Pharmacology

"Devil's claw" is a plant that may hold a natural for arthritis, tendonitis and other illnesses that affect millions each year. Years of drought in Africa's Kalahari Desert have pushed the Devil's claw toward extinction but scientists are making headway in efforts to produce the valuable medicinal chemicals of the Devil's claw and one group reported an advance at the American Chemical Society (ACS) meeting. The researchers described the first successful method of producing the active ingredients in Devil's claw — what made it a sensation to natural medicine proponents in Europe. They say…

A new era in painkillers has officially started, as FDA approved King Pharmaceuticals' extended-release morphine drug Embeda. This is a story that has been several months in the making, and the public health potential is huge. When extended-release morphine originally came out, they were desperately needed for chronic pain patients (like those with cancer). The problem with such drugs, like OxyContin (oxycodone), is that they were easily abused. Several drug companies have been working on tamper-resistant XR pain drugs, and now the first has crossed the finish line. King's Embeda has an…

With Big Pharma allegedly “cooperating” with President Obama’s health care reforms, and Congress wanting to limit drug advertising, might it pay to refresh our memories about how we got here in the first place? It's time for a quiz.   The first to get all answers correct - via posted response - will receive a free copy of my book, Generation Rx, and a free sample of Adderall (*). 1. Who initiated the law suit that led to the ability of pharmaceutical companies to advertise directly to consumers (DTC)? Robert Bork Robert Redford Johnnie Cochran Ralph Nader 2. Which 1976…

The Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology lists three cases of patients suffering from the adverse affects of steroid-enriched dietary supplements.  The cases reported by researchers at Henry Ford Hospital include patients with liver injury and renal failure.  Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning regarding the use of over-the-counter body-building supplements that are illegally enriched with anabolic steroids.  "To date, reports of any deleterious health consequences of purportedly low doses of steroids in dietary supplements are scant but our…

There has long been an on-again, off-again debate about the health effects of red wine. Is it killing our liver or is it preventing the next pandemic? It appears scientists from Scotland and Singapore have answered this question. Red wine is healthy because the resveratrol it contains controls inflammation. But how? New research published in the August 2009 print issue of The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org), not only explains resveratrol's one-two punch on inflammation, but also show how it—or a derivative—can be used to treat potentially deadly inflammatory disease, such as…

Metabolic conditions and immunologic conditions rarely coincide but a group of papers appearing in Nature Medicine have linked type 2 diabetes with immunology in an intriguing way.  In the first study, researchers used two common over-the-counter allergy medications, Zaditor and cromolyn, to reduce both obesity and type 2 diabetes in mice. Zaditor and cromolyn stabilize a population of inflammatory immune cells called mast cells. In the second study, researchers found that a kind of white blood cell called a regulatory T cell, once thought to manage only other white blood cells, also…

Epidemiological studies have shown that some oral contraceptives are less effective at preventing pregnancy in obese women until an 'effective blood concentration' has been reached, meaning there is a 'window' where the contraceptive will not be effective in heavier women. With estimates  that up to 30 percent of adults in the U.S. are obese, this could be important.   Fixing contraceptives is an easier path than telling people to eat less while simultaneously telling them that society's unrealistic body images should be resisted. The study was just published in the journal…

Accera, Inc., a biotechnology company delivering therapies in central nervous system diseases, today announced further evidence for genetic interactions impacting the efficacy of the ketogenic compound AC-1202 (Axona(TM)) in Alzheimer’s disease. New data from the company’s previously completed double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease demonstrates an interaction between two genetic markers that strongly influence the therapeutic response in patients. Dr. Samuel Henderson, Executive Director of Research, will present these results at the 2009…

A study done by Stanford University School of Medicine and Stanford Hospital&Clinics suggests that the use of a dietary supplement after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery can help obese patients to more quickly lose weight and to avoid deficiency of a critical B vitamin. In the study published in the Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery, John Morton, MD, associate professor of surgery at the medical school, says patients who take probiotics after the gastric-bypass procedure tend to shed more pounds than those who don't take the supplements. Probiotics are the "good" bacteria found in…

A clinical report in the current edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International supports the belief that the designer drug “Spice Gold” is strongly addictive.   Ulrich S. Zimmermann from Dresden Technical University and colleagues describe a young man who developed physical withdrawal symptoms after regular consumption, accompanied by a dependence syndrome. Since January 2009, “Spice Gold” has been subject to the German Narcotics Law, meaning that production, free trade and possession are forbidden, but initially only for a year. There could be a permanent regulation at the end of that…