The Council of Europe member states will launch an inquiry in January 2010 on the influence of the pharmaceutical companies on the global swine flu campaign, focusing especially on extent of the pharma's industry's influence on WHO. The Health Committee of the EU Parliament has unanimously passed a resolution calling for the inquiry.
The German Medical Association aims to evaluate the use of guidelines, the influence of drug companies on studies, the impact of economisation on staff and patients, and ultimately to assess the realities of medical care.
A novel molecular imaging technology aimed at rapid diagnosis of cell death in organs such as the brain and heart has been licensed by The Medical College of Wisconsin, USA, to GE Healthcare. The method uses imaging probes with a radiopharmaceutical compound. Under the license GE will further evaluate and develop the technology and will have an option to commercialize it.
A global vaccination programme against human papilloma virus (HPV), to include boys as well as girls, could lead to eradication of the virus and virtual disappearance of cervical cancer, according to Nobel Prize winner, Professor Emeritus Harald zur Hausen (University of California, San Diego) after recently delivering a keynote lecture at the 16th International Meeting of the European Society of…
Pain is the most common symptom of any illness thus having an alerting function to evoke protective responses. If tissue damage has happened as a consequence of surgery, obstruction, injuries, or cancer a cascade of changes in the peripheral and central nervous system occurs leading to physical inactivation, an increase of morbidity thus delaying hospital stay and treatment costs.
As concern over the potential mutation of the latest form of influenza virus continues to vex governments and their healthcare organisations, WHO 2009 data has shown that acute respiratory infections, influenza and respiratory syncitial virus (RSV) epidemics coincide with epidemics of S. pneumoniae. In fact, half or more of flu-associated mortality in the 1918-1919 Spanish Flu epidemic is…
A global vaccination programme against human papilloma virus (HPV), to include boys as well as girls, could lead to eradication of the virus and virtual disappearance of cervical cancer, predicted Nobel Prize winner, Professor Harald zur Hausen, after delivering the key-note lecture at the 16th International Meeting of the European Society of Gynaecological Oncology (ESGO) in Belgrade, Serbia,…
The biotech industry is being hit twice as hard by the economic crisis. In addition to the general economic downturn, the largely dried-up equity market, which has massively complicated the usual equity financing through the stock exchange or venture capital, is causing problems for companies.
Talking about medical innovations, new drugs, techniques and technologies are the first things that come to mind, whereas new indications for existing pharmaceuticals, especially biological medicines, play a minor role.
The threat of communicable diseases will become even worse in the near future. At the European Health Forum Gastein, the European Union's leading health policy congress for experts and decision-makers, experts stressed that there are a number of risk factors which contribute to a growing risk of the spread of communicable diseases into Europe, namely into the European Union.
Colorectal cancer (CRC) jointly describes cancers of the colon and rectum. Worldwide, CRCs are among the most common cancers. In Europe and the USA the occurrence of CRCs are considerably higher than in Africa and Asia.
The fact that child diabetics (type I) in Russia do not receive necessary and qualitative therapy was again highlighted during the 7th Russian conference 'The priority national project - Health - and the tasks of children's endocrinologists' held in Saint-Petersburg this June.
The Leapfrog Group is a U.S. organisation of member companies that pay for healthcare services, e.g. corporations, health insurers and local, state and federal government agencies. Established in 2000, its philosophy is that big 'leaps' in healthcare safety, quality and value to patients will be recognised and rewarded. The organisation mobilises purchasing power of its members, representing over…
Completion of a Phase I clinical trial has demonstrated the great promise of a completely new type of cancer treatment, according to results announced this June in The New England Journal of Medicine by scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and the Royal Marsden Hospital in the United Kingdom, working with pharma firm AstraZeneca.
Positive CB7630 (Abiraterone Acetate) Phase II Data was presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago this May/June, Cougar Biotechnology Inc, a development stage biopharmaceutical firm with a specific focus on oncology. In mid-July, Johnson & Johnson announced its acquisition of Cougar, which is now working with Ortho Biotech Oncology Research & Development, a division of the J&J firm Centocor…
In the genetic material of cancer cells, important growth inhibitors are often switched off by chemical labels in the DNA. Scientists of the German Cancer Research Center and the Ohio State University, USA, discovered in mice that cancer-typical DNA labeling occurs long before the first symptoms of leukemia appear. A test for the genetic label might therefore help to detect a developing cancer at…
Forensic toxicology is the post-mortem testing for lethal and/or foreign substances in body fluids and tissues, and it can be a very time-consuming process. The media has reported that Michael Jackson's death certificate was issued on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 without listing a cause of death; his brain, or part of it, was being retained for testing; and initial indications are that it may take…
Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Germany, has presented positive data on a global Phase II study with the novel positron emission tomography (PET) tracer florbetaben (BAY 94-9172) at the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD) in Vienna, Austria. This study showed that patients with a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer´s disease could be differentiated from age-matched healthy volunteers…
Newly designed centerpieces used in the Beckman Coulter XL-A and XL-I instruments - the only analytical ultracentrifuges on the market today - allow the systems to provide precise, repeatable measurement of pharmaceutical sample aggregation in pharmaceutical research and formulation laboratories.
The inflammatory process in the brain of multiple sclerosis patients is triggered by their own immune system. However, there is one type of immune cells that seems to fight against the destructive progress - and might be used for therapeutic purposes in future.
According to ECD statistics for Europe, three million cases of nosocomial infections occur annually, and 50,000 are fatal. Evelina Tacconelli MD PhD (below) is Assistant Professor of Infectious Diseases at the Università Cattolica Sacro Cuore in Rome, Italy. Her scientific focus is on epidemiology, clinical and therapeutic aspects of nosocomial infections and infection control policies aimed to…
The first strain of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) was isolated in the 1960s, and its presence was reported worldwide in the late 1990s. A higher incidence of MRSA was noted in communities, at the dawn of the new millennium, leading to two basic MRSA strains being differentiated - CA-MRSA (community acquired MRSA) and HA-MRSA (healthcare associated MRSA). In clinical practice…
During the race to produce vaccines against evolving influenza viruses the slowness of their manufacture has turned producers more sharply towards cell culture technology. Using the traditional process, fertilised chicken eggs must first be inoculated with live flu virus, then the resulting egg-adapted virus must be purified and inactivated to produce trivalent inactivated virus (TIV), during…
European hospitals are increasingly using robotic dispensing systems to accelerate drug distribution and the patients discharge process.
Beckman Coulter, Inc. has expanded its drugs of abuse test menu to include a DRI* Oxycodone Enzyme Immunoassay (OXYX). The assay is for the qualitative and semi-quantitative determination of oxycodone and its metabolite, oxymorphone, in human urine.