Science and Enterprise

Tag: pharmaceuticals

  • SBIR Grant to Support Glucagon Made for Artificial Pancreas

    National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded Biodel Inc.,  a biopharmaceutical company in Danbury, Connecticut, a Small Business Innovation Research grant to develop a special form of glucagon used in artificial pancreas systems for diabetes patients. Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants are awarded by U.S. federal science agencies to encourage smaller enterprises to explore research…

  • Bristol-Myers, Vanderbilt to Partner on Parkinson’s Drugs

    Pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb and Vanderbilt University in Nashville will collaborate on new treatments for Parkinson’s disease, a progressive brain disorder. The financial magnitude and length of the multi-year agreement were not disclosed. Under the deal, Vanderbilt’s Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery will identify drug candidates from current research being supported by the Michael J.…

  • FDA Approves Inhaled Aerosol Asthma Maintenance Drug

    Acton Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Marlborough, Massachusetts reports the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its drug Aerospan, an orally inhaled corticosteroid for the prevention of asthma attacks. The FDA approval, says Acton, came in response to a supplemental new drug application, and will enable the company to launch the drug in the U.S. during the…

  • Pharmas to Collaborate on Improving Clinical Trial Process

    Ten of the world’s larger pharmaceutical companies formed a non-profit organization to improve the way clinical drug studies, a major time and financial expense, are conducted. Abbott, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Company, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Genentech (a division of the Roche Group), and Sanofi will take part in the…

  • DNA Bar Codes Help Authenticate Natural Health Products

    Researchers at University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada found DNA identification successfully verified a vast majority of natural health products sold  in two North American cities. The study led by Mehrdad Hajibabaei, in Guelph’s integrative biology department and Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, appears online in the journal Food Research International (paid subscription required). Hajibabaei says…

  • Polymer Nanoparticles Tested to Respond,Treat Inflammation

    Pharmaceutical scientists and engineers at University of California in San Diego developed a degradable polymer in nanoscale form that can respond to measurable concentrations of hydrogen peroxide, an indicator of inflammation associated with many disorders. The team led by pharmacy professor Adah Almutairi (pictured left) published its findings online earlier this month in the Journal…

  • Levitation Technique Devised to Create More Soluble Drugs

    Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory, a division of the U.S. Department of Energy in Illinois, developed techniques making it more feasible to create drugs that are more soluble, and thus more effective in lower doses. X-ray physicist Chris Benmore led the study that uses levitation to suspend the solution in air while it evaporates, leaving…

  • FDA Approves Oral Drug for Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved yesterday teriflunomide, a tablet taken once a day for the treatment of adults with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis. The drug, marketed under the name Aubagio, was developed by the Genzyme division of the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease of the…

  • Report: Multiple Strategies Help Patients Take Medicines

    A review of past studies of patients’ behavior in taking prescribed medicines shows a number of approaches and methods can encourage patients to adhere to their medication regimens. The report from RTI International and the Evidence-based Practice Center at University of North Carolina, and  funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, appears online…

  • Trial Shows Vaccine Effective Against Most Dengue Viruses

    A clinical trial by researchers from the pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur, with clinicians and public health officers from Thailand, shows a candidate vaccine to prevent the tropical disease dengue fever was effective against three of the four dengue viruses. The findings from the trial, funded by the Dengue Vaccine Initiative, appear online in the journal…