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| MIT Model Could Improve Some Drugs' Effectiveness |
MIT researchers have developed a computer modeling approach that could improve a class of drugs based on antibodies, molecules key to the immune system. The model can predict structural changes in an antibody that will improve its effectiveness.
The team has already used the model to create a new version of cetuximab, a drug commonly used to treat colorectal cancer, that binds to its target with 10 times greater affinity than the original molecule.
The work, which will appear Sept. 23 in an advance publication of Nature Biotechnology, results from a collaboration using both laboratory experiments and computer simulations, between MIT Professors Dane Wittrup and Bruce Tidor.
"New and better methods for improving antibody development represent critical technologies for medicine and biotechnology," says Wittrup, who holds appointments in MIT's Department of Biological Engineering and Department of Chemical Engineering. Tidor holds appointments in Biological Engineering and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
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| Acupuncture May Be More Effective Than Conventional Therapy In Treating Lower Back Pain |
Six months of acupuncture treatment appears to be more effective than conventional therapy in treating low back pain, according to a study in the Sept. 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, although the study suggests that both sham acupuncture and traditional Chinese verum acupuncture appear to be effective in treating low back pain.
Acupuncture is increasingly used as an alternative therapy, but its value as a treatment for low back pain is still controversial. (Credit: iStockphoto)
"Low back pain is a common, impairing and disabling condition, often long-term, with an estimated lifetime prevalence of 70 percent to 85 percent," the authors write as background information in the article. "It is the second most common pain for which physician treatment is sought and a major reason for absenteeism and disability." Acupuncture is increasingly used as an alternative therapy, but its value as a treatment for low back pain is still controversial.
Michael Haake, Ph.D., M.D., of the University of Regensburg, Bad Abbach, Germany, and colleagues conducted a randomized clinical trial involving 1,162 patients (average age 50) who had experienced chronic low back pain for an average of eight years.
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| Research May Explain Why Common Painkillers Often Don't Work On Patients With Fibromyalgia |
People who have the common chronic pain condition fibromyalgia often report that they don't respond to the types of medication that relieve other people's pain. New research from the University of Michigan Health System helps to explain why that might be: Patients with fibromyalgia were found to have reduced binding ability of a type of receptor in the brain that is the target of opioid painkiller drugs such as morphine.
Fibromyalgia scanThe study included positron emission tomography (PET) scans of the brains of patients with fibromyalgia, and of an equal number of sex- and age-matched people without the often-debilitating condition. Results showed that the fibromyalgia patients had reduced mu-opioid receptor (MOR) availability within regions of the brain that normally process and dampen pain signals - specifically, the nucleus accumbens, the anterior cingulate and the amygdala.
"The reduced availability of the receptor was associated with greater pain among people with fibromyalgia," says lead author Richard E. Harris, Ph.D., research investigator in the Division of Rheumatology at the U-M Medical School's Department of Internal Medicine and a researcher at the U-M Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center.
"These findings could explain why opioids are anecdotally thought to be ineffective in people with fibromyalgia," he notes. The findings appear in The Journal of Neuroscience. "The finding is significant because it has been difficult to determine the causes of pain in patients with fibromyalgia, to the point that acceptance of the condition by medical practitioners has been slow."
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| FDA Takes Action to Stop Marketing of Unapproved Hydrocodone Products |
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced its intention to take enforcement action against companies marketing unapproved prescription drug products containing hydrocodone, a narcotic widely used to treat pain and suppress coughs. The action does not affect other hydrocodone formulations, which have FDA approval.
Hydrocodone is one of the strongest medications available to treat pain or to suppress cough. The drug has also been an extremely popular drug of abuse and can lead to serious illness, injury, or death, if improperly used. Hydrocodone overdose can result in breathing problems or cardiac arrest, and its use may impair motor skills and judgment.
The FDA has received reports of medication errors associated with formulation changes in unapproved hydrocodone products and reports of confusion over the similarity of the names of unapproved products to approved drug products. As part of the drug approval process, the agency considers the possibility of medication errors and name confusion, so that potential safety issues associated with these factors can be minimized.
Some hydrocodone pain-relief products, such as Vicodin, are FDA-approved. However, most of the hydrocodone formulations now marketed to suppress coughs have not been approved. The agency is particularly concerned about improper pediatric labeling of unapproved hydrocodone cough suppressants (also known as antitussives), and the risk of medication error involving the unapproved products.
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Memory Tasks Require More Coordinated Brain Blood Flow for People Treated With High Blood Pressure Medication
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Blood flow to the parts of the brain that support memory function differs between people with high blood pressure and those with normal blood pressure, and this difference seems to increase when high blood pressure is treated with medications, researchers reported today at the American Heart Association's 61st Annual Fall Conference of the Council for High Blood Pressure Research.
"It does not mean that those with high blood pressure were remembering significantly less; rather, the brain areas acting together during memory required more blood flow to remember the same things as people who did not have high blood pressure in the study," said lead author J. Richard Jennings, Ph.D.
In a previous study, Jennings and colleagues found that people with hypertension differed from those without hypertension in the amount of brain tissue activated during memory tasks.
"In this study we wanted to find out if treating people for high blood pressure would change that pattern of activation," said Jennings, a professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in Pittsburgh, Pa.
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| FDA Warns of Potential Serious Side Effects with Breakthrough Cancer Pain Drug |
The Food and Drug Administration is alerting health care professionals and consumers to concerns over the use of Fentora (fentanyl buccal) tablets after recent reports of deaths and other adverse events.
Fentora, a potent opioid pain medication, is used only for treatment of breakthrough pain in cancer patients receiving opioid treatment and who have become tolerant to it. Breakthrough pain is intense increases in pain that occur with rapid onset, even when opioid pain-control medication is being used. Patients who take narcotic pain medications daily and around-the-clock develop tolerance and are more resistant to the dangerous side effects of these medications than patients who take narcotic pain medication on a less frequent basis.
The deaths reported were the result of improper selection of patients, dosing, or improper product substitution.
"FDA is monitoring this issue very closely," said Steven Galson, M.D., M.P.H., director of FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "We are working with the manufacturer to ensure the safest use of this medicine. Health care professionals and patients need to be aware of the potential for fatal overdose with the improper use of Fentora."
In its Public Health Advisory and Health Care Professional Sheet published today, FDA warned physicians and other health care professionals that it is critical to follow product labeling when administering Fentora. FDA further stated that it is dangerous to use Fentora for any short-term pain such as headaches or migraines. It is critical that Fentora not be used in patients who are not opioid tolerant.
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Drug Reduces Fractures and Death after Hip Fracture
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An osteoporosis drug given intravenously once a year significantly reduces the occurrence of new fractures and the incidence of death in patients who have had a hip fracture.
A study of 2,127 patients who received the drug zoledronic acid (trade name Reclast) within 90 days of surgery for a hip fracture had a 28 percent reduction in death and were 35 percent less likely to suffer another fracture. Patients were followed for an average of 1.9 years. About 25 percent of the patients studied were men.
The leader of the multi-center clinical trial believes that the use of zoledronic acid can play an important role in reducing the risk of further fractures for elderly patients who have suffered a hip fracture, a common occurrence that is linked to reduced independence and higher rates of death.
"These data show that we can go beyond cutting the risks of future fractures to reducing the death rate after these disabling fractures," said Kenneth W. Lyles, M.D., geriatrician and endocrinologist who works at Duke University Medical Center, the Durham VA Medical Center and The Carolina's Center for Medical Excellence, Cary, N.C.
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Believe it or not
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Hormone Therapy Good for Sex, Not MemoryHormone therapy in early post-menopause increases sexual interest, but does not appear to improve memory, a U.S. study found.
Pauline Maki, of the University of Illinois at Chicago, enrolled 180 women between the ages of 45 and 55 whose last menstrual cycle was in the past one to three years, who were randomly assigned to receive either a placebo or a combination of estrogen and progesterone for four months. The study evaluated memory, attention, cognitive function, emotional status, sexuality and sleep.
The study, published in the journal Neurology, found no significant changes in cognitive function identified in the newly menopausal women taking hormone therapy compared to the placebo group.
However, women treated with hormone therapy reported a 32 percent increase in sexual thoughts and a 44 percent increase in sexual interest when compared to women taking placebo, the study said.
Contrary to what we predicted, hormone therapy did not have a positive affect on memory performance in younger mid-life women, Maki said in a statement. If women want to improve hot flashes and night sweats -- the primary reason most women seek menopausal relief -- and they want to improve their sexual focus and interest, then this may be a formulation for them. |
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News From MedWatch |
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Recently Approved Drugs/Indications |
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FDA Recalls and Safety Alerts in the Past 60 Days: |
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Drug Shortages: |
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