Tag: heart disease
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Clinical Trial Tests Ultrasound Device to Boost Stroke Drugs
A clinical trial found an ultrasound device safe for ischemic stroke patients and helpful for many of these patients in dissolving blood clots in their brains. Researchers from University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, with colleagues from University of Alabama-Birmingham and medical centers in Germany, tested the device in an intermediate-stage trial with 20…
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St. Jude Medical Acquires Leadless Pacemaker Developer
St. Jude Medical, a medical device company in St. Paul, Minnesota, is acquiring Nanostim Inc., a developer of self-contained leadless heart pacemakers in Sunnyvale, California. Shareholders in the privately owned Nanostim can receive up to $188.5 million in upfront cash and milestone payments as a result of the purchase. St. Jude Medical has a relationship…
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Early Clinical Trial Shows RNA Therapy Lowers Cholesterol
A clinical trial by the biopharmaceutical company Alnylam Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, Massachusetts shows that one dose of a drug made from interfering ribonucleic acid (RNA) cuts LDL, or bad, cholesterol levels more than a placebo. Results of the study, conducted with colleagues from University of Texas-Southwestern in Dallas and medical centers in the U.K., appear…
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NIH Funding Micro-Sutures for Stem Cell Heart Muscle Repair
Researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts and University of Washington in Seattle are collaborating on development of tiny bio-compatible polymer threads that help stem cells repair damaged heart muscle. The work of Worcester Tech biomedical engineers Glenn Gaudette and George Pins, with Washington pathology professor Michael Laflamme is funded by a five-year $1.94 million…
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University, Company Partner on Computer-Based Drug Discovery
The drug discovery company Serometrix in Pittsford, New York is deploying bioinformatics software developed by University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland for identifying protein structures that show subtle clues as potential targets for drugs. Financial terms of of the licensing agreement were not disclosed. The system is a result of a collaboration between Strathclyde chemistry…
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Heart Model Devised to Implant Child’s Defibrillator
Engineers and medical researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore developed a three-dimensional computer model of a child’s heart to guide the optimal location for a defibrillator that regulates heart rhythms. The team led by biomedical engineering professor Natalia Trayanova describes the model online in The Journal of Physiology (paid subscription required). Children born with…
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Medtronic Acquires Telemedicine Systems Developer
Medtronic Inc., a medical device company in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is buying Cardiocom, a developer of telemedicine systems in nearby Chanhassen, Minnesota, in an all-cash transaction valued at $200 million. Medtronic’s devices currently help treat cardiac and vascular diseases, diabetes, and neurological and musculoskeletal disorders. Cardiocom, founded in 1999 and privately held, builds solutions for home…
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Trial Testing External Power Connections for Heart Pumps
A clinical trial testing alternative connections for external powering of implanted heart pumps is enrolling patients at University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, one site of the study. Bartley Griffith, a cardiac surgeon and professor of surgery is leading the research for the university, which is funded by Jarvik Heart Inc., maker of one…
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Arthritis Drug Shown to Reduce Glucose in Type 2 Diabetes
Researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center, affiliated with Harvard Medical School in Boston, found the arthritis drug salsalate helps lower blood glucose levels and improves control of blood sugar among people with type 2 diabetes. Results of the clinical trial, which included researchers from several other universities and hospitals, appear in today’s issue of the journal…
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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…