Feature Channels: Pharmaceuticals

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Malignant hyperthermia (MH) is a life-threatening genetic muscle disorder, most commonly triggered in those at risk by certain types of drugs used during anesthesia. Heat stroke, on the other hand, most commonly occurs in individuals in response to physical exertion in hot/humid environments. While their common triggers may differ, the signs associated with MH and heat stroke are remarkably similar – uncontrolled muscle contractions, dangerous increases in body temperature, and muscle breakdown leading to the release of toxins in the blood which may cause cardiac arrhythmias and death. Immediate treatment for these conditions is crucial. Each year many individuals die or suffer consequences of heat stroke. Heat stroke is not uncommon in the military as well as in athletic competitions. This would be the first demonstration that a medication can be effective in preventing certain forms of heat stroke.

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The new UC San Diego-Roche Extending Innovation Network (EIN) program has been launched with selection of its first three research projects at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. The UC San Diego-Roche EIN program, which was formalized in June 2011, aims to accelerate the discovery of new drug therapies through research innovation at the interface of industry and academia.

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For children with HIV infection, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the use of raltegravir, an antiretroviral drug that slows the spread of HIV infection, offers a new weapon to treat HIV infection in children.

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Technology developed by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University for delivering drugs and other therapeutics to specific locations in the eye provides the foundation for a startup company that has received a $4 million venture capital investment.

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Drugs already approved for clinical use across a variety of therapeutic categories can be screened to identify effective agents for thyroid cancer according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). These findings could rapidly be implemented into a clinical trial to test how effective the treatment would be.

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Pharmacists’ prescribing medications is a topic often discussed when health policy experts explore how to improve patient safety, medication-use outcomes, and access to medical services. The Dec. 15 issue of the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy (AJHP) examines the sometimes-controversial topic in its current issue.

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The pharmaceutical sector has made a big investment in targeting kinases proteins, so there are a lot of compounds and drugs out there that, although they were designed to overcome cancer, they can in fact be looked at with fresh eyes and maybe repurposed to address the problem of antibiotic resistance.

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In a new study, NYU Langone Medical Center researchers have discovered how cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins promote the breakdown of plaque in the arteries.

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A University of Maryland School of Pharmacy report pinpoints a previously unidentified role for a cellular protein in controlling body weight.

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An antimalarial agent developed by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University proved effective at clearing infections caused by the malaria parasite most lethal to humans – by literally starving the parasites to death. The study, published in the November 11, 2011 issue of PLoS ONE, was led by senior author Vern Schramm, Ph.D., professor and Ruth Merns Chair in Biochemistry at Einstein.

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A UCSF study suggests patients with chronic pain may experience greater relief if their doctors add cannabinoids – the main ingredient in cannabis or medical marijuana – to an opiates-only treatment. The findings, from a small-scale study, also suggest that a combined therapy could result in reduced opiate dosages.

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Recent study implicates widely used topical antibiotics in the spread of MRSA.

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Researchers in the U.S. and U.K. are conducting an ongoing investigation of the cognitive effect of fetal exposure across four commonly used antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) as part of an NIH-funded Neurodevelopmental Effects of Antiepileptic Drugs (NEAD) Study. An early NEAD analysis found that fetal exposure to valproate impairs IQ at age three.

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Bromide is not FDA-approved for use in the United States. But it is among anticonvulsants available in Germany and other European countries. Research reported today at the American Epilepsy Society’s 65th annual meeting by investigators from Germany suggests that bromide may have promise in treating patients with SCN1A-associated Dravet syndrome with intractable seizures.

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The study published in Pediatrics is the first to examine the concomitant use of more than one antipsychotic medication among youth in foster care.

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A drug commonly used to treat seizures appears to make eye tumors less likely to grow if they spread to other parts of the body, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

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Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, have identified the pattern of cell signaling induced by antipsychotic drugs in a complex composed of two brain receptors linked to schizophrenia. The discovery should allow researchers to predict the effectiveness of novel compounds for the treatment of schizophrenia and other serious mental disorders and may accelerate the development of better antipsychotic drugs. The findings are published in the November 23 issue of Cell.

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Researchers interested in the treatment of schizophrenia and dementia have clarified how antipsychotic drugs that target a complex of two receptors at the surface of cells in the brain work, according to a new study published online Nov. 23 in the journal Cell.

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A research team led by UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists has identified an atypical metabolic pathway unique to some tumors, possibly providing a future target for drugs that could reduce or halt the spread of cancer.

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Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, in collaboration with colleagues in Boston and South Korea, say they have identified a novel gene mutation that causes at least one form of glioblastoma (GBM), the most common type of malignant brain tumor.

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Georgia Tech has developed a computer program that can study larger molecules faster than any other program in existence. The analysis program is designed to improve knowledge about why certain molecules are attracted to each other and how those relationships can be "tuned" to improve drug development.

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Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Kyushu University Medical School say a novel combination of a specific sugar molecule with a pair of cell-killing drugs prompts a wide variety of cancer cell types to kill themselves, a process called apoptosis or programmed cell death.