Imagine a surgical patient on a bloodthinning drug who starts bleeding more than expected, and an antidote that works immediately because the blood thinner and antidote were designed to work together. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center Promptpillstore have engineered a way to do this for an entire, versatile class of drugs called aptamers [...]

Many biopharmaceuticals comprise small proteins that are quickly eliminated from the body. Scientists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) combine such small proteins with a kind of molecular balloon that swells and thus prolongs the halflife of the proteins in the body. The TUM spinoff XLProtein GmbH has now started to further develop this new [...]

QUMAS, the leading provider of Compliance Solutions to highly regulated industries, announced the launch of the QUMAS Biotechnology Package, a complete webbased electronic document management system (eDMS) for Biotechnology companies preparing for regulatory submission. This affordable package has been created specifically for small biotech companies, in order to give them access to QUMAS DocCompliance, [...]

The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), the publicprivate partnership between the European Commission and the European pharmaceutical industry, represented by EFPIA, today made its first major announcement of the success of the collaboration. IMI also announced the topics of research of its second call for proposals. With these topics, IMI aims to accelerate the discovery and [...]

LIVALO (pitavastatin) may have the potential for fewer drugdrug interactions, versus other statins, as evidenced by a new study that evaluated the effects of itraconazole, an antifungal medication, on the pharmacokinetics of LIVALO in healthy volunteers. The data were presented by Kowa at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress in Barcelona, Spain.
Many statins currently [...]

Amgen (Nasdaq AMGN) announced positive topline results from a Phase 3 trial evaluating Vectibix((R) )(panitumumab) in combination with FOLFIRI (an irinotecanbased chemotherapy) as a secondline treatment in 1,186 patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). The coprimary endpoints, tested independently, were progressionfree and overall survival.
Vectibix significantly improved progressionfree survival in combination with FOLFIRI, compared to [...]

BristolMyers Squibb Company (NYSE BMY) and AstraZeneca (NYSE AZN) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ONGLYZA™ (saxagliptin), a dipeptidyl peptidase4 (DPP4) inhibitor. ONGLYZA is indicated as an adjunct to diet and exercise to improve blood sugar (glycemic) control in adults for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. ONGLYZA once daily [...]

QRxPharma Limited (Pink Sheets QRXPY; ASX QRX) announced the initiation of a Phase 2 comparative proofofconcept study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of MoxDuo(TM) IV (intravenous morphine and oxycodone) versus IV morphine alone for the treatment of moderate to severe postoperative pain in patients following hip replacement surgery. Data from this study will serve [...]

The NPA is asking for the RPSGB retention fee to be held at the present level, given the financial pressures on pharmacy businesses, many of which pay retention fees for their staff.
Margaret Peycke, NPA External Relations Manager said
“The justification to charge RPSGB members more is unclear, especially as such a large increase in [...]

“Senators agreed Monday to give hightech biologic drugs 12 years of market protection before generic versions can compete,” according to The Associated Press.
The AP reports “The vote in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee was a victory for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries but a defeat for the Obama administration and AARP. The [...]