stem Cells Shown to Stop Decline for Some ALS Patients
13 March 2015. An intermediate-stage clinical trial of a stem cell therapy to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, shows some patients receiving the treatments nearly stopped the decline or improved their muscle functions. Neuralstem Inc., a biotechnology company in Germantown, Maryland sponsoring the study, reported summary results yesterday. ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s…
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Second-Hand E-Cigarette Emissions Pose Health Risks
12 March 2015. Exhaled particles from electronic cigarette smokers contain nicotine and other chemicals that could pose health risks to non-smokers in the same room, according to new research. The study, by RTI International, a research institute in North Carolina, aims to provide more health information about the largely unregulated and growing e-cigarette market. E-cigarettes…
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Trial Shows Current Drug Slows Alzheimer’s Onset
11 March 2015. A clinical trial testing a current drug to treat epilepsy shows the drug can delay development of Alzheimer’s disease in its earliest stages. Results of the study, conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins University for AgeneBio Inc., two year-old pharmaceutical company in Baltimore, appear online in the journal NeuroImage: Clinical. The intermediate-stage…
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FDA Approves Antibody for Childhood Nerve Cell Cancer
10 March 2015. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved today dinutuximab, an engineered antibody to treat neuroblastoma, a rare cancer affecting nerve cells in young children. Dinutuximab is developed by United Therapeutics, a biotechnology company in Silver Spring, Maryland and marketed under the brand name Unituxin. Neuroblastoma is a cancer that develops from immature…