Pharmacology

The class of drug known as p110δ inhibitors, currently being used to treat leukemia, has the unexpected side-effect of boosting immune responses against many different cancers, according to a study led by pharmaceutical company Genentech in San Francisco p110δ inhibitors have shown such remarkable efficacy against certain leukemias in recent clinical trials that patients on the placebo were switched to the real drug - but they have not been tested in other types of cancer.  The p110δ enzyme is a member of the PI3-kinase family, and is sometimes called PI3Kδ. p110δ and the other PI3Ks are…

Recent mass killings have again raised concern among lawmakers and the media about the possible connection between mental illness, and drugs to treat it, and gun violence.  Obviously someone who commits a mass shooting is mentally ill so renewed focus has been on the impact of a modern medical culture which over-medicates a lot of behavior. Guns have always been a part of American culture and individual murders are down, but a spate of mass shootings has occurred recently, causing people to search for a cause beyond simplistic 'ban guns' exploitation. Unfortunately, there is not much way…

Tamoxifen is a widely used breast cancer drug but  some women with advanced, postmenopausal estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer don't respond to it.  A study in Clinical Cancer Research found that the inexpensive anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) reverses resistance to tamoxifen in mice, meaning that adding HCQ to tamoxifen could provide a new treatment option for women with the ER+ subtype, which accounts for an estimated 70 percent of all breast cancers. While many of these women are treated with tamoxifen, which blocks estrogen from fueling the tumor, 50…

Active pharmaceutical ingredient is the term used to refer to the biologically active component of a drug product, such as a tablet or capsule.  Drug products are usually composed of several components and the active pharmaceutical ingredient is the primary ingredient. Other, inactive ingredients are commonly known as excipients and they are things like preservatives, dyes or flavoring. These inert substances are always required to be biologically safe. That doesn't mean they can't have an effect. An inert ingredient like lactose can cause an adverse reaction in some. The…

Young men who use cannabis may be putting their fertility at risk by inadvertently affecting the size and shape of their sperm according to research published today (Thursday 5 June 2014). In the world's largest study to investigate how common lifestyle factors influence the size and shape of sperm (referred to as sperm morphology), a research team from the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester also found that sperm size and shape was worse in samples ejaculated in the summer months but was better in men who had abstained from sexual activity for more than six days. However, other common…

Anti-depressants are having a bad decade. They've been increasingly implicated in acts of violence - it used to be that if a person had been treated by multiple therapists, society had done its part, and now society wonders if over-medicating and creating too many psychological labels are the problem rather than the solution. Now antidepressants are increasingly linked to obesity.  As detailed in JAMA Psychiatry, Sarah R. Blumenthal, B.S., Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and colleagues analyzed electronic health records from a large New England health care system to collect…

A new study in mice has shown that a previously developed male hormonal (testosterone) oral contraceptive method is unable to stop the production and / or the release of sperm.   Scientists demonstrated in their mice experiments that the male contraception approach by testosterone has an inherent problem — spermatogenesis still does not stop. They did find that that administering increasing doses of testosterone to infertile mutant mice did allow sexual function to return at a certain dosing threshold, which was expected.   What was not expected, however, is that…

A nationwide survey indicates that heroin users are attracted to heroin not only for the high, but because it is less expensive and easier to get than prescription painkillers. It was once a gateway drug among urban populations but now it is an end-drug predominantly used by white men and women in their late 20s living outside large urban areas who were first introduced to opioids through prescription drugs like OxyContin, Percocet or Vicodin, and only switched to heroin when their prescription drug habits get too expensive.  Principal investigator Theodore J. Cicero, PhD, of Washington…

The therapeutic potential of marijuana and pure cannabidiol (CBD), an active substance in the cannabis plant, for neurologic conditions is debatable - though so far the debate has mostly been anecdotes against science. A series of articles published in Epilepsia examine the potential use of medical marijuana and CBD in treating severe forms of epilepsy such as Dravet syndrome. In a case study, Dr. Edward Maa, Chief of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program at Denver Health in Denver, Colo., details one mother's experience of providing medical marijuana to her child with Dravet syndrome. The…

Counterfeit medicines have skyrocketed in recent years and the gullibility of the public has been bolstered by conspiracy theories about profits by pharmaceutical companies - they believe that every country must be making the same products free, or at least subsidizing it to get costs down. A $1 Viagra pill is believable if you want to believe. Not so, and the trend is dangerous but researchers at the University of Montreal have developed an improved chemical analysis method that is more efficient and faster in detecting counterfeit medicines. A study by Philippe Lebel, Alexandra Furtos and…