New look at Alzheimer's could revolutionise treatment - health - 09 September 2009 - New Scientist
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Med-Chemist : "Quintessential Medicinal Chemistry"
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Tigecycline- as antimalarial drug ?
As for my knowledge goes, 'Tigecycline' is being used as drug for the antibiotic resistant strain 'Staphylococcus aureus'. And this drug belongs to the class of "glycylcyclines" (similar to tetracyclines : central four-ring carbocyclic skeleton). The broad spectrum activity is attributed to the D-9 position substitution. It is a bacteriostatic and acts by the inhibition of protein synthesis. It has been found to be active against both Gram positive and Gram negative bacterii.
Now thanx to the researchers from the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, who have achieved something interesting feat, i.e., Tigecycline has significant antimalarial activity on its own and may also be effective against multi drug-resistant malaria when administered in combination with traditional antimalarial drugs.
Increasing resistance of Plasmodium falciparum to existing drugs has resulted in the search for new antimalarial therapies and I congratulate the team for this important achievement. More interestingly the drug is 6 times more active against P. falciparum than doxycycline. As the drug itself is an established one, its one more addition to the serendepity list. Congrats the team...
Ref : http://www.asm.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=91042
Monday, September 14, 2009
Lurasidone - positive results from phase 3 clinical trials !
I read about this compound few months back, that it is one of "atypical antipsychotic" drugs that are being tried and this drug has shown promising results in the phase II and is being studied clinically for phase III by a Japanese company.
As per the claims by the company 'Lurasidone, blocks D2- and 5-HT2A-receptors and the advantage is it causes less extrapyramidal side effects than current antipsychotics.
Yes the phase 3 results are really interesting, with Lurasidone 40 and 120 mg, taken once-daily, demonstrated significantly greater improvement versus placebo on the primary efficacy measure. A total of 53% of patients on lurasidone 40 mg/day and 47% of patients on lurasidone 120 mg/day demonstrated a 30% or more improvement on the PANSS total score from baseline versus 38% on placebo. Lurasidone was also well-tolerated with an overall discontinuation rate similar to placebo (40% vs. 39% placebo) and few adverse event-related discontinuations (9% for both the overall lurasidone group and placebo). Adverse events seen in the trial were generally mild.
Congrats for this achievement.
Ref : http://dsp-america.com/pdf/news/LurasidonePh3Results.pdf
Tigecycline- as antimalarial drug ?
As for my knowledge goes, 'Tigecycline' is being used as drug for the antibiotic resistant strain 'Staphylococcus aureus'. And this drug belongs to the class of "glycylcyclines" (similar to tetracyclines : central four-ring carbocyclic skeleton). The broad spectrum activity is attributed to the D-9 position substitution. It is a bacteriostatic and acts by the inhibition of protein synthesis. It has been found to be active against both Gram positive and Gram negative bacterii.
Now thanx to the researchers from the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, who have achieved something interesting feat, i.e., Tigecycline has significant antimalarial activity on its own and may also be effective against multi drug-resistant malaria when administered in combination with traditional antimalarial drugs.
Increasing resistance of Plasmodium falciparum to existing drugs has resulted in the search for new antimalarial therapies and I congratulate the team for this important achievement. More interestingly the drug is 6 times more active against P. falciparum than doxycycline. As the drug itself is an established one, its one more addition to the serendepity list. Congrats the team...
Ref : http://www.asm.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=91042
Sunday, September 13, 2009
How one can prepare for the H1N1 flu ......
We all should be thankful to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), for there effort in educating about the health problems. I find these webcasts very useful in understanding the H1N1 flu and how one can prepare for this pandemic. The efforts by the govt., is highly appreciable as there are many myths about this virus !.
Those interested can go through the webcast archives about the H1N1 flu.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
A single dose vaccine for Swine flu !.....
I am reading anything and everything about this H1N1, since it started in Mexico and there were so many different names (many names like - swine flu !, Mexican flu, ....). The deadly virus has caused panic in each and every country, where there are reports of infection of H1N1. The real concern is the use of antibiotics and the real black market for Tamiflu and so many falsely claimed drugs. Now thanx to Dr. Russell Basser and group who have found that a single 15-µg dose of 2009 H1N1 vaccine was immunogenic in adults, with mild-to-moderate vaccine-associated reactions. Congrats for for this important achievement.
A (H1N1) 2009 virus is responsible for the first influenza pandemic in 41 years. This itself shows how important the vaccine is. The results are really interesting and as per the claim by the researchers : by day 21 after vaccination, antibody titers of 1:40 or more were observed in 96.7% those who received the 15-µg dose and 93.3% who received the 30-µg dose. No deaths, serious adverse events, or adverse events of special interest were reported. Local discomfort (e.g., injection-site tenderness or pain) was reported by 46.3% of subjects, and systemic symptoms (e.g., headache) by 45.0% of subjects. Nearly all events were mild to moderate in intensity.
Hope the efforts by the Australian drug maker CSL, Ltd. has yielded a novel vaccine that could take care of the H1N1 pandemic. Congrats once again for this achievement.
Ref : http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMoa0907413
Sunday, September 6, 2009
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