A drug candidate discovered and developed decades ago in the laboratory of UC Davis distinguished professor Bruce Hammock may help control the body’s raging and often deadly inflammatory response to chemotherapy treatments, especially for pancreatic and liver cancer patients. The research team, based in the laboratories of Dipak Panigrahy at…
A drug costing less than $2 a day helps in the treatment of severely ill COVID-19 patients
Metoprolol, a drug widely used to treat cardiovascular disease, is beneficial when administered to COVID-19 patients. This is the finding of a study by investigators at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC), published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC). The most severe form of…
Arthritis drug doesn't increase survival rates of COVID-19 patients
Arthritis drug does NOT increase survival rates of patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19, study finds An arthritis drug called canakinumab doesn’t increase survival chances for severe COVID-19 patients, a new study suggests Researchers at 39 U.S. and European hospitals tested the drug on over 200 patients in a randomized placebo-control study…
New drug target found for future and current coronaviruses
Scientists are already preparing for a possible next coronavirus pandemic to strike, keeping with the seven-year pattern since 2004. In future-looking research, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine scientists have identified a novel target for a drug to treat SARS-CoV-2 that also could impact a new emerging coronavirus. “God forbid…
Novel antibody drug wakes up the body’s defense system in advanced-stage cancer
Researchers at the University of Turku, Finland, showed that the antibody treatment reactivates the immune defense in patients with advanced-stage cancer. The treatment alters the function of the body’s phagocytes and facilitates extensive activation of the immune system. The immune defense is the body’s own defense system equipped to combat…
Most Patients Labeled Penicillin-Allergic Really Aren’t
Most people whose medical record says they are allergic to penicillin are not actually intolerant, an allergist said Thursday during the first day of sessions for the American College of Physicians (ACP) Internal Medicine Meeting 2021. Dr Olajumoke Fadugba The mislabeling has implications for patient outcomes and efforts to fight…
Novartis, Roche team up on COVID pneumonia drug
Novartis announced Thursday it will join forces with fellow Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche to produce tocilizumab, a drug being tested for its effectiveness against COVID-19-linked pneumonia. It is the third time Novartis has made its production capacities available to a competitor during the coronavirus pandemic, as several laboratories strike unprecedented…
New drug target for Ebola, Marburg viruses
Ebola and Marburg are among the most deadly viruses, with mortality rates from these infections ranging from 25% to 90%. While no drugs currently are available on the market to prevent infection from these viruses—they belong to a category of viruses called filoviruses, which are known to cause hemorrhagic fever—researchers…
FDA approves 1st long-acting HIV drug combo, monthly shots
Doctors may have cured second man of HIV Doctors in London performed a bone marrow transplant on the patient and are calling the results ‘long-term remission’; Steve Harrigan reports. U.S. regulators have approved the first long-acting drug combo for HIV, monthly shots that can replace the daily pills now used…
UN agency removes cannabis from strictest drug category
The U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs voted Wednesday to remove cannabis and cannabis resin from a category of the world’s most dangerous drugs, which could impact the global medical marijuana industry. The Vienna-based U.N. agency said in a statement that it had voted 27-25, with one abstention, to remove cannabis…
New drug for metastatic colorectal cancer enters phase 3 trial
A new therapy for metastatic colorectal cancer that has been granted fast-track designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is being tested in a phase 3 clinical trial at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. Cathy Eng, MD, David H. Johnson Chair in Surgical and Medical Oncology at Vanderbilt University and co-leader…