Wednesday, May 4, 2011

FDA approves new targeted therapy to treat men with advanced prostate cancer..

In continuation of my update on  Abiraterone ....
We know that, Abiraterone (tradename Zytiga) is a drug currently under investigation for use in castration-resistant prostate cancer (formerly hormone-resistant or hormone-refractory prostate cancer) (prostate cancer not responding to androgen deprivation or treatment with antiandrogens). 

It blocks the formation of testosterone by inhibiting CYP17A1 (CYP450c17), an enzyme also known as 17α-hydroxylase/17,20 lyase. This enzyme is involved in the formation of DHEA and androstenedione, which may ultimately be metabolized into testosterone.This drug was initially discovered at the Institute of Cancer Research in London. 

Recently  approved abiraterone. It improves, by nearly four months, the overall survival rate of men with metastatic chemotherapy- and castration-resistant prostate cancer. Since 2005, the Prostate Cancer Foundation invested $8.2 million in over six research projects to advance independent academic research for investigating abiraterone's mechanism of action and biomarkers to predict patient response...

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Ohio State biophysicist disrupts cellular messages through fragment-based drug design

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Maxwell Biotech, Sequella enter license agreement to commercialize SQ109 for TB treatment

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Scientists Exploit Ash Tree Pest's Chemical Communication....

A newly identified chemical sex attractant, or pheromone, of the emerald ash borer could mean improved traps for monitoring and controlling the tree-killing beetle. That's the goal of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) entomologist Allard Cossé and his colleagues. 


More recently, the team discovered a macrocyclic lactone (3z-dodecan-12-olide -see structure), a compound that female borers release while feeding. Large-scale field tests conducted in Canada and the United States showed that the compound attracts male borers and has potential for use in traps either alone or combined with ash-tree-based attractants, reports Cossé, at the ARS National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, Ill........


Details in a book 

Monday, April 18, 2011

New substance (Benzothiazin derivative) to tackle drug resistant tuberculosis...

Project NM4TB which gathers 18 research teams from 13 countries, discovered a novel class of substances, called benzothiazinones (BTZ-see structure), that could be used in the treatment of tuberculosis and drug resistant tuberculosis.

Prof Stewart Cole, Dr Vadim Makarov, Dr Ute Möllmann, Prof Giovanna Riccardi, and their colleagues have identified a novel class of compounds called benzothiazinones (BTZ) that act by preventing the TB bacterium from constructing its cell wall. In particular, one member of the class, BTZ043 was extremely potent, killing the TB agent, both in test tube experiments and in mouse models of the disease. BTZ043 is as effective as the two main drugs (Isoniazid and Rifampicin) in reducing the bacterial levels in the lungs and spleens of infected mice. The target of the new class of compounds is a component of Mycobacterium’s cell-wall-building machinery that has never before been used as a drug target. The most advanced compound of this new class, BTZ043, is a candidate for inclusion in combination therapies for both drug-sensitive and extensively drug-resistant TB. 

These substances act by preventing the bacteria that cause tuberculosis from constructing their cell wall. This discovery represents an important breakthrough in the battle against tuberculosis as the most advanced compound of this new class, BTZ043, is also effective against extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB).

More... : 

Tuesday, April 12, 2011