Pharmacology

Pediatric Crohn's Disease is a chronic, debilitating condition of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract that affects up to 200,000 children worldwide. CD, which is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), most commonly involves the end of the small intestine and the beginning of the large intestine. The disease can pose a substantial psycho-social burden to younger patients and is associated with reduced quality of life for both patients and their caregivers.    Pediatric CD is characterized by periods in which the disease flares up, is active and causes symptoms. These episodes can…

Lead is a common element found in old paints, soil, water and the atmosphere. At high doses it is lethal but also causes minor symptoms like headaches. Small children are obviously impacted more and lead has been linked to irreversible damage to organs, kidneys in particular, and the nervous system including the brain. Now lead exposure is implicated in 'learning disabilities', behavioral problems, lowered intelligence, stunted growth, and hearing impairment. Data from the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) shows that 6% of all children ages one to two years and 11% of African-American (non…

Two new research papers signal how the next class of powerful medications may currently reside at the bottom of the ocean.  Sea life studies could aid researchers in several ways, including the development of new medications and perhaps biofuels. Because many of these ocean animal species have existed in harmony with their bacteria for millions of years, these benign bacteria have devised molecules that can affect body function without side effects - and therefore better fight disease. To generate these discoveries, a research partnership called the Philippine Mollusk Symbiont…

Sick children suffering dehydration from flu or other illnesses may risk significant kidney injury if given drugs such as ibuprofen and naproxen, according to researchers writing in the Journal of Pediatrics. Jason Misurac, M.D., and colleagues from Indiana University School of Medicine and Butler University reported that nearly 3 percent of cases of pediatric acute kidney injury over a decade could be traced directly to having taken the common non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs. Although small in terms of percentage of total kidney damage cases, they noted that the children…

Pregnant women who were vaccinated against pandemic influenza in 2009 were not at increased risk of experiencing fetal death, though pregnant women who contracted influenza had an increased risk of fetal death.  During the swine influenza pandemic of that year, there were anecdotal reports of miscarriages and stillbirths occurring shortly after vaccination, so the Norwegian Institute of Public Health initiated a study to investigate if there was an association between pandemic influenza vaccination and the fetal deaths.  Pregnant women are at increased risk of severe influenza…

 A new treatment, BETMIGA (mirabegron) has received approval from the European Commission (EC) for the treatment of overactive bladder (OAB) symptoms in adults. OAB is defined as urinary urgency, with or without urgency incontinence, usually with increased daytime frequency and nocturia (waking up at night one or more times to empty the bladder). OAB affects more than 400 million people worldwide. In Europe,OAB affects approximately 17% of men and women and increases to 30-40% for those aged over 75 years. In a survey carried out in OAB patients, 65% felt OAB had adversely affected…

Some years ago, I was a bit mystified as to the distinction between prebiotics and probiotics.  These days, one can easily look them up on Wikipedia, and find that prebiotics are meant to encourage the growth of ‘good’ bacteria in the gut, while probiotics are supposed to deliver the bacteria directly.  Prebiotics are generally soluble oligo- or polysaccharides, known as dietary ‘fibre’, and one of the best sources of these is chicory root.     Chicory root and flower The history of probiotics starts back in the 19th century with the work of Ilya…

Kareus Therapeutics SA has announced the start of a Phase I clinical study following the Investigational New Drug (IND) approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for the development of KU-046, a first-in-class disease modifying new chemical entity discovered for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease using Kareus' proprietary bioenergetics and KARLECT platforms.   The Phase I clinical trial is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled two-part study to assess the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of single ascending oral doses and of multiple ascending oral doses…

Dipexium Pharmaceuticals, LLC today announced that it has reached an agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on a Special Protocol Assessment for an upcoming Phase 3 registration trial in mild infections of diabetic foot ulcers with Locilex (pexiganan acetate cream 1%), an antibiotic peptide formulated as a topical cream.   Locilex is a broad spectrum, topical antimicrobial peptide which is chemically synthesized from the skin of the African clawed frog. Locilex has a novel, bactericidal mechanism of action uncommon among antibiotics currently marketed which generally…

Merck Serono, a division of Germany's Merck, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Rebif(R) Rebidose(R) (interferon beta-1a), a single-use auto-injector for the self-administration of Rebif, a disease-modifying drug used to treat relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS).   Rebif Rebidose was evaluated in a 12-week Phase IIIb multicenter, open-label, single-arm study for the self-administration of Rebif with respect to ease of use, patient satisfaction and acceptability, and functional reliability. In the trial, patients with relapsing MS, who were…