Medical Device Industry Headlines
Advanced Life Sciences Receives FDA Guidance On Approval Pathway For Restanza In Community Acquired Bacterial Pneumonia And Biodefense Indications
Advanced Life Sciences Holdings, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: ADLS), a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of novel drugs in the therapeutic areas of infection, oncology and respiratory diseases, announced that the U.S...
…FDA Approves Boston Scientific's Express(R) LD Iliac Stent System
Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved its Express® LD Iliac Premounted Stent System for use in iliac arteries. The Express LD Iliac Stent is the first and only low-profile, premounted, balloon-expandable stent approved by the FDA for use in treating iliac artery disease. The Company said it plans to launch the product immediately in the United States...
…Moderate Use Of Video Games Can Be A Very Useful Educational Tool For Teaching Children
Video games can have a very positive influence in the education of children, and, when used in moderation, they do not harm children's academic performance. This conclusion emerges from a research conducted by Ã�ngeles Llorca DÃez from the Department of Didactics of Musical, Plastic and Corporal Expression at the University of Granada, and directed by professors Mª Dolores Ã�lvarez RodrÃguez (University of Granada) and Mª Ã�ngeles DÃez Sánchez (University of Salamanca)...
…CBio Secures Another Clinical Trial Milestone
Australian drug development company CBio Limited (ASX: CBZ) announced the achievement of a clinical trial milestone under its option agreement with global pharmaceutical leader Novo Nordisk A/S. The agreement relates to the development of XToll, the potential new-generation drug therapy which could provide safer and more effective treatment of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The clinical trial milestone was triggered by the recruitment of the 75th patient into the current 150 patient phase II clinical trial...
…Cancer Patients In Kent Gain Access To Advanced RapidArc(R) Radiotherapy Treatments From Varian
Cancer patients in Kent will gain access to advanced radiotherapy treatments with the decision by the Kent Oncology Centre to acquire two fully-equipped treatment machines from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR). The machines, due to be delivered to oncology departments in Maidstone and Canterbury in the spring, will mean these departments are among the first in the country to offer fast and efficient RapidArc® radiotherapy treatments...
…Athena Feminine Technologies, Inc. Initiates Enrollment Of Phase Iv Clinical Trial For Athena Pelvic Muscle Trainer™
Athena Feminine Technologies, Inc., in partnership with the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health, announced the initiation of a nationwide enrollment for Phase IV of the DUETS (Device for Urinary Incontinence, Effectiveness, Tolerability and Satisfaction) research study for its Athena Pelvic Muscle Trainer™ (PMT). The Athena PMT is an FDA-approved wireless vaginal electrical stimulator available by prescription for women with stress, urge or mixed incontinence...
…Access Pharmaceuticals Reports Significant Oral Bioavailability Of Cobalamin(TM) Oral Insulin In Additional Studies
ACCESS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. (OTC Bulletin Board: ACCP) announced that it has received reports of significant bioavailability of orally delivered insulin in two independently-conducted animal studies. The studies, which confirm earlier findings, were performed as part of on-going work with commercial collaborators that are evaluating Access' Cobalamin™ Oral Drug Delivery Technology...
…Can We Detect Quantum Behaviour In Viruses?
The weird world of quantum mechanics describes the strange, often contradictory, behaviour of small inanimate objects such as atoms. Researchers have now started looking for ways to detect quantum properties in more complex and larger entities, possibly even living organisms...
…Different Signal Paths For Spontaneous And Deliberate Activation Of Memories
Entirely different signal paths and parts of the brain are involved when you try to remember something and when you just happen to remember something, prompted by a smell, a picture, or a word, for instance. This is shown by Kristiina Kompus in her dissertation at Umeå University in Sweden. Imagine you are asked to remember what you were doing exactly one week ago. You would probably have to make quite a mental effort to sift through your memories. On another occasion, a smell, a picture, or a word might suddenly and unexpectedly trigger a vivid memory of something that happened to you...
…Leading Varian-Equipped Proton Therapy Center Treats 100th Patient
Clinicians at the Rinecker Proton Therapy Center (RPTC) in Munich have treated their 100th patient using advanced proton therapy systems supplied by Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR). The landmark treatment comes just three months after a second treatment gantry was commissioned at the center, which offers advanced pencil-beam proton scanning to cancer patients. These patients, requiring treatment for a wide range of cancers, have come from across Germany and 19 other countries, including Canada, Argentina, the UK and Switzerland...
…AstraZeneca Comments On FDA Joint Advisory Committee Meeting On Post-Marketing Safety Studies For The Use Of LABAs In Asthma
On March 10-11, 2010, the Joint Advisory Committees of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) -- including the Pulmonary-Allergy Drugs and the Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committees -- discussed the design of post-marketing safety studies for long-acting beta-agonist (LABA)-containing products in the U.S., including SYMBICORT® (budesonide/formoterol fumarate dihydrate)...
…The Results Are In: Users Of BodyMedia's Wearable Body-Monitoring Technology Lose 3 Times More Weight
With obesity in America reaching alarming levels -- across our adult and youth populations -- results from a clinical trial unveiled by BodyMedia confirm that participants who used BodyMedia's wearable body-monitoring technology either in conjunction with a group weight loss program or as part of their own self-directed program lost up to three times more weight than individuals who attempted to battle the bulge solo. BodyMedia Inc...
…Newly-Published Study Reinforces Role Of Antiepileptic Drug Vimpat(R) (lacosamide) (C-V) As An Add-on Treatment That Significantly Reduces Epilepsy
UCB announced that the antiepileptic drug (AED) Vimpat® (lacosamide) (C-V) demonstrated significantly fewer partial-onset seizures versus placebo in adults living with epilepsy, according to a Phase III clinical study published online in Epilepsia. This study was one of three that supported the approval of Vimpat by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2008 for use as an add-on therapy for the treatment of partial-onset seizures in people with epilepsy who are 17 years and older. Previous studies have demonstrated that Vimpat has a novel mechanism of action...
…MRC Scientists Announce Advance In Understanding Body's Natural Defences
Medical Research Council (MRC) scientists at the University of Leicester have made a new advance in understanding how the body fights certain types of cancer and other disease such as Lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. Dr Melania Capasso, one of the authors of the study, described the findings as being 'very significant'. "We showed that a newly discovered protein, HVCN1, regulates antibody production through modulation of intracellular oxidation. In the absence of HVCN1, the immune response is blunted...
…New Alterations Found In Young Adults With Type 2 Diabetes
Diet and aerobic exercise are highly effective for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, but not for obese subjects that have developed the disease when very young. A study at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) and Trinity College in Dublin demonstrates that obese subjects between 18 and 25 years of age carry mitochondrial proteins and genes that work abnormally and that these anomalies contribute to generating insulin resistance and a reduced response to physical exercise...
…Occasional High Blood Pressure May Pose Higher Stroke Risk
Having high blood pressure occasionally may pose a higher risk of having a stroke than having consistently high readings: a series of UK-led research papers published this week in leading journals suggests doctors should not ignore one-off high blood pressure readings and consider blood pressure variability and maximum blood pressure as risk factors for stroke rather than just average blood pressure. You can read about the research in a series of papers published online this week in The Lancet and The Lancet Neurology...
…Medicine Shoppe And Medicap Pharmacy Statement On Franchisee Lawsuit
Terry Burnside, general manager and senior vice president responsible for Medicine Shoppe and Medicap Pharmacy operations, today issued the following statement in response to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Ohio by seven Medicine Shoppe and Medicap franchisees, purporting to represent a class: Medicine Shoppe is dedicated to serving the needs of retail pharmacies and to helping them succeed. This has been true since 1970 when we began, and it is a value we hold sacred today...
…FDA Approves Boston Scientific's Express(R) LD Iliac Stent System
Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved its Express® LD Iliac Premounted Stent System for use in iliac arteries. The Express LD Iliac Stent is the first and only low-profile, premounted, balloon-expandable stent approved by the FDA for use in treating iliac artery disease. The Company said it plans to launch the product immediately in the United States...
…Boston Scientific Announces Schedule For ACC 2010
Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) announced the schedule of the Company's major events and news announcements at the 59th Annual Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology/i2 Summit, March 13-16 in Atlanta. "We look forward to announcing 12-month results from the PERSEUS clinical program, which will provide important data on our third-generation drug-eluting stent, the TAXUS® Element™ Paclitaxel-Eluting Stent," said Keith Dawkins, M.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Boston Scientific...
…Growth Of Chronic Kidney Disease Highlights Need For Early Detection, Greater Knowledge Of Treatment Options
As the incidence of diabetes and hypertension continues to grow worldwide - and increasing numbers of patients progressing to kidney disease and kidney failure place a financial strain on public health systems - the need for early patient education about kidney disease and treatment options, including home-based treatments, has become critical. More than 240 million people have diabetes and this figure is projected to rise to 380 million by 20251. In the United States alone, 17.9 million have been diagnosed with diabetes resulting in medical and indirect costs (e.g...
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