Pharmacology

Palbociclib, a new oral drug with efficacy in combating breast cancer both alone and in combination with endocrine therapy, also has potential to combat other types of cancer, according to a literature review and additional research in JAMA Oncology. Palbociclib targets the rapid division of tumor cells by inhibiting the activity of the enzymes CDK4 and CDK6, which propel cell division and increase in number in most cancers. It is the first CDK4/6 inhibitor to be approved for the treatment of breast cancer. "All living cells undergo cell division and palbociclib's unique capacity to halt the…

Supplement fads come and go and the most recent one to take the U.S. by storm has been to list vitamin D as both cause and cure of just about everything - and make some money selling vitamin supplements. It takes a while for science to catch up to spurious correlations and a recent study of elderly men found no evidence that obstructive sleep apnea increased in severity (or prevalence) as a result of vitamin D deficiency, despite what Joe Mercola or other health frauds are claiming this week. The researchers also found no evidence to support a link between vitamin D deficiency and increased…

An article describes the first published case of confusional state in a healthy 14-year-old girl attributed to excessive consumption of over-the-counter cough medicine that contained codeine. Codeine is a widely prescribed painkiller, but it can also be purchased over the counter in preparations of cold/cough remedies.    Codeine intoxication symptoms often include central nervous system depression, respiratory depression, severe itching of the skin, and flushing. Confusion is a relatively unusual complaint but the teenage girl experienced confusion and the loss of the ability to…

The fine gentlemen who run Quebec-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals are probably thanking some deity or other for Martin Shkreli, the vile little creep who is the founder and CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals. In case you do not have a "vile little creep" Google News alert, Shkreli won the hearts of millions of Americans when he paid $55 million to Impax—the sole maker of Daraprim, a niche drug for treating toxoplasmosis—and raised the price of the 60-year old drug by 55-times. Because... he could. Only 2,000 Americans use the anti-protzoan drug. But those who need it—primarily people…

Biologists have found used to characterize new antibiotics can screen natural products quickly for compounds capable of controlling antibiotic resistant bacteria. Antibiotic resistance is increasing at an alarming rate. The Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, a publication established to produce an analysis of the global problems of antimicrobial resistance, recently predicted that by 2050, the worldwide toll from drug resistant bacterial infections could reach 10 million deaths per year, more than cancer (8.2 million) and diabetes (1.5 million) combined.  America currently leads…

Where is Mel Brooks when you need him? Ever since Chipotle's self-righteous claim (which isn't even true) that the company was removing GM ingredients from its food because "it doesn't align with [the company's] position," just about everything conceivable went wrong.  It's now a bit of a novelty to find a news day when they haven't poisoned someone. I find it nearly impossible to ponder this level of bungling without The Producers' "Springtime for Hitler" popping into my head. Of course, the main difference between the company and the premise of the movie is that producer…

Add green tea to the growing list of substances that activists will soon be calling an endocrine disruptor; a study has found that, rather than bring health benefits, as Big Tea proclaims, excessive consumption adversely affects development and reproduction in fruit fly populations. Derived from the plant Camellia sinensis, green tea is popular worldwide for its purported brain and heart health and anticancer properties. Nutraceuticals such as green tea, are popular among groups that distrust agricultural, medical, and energy science, but they are unregulated.  A team investigated the…

Some doctors may recommend that patients with the flu take acetaminophen, or paracetemol, to relieve their symptoms; however, a new randomized clinical trial found no benefits to the over-the-counter medication in terms of fighting the influenza virus or reducing patients' temperature or other symptoms. The trial included adults between 18 and 65 years of age with confirmed influenza infections who were treated with the maximum recommended dose of paracetamol or placebo for five days. Participants were monitored for up to 14 days. "We initially theorized that taking paracetamol might be…

In a study into the prevention of HIV transmission, people who took the antiretroviral drug Truvada were 86% less likely to contract the disease than those who took a placebo, report the researchers who led the study. In real numbers, fourteen of the 201 people in the placebo group acquired HIV, compared to two in the 199-strong Truvada group. The study was double blinded, meaning that neither the participants nor the researchers knew who was receiving what while the study was being undertaken. Double-blinding enables researchers to demonstrate a higher standard of proof. In addition to the…

Doods—chill. You just ate a bunch of poisonous stuff. Some of it was especially nasty, and I don't mean the cooking, rather, the chemicals in the food. Chances are that you are fine.  So am I, with the exception of sitting (mostly still) for two hours in a car with my mother (wonderful woman and I love her to death, but good lord, can she talk!) on the Long Island Expressway (LIE)—a misnomer if ever there were one—to attend Thanksgiving dinner.  The day was not lacking in stress. This is me channeling Lloyd Bridges: Airplane (1980)  Perhaps the funniest movie of all…