New therapy for pancreatic cancer patients shows promising results -- ScienceDaily

New therapy for pancreatic cancer patients shows promising results 

A Cinical trial conducted by researchers at the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center Clinical Trials, a partnership between Scottsdale Healthcare and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), showed that a new drug called MM-398 (below structure), given in combination with 5-flourouracil (5FU) and leucovorin, produced a significant overall survival rate in patients with advanced, previously-treated pancreatic cancer.

FDA Approves Incruse Ellipta...

GlaxoSmithKline plc today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Incruse Ellipta (umeclidinium) as an anticholinergic indicated for the long-term, once-daily, maintenance treatment of airflow obstruction in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), including chronic bronchitis and/or emphysema. Umeclidinium is GSK’s first once-daily anticholinergic, a type of bronchodilator also known as a long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA), and is contained in the Ellipta® inhaler. The FDA-approved strength is 62.5 mcg.

Following this approval by the FDA, it is anticipated that launch activities in the US will commence during the fourth quarter of 2014.

The phase III pivotal programme for umeclidinium included seven clinical studies which involved over 2,500 COPD patients treated with umeclidinium or placebo.

Incruse Ellipta (umeclidinium) Information from Drugs.com

FDA Approves Zontivity to Reduce the Risk of Heart Attacks and Stroke

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration  approved Zontivity (vorapaxar) tablets to reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, cardiovascular death, and need for procedures to restore the blood flow to the heart in patients with a previous heart attack or blockages in the arteries to the legs.

Zontivity is the first in a new class of drug, called a protease-activated receptor-1 (PAR-1) antagonist. It is an anti-platelet agent, designed to decrease the tendency of platelets to clump together to form a blood clot. By decreasing the formation of blood clots, Zontivity decreases the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Like other drugs that inhibit blood clotting, Zontivity increases the risk of bleeding, including life-threatening and fatal bleeding. Bleeding is the most commonly reported adverse reaction in people taking Zontivity. The drug’s prescribing information (label) includes a Boxed Warning to alert health care professionals about this risk.

Zontivity must not be used in people who have had a stroke, transient ischemic attack (TIA), or bleeding in the head, because the risk of bleeding in the head is too great.

“In patients who have had a heart attack or who have peripheral arterial disease, this drug will lower the risk of heart attack, stroke, and cardiovascular death. In the study that supported the drug’s approval, Zontivity lowered this risk from 9.5 percent to 7.9 percent over a 3-year period – about 0.5 percent per year,” said Ellis Unger, M.D., director of the Office of Drug Evaluation I in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

FDA Approves Zontivity to Reduce the Risk of Heart Attacks and Stroke

Amrubicin promise for etoposide-naïve SCLC patients

Patients with chemotherapy-refractory small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) may benefit from treatment with the topoisomerase II inhibitor amrubicin, research from Japan suggests.

The 82 patients enrolled in the open-label, single-arm Japan Clinical Oncology Group Study JCOG0901 trial received amrubicin 40 mg/m2 for 3 days on a 21-day cycle, for a median of four cycles. All patients had already experienced no response, or progression, following treatment with at least one platinum-based regimen, with 51.2% previously treated with etoposide and 57.3% with irinotecan.

The overall response rate, defined as an independently assessed complete or partial response, was highly significant, at 32.9%, compared with a null hypothesis threshold of 10.0% or below. Median progression-free survival was 3.5 months and overall survival was 8.9 months, with over a third (35.7%) of patients alive 1 year later.

And amrubicin showed particular promise for patients who had not previously received etoposide, another type of topoisomere II inhibitor, say Haruyasu Murakami (Shizuoka Cancer Center) and colleagues.

Etoposide-naïve patients achieved an objective response rate of 45.0%, compared with 21.4% for those previously treated with the agent, a significant difference.

Both median progression-free survival and overall survival were also significantly higher in etoposide-naïve than pretreated patients, at 5.1 versus 2.9 months and 13.1 versus 7.9 months, respectively.

The reduced benefit of amrubicin found in patients previously treated with etoposide may be due to downregulation of topoisomerase II following the initial treatment, Murakami et al suggest in Lung Cancer.

Amrubicin promise for etoposide-naïve SCLC patients

Promising discovery in fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria .....

Researchers at  the  University  of British  Columbia  have identified a small molecule  that prevents  bacteria from forming into biofilms, a frequent cause of infections. The anti-biofilm peptide works on a range of bacteria including many that cannot be treated by antibiotics...

Hancock and his colleagues found that the peptide known as 1018  consisting of just 12 amino acids, the building blocks of protein  destroyed biofilms and prevented them from forming.

Bacteria are generally separated into two classes, Gram-positives and Gram-negatives, and the differences in their cell wall structures make them susceptible to different antibiotics. 1018 worked on both classes of bacteria as well as several major antibiotic-resistant pathogens, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, E. coli and MRSA.

"Antibiotics are the most successful medicine on the planet. The lack of effective antibiotics would lead to profound difficulties with major surgeries, some chemotherapy treatments, transplants, and even minor injuries," says Hancock. "Our strategy represents a significant advance in the search for new agents that specifically target bacterial biofilms."

Promising discovery in fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria 

New details on microtubules and how the anti-cancer drug Taxol works

A pathway to the design of even more effective versions of the powerful anti-cancer drug Taxol has been opened with the most detailed look ever at the assembly and disassembly of microtubules, tiny fibers of tubulin protein that form the cytoskeletons of living cells and play a crucial role in mitosis. Through a combination of high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and new methodology for image analysis and structure interpretation, researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have produced images of microtubule assembly and disassembly at the unprecedented resolution of 5 angstroms (Å). Among other insights, these observations provide the first explanation of Taxol's success as a cancer chemotherapy agent.

New details on microtubules and how the anti-cancer drug Taxol works  

Isis Pharmaceuticals reports positive data from ISIS-GCGRRx Phase 2 study in patients with type 2 diabetes

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.  announced positive data from a Phase 2 study of ISIS-GCGRRx in patients with type 2 diabetes uncontrolled on stable metformin therapy. In this study, patients in the per protocol efficacy population treated with ISIS-GCGRRx achieved statistically significant reductions in measures of glucose control. The absolute mean reductions in hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) were greater than 2 percentage points>Rx also experienced increased plasma GLP-1 levels. Isis will present additional detail from this study as a late-breaking abstract program at the American Diabetes Association 74th Scientific Sessions. In conjunction, Isis will host an investor event on June 15, 2014 at 7:00 a.m PT. 

"These results reported today represent the potential for a major advance in diabetes therapeutics. ISIS-GCGRRx employs a unique mechanism to treat patients with type 2 diabetes. It is well known that as type 2 diabetes progresses, dysregulated glucagon action becomes a more significant contributor to the disease. The ability of ISIS-GCGRRxto improve glycemic control without causing any clinically significant increases in blood pressure or lipids offers a significant advantage for both patients and treating physicians," said Robert Henry, M.D., chief, VA endocrinology & metabolism and professor of medicine in residence, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. "The additional effect on increasing GLP-1 means that ISIS-GCGRRx treatment could help to preserve pancreatic function and enhance insulin secretion in diabetic patients."

Isis Pharmaceuticals reports positive data from ISIS-GCGRRx Phase 2 study in patients with type 2 diabetes

Probiotics prevent deadly complications of liver disease, study finds -- ScienceDaily

Probiotics are effective in preventing hepatic encephalopathy in patients with cirrhosis of the liver, according to a new study in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association. Hepatic encephalopathy is a deterioration of brain function that is a serious complication of liver disease.

Probiotics prevent deadly complications of liver disease, study finds 

Researchers identify drugs to slow progression of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Researchers in separate clinical trials found two drugs slow the progression of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a fatal lung disease with no effective treatment or cure, and for which there is currently no therapy approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Paul W. Noble, MD, chair of the Department of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai and director of the Women's Guild Lung Institute, is the senior author of the multicenter study that found that the investigational drug pirfenidone significantly slowed the loss of lung function and reduced the risk of death. Pirfenidone was developed by InterMune Inc. and in 2011 was approved by the European Union for the treatment of idiopa Studies Published In New England Journal Of Medicine Identify Promising Drug Therapies For Fatal Lung Disease thic pulmonary fibrosis.

The findings of the ASCEND drug trial are published online by the New England Journal of Medicine and are being presented this week at the International Conference of the American Thoracic Society in San Diego. "What we discovered about the anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic properties of pirfenidone offers help and encouragement to so many patients suffering from this relentless disease that robs them of breath and life," said Noble.

Researchers identify drugs to slow progression of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Novel drug for patients with inoperable CTEPH shows improvement in international trial

After a year of being treated with a novel drug, patients with inoperable chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) and those with persistent or recurrent pulmonary hypertension after an operation for the disease showed sustained improvement in a multicenter, international trial presented at the 2014 American Thoracic Society International Conference.

The drug, riociguat, is a guanylate cyclase stimulator that works independently and in concert with endogenous nitric oxide to induce vasodilation. A long-term extension study, CHEST-2 enrolled patients from CHEST-1, which followed these patients for 16 weeks and achieved its primary endpoint: improved six-minute walking distance (6MWD).

"The pivotal study, CHEST-1, showed significant improvements in exercise capacity and hemodynamics in patients treated with riociguat," said principal investigator Marius Hoeper, MD, of the Hannover Medical School (Germany). "However, the study was relatively short, and CHEST-2 adds important information on the long-term tolerability and efficacy of riociguat in patients with CTEPH."

CTEPH is a relatively rare disease; about 5000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with the disease each year. It occurs when blood clots from previous episodes of acute pulmonary embolism do not resolve, causing persistent obstruction of the pulmonary vasculature, which may ultimately lead to pulmonary hypertension.

Novel drug for patients with inoperable CTEPH shows improvement in international trial