Month: March 2014
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Early Trial Shows Wireless Pacemaker Safe, Effective
24 March 2014. Researchers at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York found in an early-stage clinical trial, a smaller and lead-less heart pacemaker could be safely implanted and operate for at least three months without complications. The team led by Mount Sinai cardiologist Vivek Reddy — with colleagues in Netherlands, Germany, and Czech Republic, and…
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FDA Approves Celgene Psoriatic Arthritis Treatment
24 March 2014. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on 21 March approved the drug apremilast to treat adults with active cases of psoriatic arthritis. The drug is marketed as Otezla by the pharmaceutical company Celgene in Summit, New Jersey, that also reported results of clinical trials of Otezla to treat the related skin condition…
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New Jersey Tech, IT Company to Develop Autism Device
21 March 2014. Engineers at New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark and WebTeam Corp. in Somerset, New Jersey are designing a device to help children with autism spectrum disorders develop basic educational skills. Financial details of the collaboration were not disclosed, but NJIT and WebTeam will share the intellectual property arising from the project.…
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Process Devised to Generate Stem Cells from Drop of Blood
20 March 2014. Researchers at Singapore’s Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology developed a process for deriving adult stem cells from small samples of blood, making it easier for donors to collect and bank their own blood samples. The team led by the institute’s Jonathan Yuin-Han Loh and funded by Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology…
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Smartphone App for Point-of-Care Diagnostics in Development
20 March 2014. Engineers at University of Cambridge in the U.K. designed a smartphone app that accurately performs tests with urine or saliva samples at the point of care. The app, called Colorimetrix, is the work of Leo Martinez-Hurtado, now a postdoctoral researcher at Technical University of Munich and Cambridge Ph.D. candidate Ali Yetisen, who…
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Genetics Group, Analytics Firm Collaborate on Diagnostics
19 March 2014. A genetics research center at University of Utah in Salt Lake City and Omicia Inc., a genomic analytics company in Oakland, California are developing systems to make genomic analysis a routine medical diagnostic procedure. The $6 million in funding for the USTAR Center for Genetic Discovery comes from the university and Utah…
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Janssen, Univ. of Alberta Partner on Diabetes Research
19 March 2014. Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies, a division of Johnson & Johnson, is joining with University of Alberta in Edmonton to fund research on diabetes with commercial potential. The $600,000 fund, with contributions from Janssen and matched by the government of Alberta and Alberta Diabetes Foundation, will support studies on type 1 and type 2…
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Report: Climate Consensus Solid, Sudden Damage Risk Real
18 March 2014. A new report from American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) underscores the the near-unanimous consensus by scientists that human-caused climate change is happening, and the risks of abrupt and unpredictable damage are increasing. A panel of 10 climate scientists, with partners in the business community, issued the report yesterday. The…
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Bristol-Myers Squibb, Biotech in Cancer Drug Discovery Deal
17 March 2014. Bristol-Myers Squibb, a pharmaceutical company in New York, and Five Prime Therapeutics in South San Francisco, California are collaborating in discovery of cancer immunotherapies. The deal can be worth as much as $350 million to Five Prime Therapeutics, in which Bristol-Myers Squibb will also get a 5 percent stake. Five Prime Therapeutics…
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Emergency Room Opioid Prescriptions Jump in 2001-2010
14 March 2014. Medical researchers at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. found large increases in prescriptions for opioid pain-killers in U.S. hospital emergency rooms over the 2001-2010 decade. The team led by emergency medicine faculty Maryann Mazer-Amirshahi published its findings online yesterday in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine (paid subscription required). Mazer-Amirshahi and colleagues analyzed data…