Feature Channels: Pharmaceuticals

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A new study led by Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System confirms the findings of the large scale British trial of steroid use for COVID-19 patients and advances the research by answering several key questions: Which patients are most likely to benefit from steroid therapy? Could some of them be harmed? Can other formulations of steroids substitute for the agent studied in the British trial? The research was published today in the Journal of Hospital Medicine.

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Published in this month’s edition of Toxicological Sciences are articles on biotransformation, toxicokinetics, and pharmacokinetics; developmental and reproductive toxicology; nanotoxicology; and more.

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New instructions for using nasal sprays may help deliver at least eight times more inflammation-reducing medicine to diseased sinus tissues.

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Researchers at the George Washington University and Albert Einstein College of Medicine published a review in the journal Nitric Oxide suggesting that nitric oxide treatment can be pivotal in the fight against SARS-CoV-2.

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Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute has received an award from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to advance promising drug candidates for COVID-19. The research team will test two existing drugs against “mini lungs in a dish” that have been infected with SARS-CoV-2.

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Alzheimer's disease is a progressive disorder in which the nerve cells (neurons) in a person's brain and the connections among them degenerate slowly, causing severe memory loss, intellectual deficiencies, and deterioration in motor skills and communication.

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Timothy Albertson has received a BARDA grant to lead a new clinical trial at UC Davis Health. The trial evaluates the efficacy, safety and tolerability of an antibody cocktail in hospitalized adult patients with COVID-19.

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Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is a lethal cancer mainly caused by exposure to asbestos, for which, unfortunately, no current treatment has proven effective, despite the identification of several promising therapeutic targets over the years.

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Johns Hopkins researchers have demonstrated that behavior therapy that exposes people to memories of their trauma doesn’t cause relapses of opioid or other drug use, and that PTSD severity and emotional problems have decreased after the first therapy session.

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The August special issue of SLAS Discovery “High-Content Imaging and Informatics” features a special collection of original research and perspectives curated by guest editors Myles Fennell, Ph.D. and Paul A. Johnston, Ph.D of The Society of Biomolecular Imaging and Informatics.

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The Weizmann Institute’s Dr. Ravid Straussman and colleagues developed a method that utilizes cellular signaling to determine the best treatment for a given tumor. The method can help tailor treatments and identify new drug-development targets. In fact, the team has already singled out a gene that serves as a target for treating BRCA-related breast cancers.

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A new 10-year analysis led by Igor Puzanov, MD, MSci, FACP, Director of Early Phase Clinical Trials and Chief of Melanoma at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and published today in the journal JAMA Oncology provides new insights into an important question: whether BRAF V600E/K mutation status or previous BRAF inhibitor (BRAFi) therapy with or without a MEK inhibitor (MEKi) affects response to pembrolizumab (brand name Keytruda) in patients with advanced melanoma.

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Dr. Jeffrey L. Cummings, UNLV research professor and a leading expert on Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials, led a five-year review of all Alzheimer’s drugs in the development pipeline. He says today there is more hope than ever that we'll one day solve Alzheimer’s. The paper, “Alzheimer's disease drug development pipeline: 2020,” was published this week in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions.

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Cannabidiol, or CBD, may help reduce the cytokine storm and excessive lung inflammation that is killing many patients with COVID-19, researchers say.

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Researchers at the University of Kentucky’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging (SBCoA) recently screened the first participant in the world for what is known as the AHEAD 3-45 study. This work is looking at a study medication, BAN2401, to determine if it can help prevent worsening memory and thinking among individuals who might be at risk for future decline. They are hoping this study finds that BAN2401 does just that and will ultimately help prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

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Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) announces its most recent awards and appointments for the institution’s physicians, scientists, nurses, and staff.

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A prominent Australian pharmacologist has called for a new approach to treating COVID-19 as hopes fade of finding an effective vaccine or antiviral before the end of the year.

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The American Society of Anesthesiologists firmly opposes the use of ketamine or any other sedative/hypnotic agent to chemically incapacitate someone for a law enforcement purpose and not for a legitimate medical reason. Ketamine is a potent analgesic, sedative and general anesthetic agent which can elevate blood pressure and heart rate, and can lead to confusion, agitation, delirium, and hallucinations. These effects can end in death when administered in a non-health care setting without appropriately trained medical personnel and necessary equipment.

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Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine report that roflumilast cream (ARQ-151), which contains a highly potent, selective phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE4) inhibitor demonstrated significant improvements in patients with psoriasis signs and symptoms in as early as two weeks. The phase 2b trial results showed that when patients with plaque psoriasis applied topical roflumilast once-daily they reported clear skin as well as improvement in itch and burden of disease. The results of the paper were published online today in The New England Journal of Medicine.

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Researchers have developed a new drug that prevents blood clots without causing an increased risk of bleeding, a common side effect of all antiplatelet medications currently available. A new study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine describes the drug and its delivery mechanisms and shows that the drug is also an effective treatment for heart attack in animal models.