VAL-083 drug compound shows promise against non-small cell lung cancer

We know that, VAL-083 is a bi-functional alkylating agent; inhibit U251 and SF188 cell growth in monolayer better than TMZ and caused apoptosis.

DelMar Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (OTCQB: DMPI), a clinical-stage oncology company, today announced the presentation of promising new data supporting the activity of its lead drug compound, VAL-083, in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) at the AACR's New Horizons in Cancer Research: Harnessing Breakthroughs – Targeting Cures. The conference takes place October 9th to 12th in Pudong, Shanghai.

"The data presented today showed that VAL-083 is superior to cisplatin in both tumor models that are sensitive and resistant to tyrosine kinase inhibitors and has synergistic effect in combination with cisplatin," said Jeffrey Bacha, president and CEO of DelMar Pharmaceuticals. "This data suggests important clinical and market potential of VAL-083 in non-small cell lung cancer."

DelMar's lead clinical compound, VAL-083 (dianhydrogalactitol) is a first-in-class alkylating agent with a novel cytotoxic mechanism distinct from other alkylating agents used in the treatment of cancer.

In historical studies sponsored by the National Cancer Institute in the United States, VAL-083 exhibited clinical activity against a range of tumor types including CNS tumors, solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. VAL-083 is approved in China for the treatment ofchronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) and lung cancer (Approval No. Guoyao Zhunzi H45021133; manufactured by Guangxi Wuzhou Pharmaceutical (Group) Co. Ltd.)

NSCLC is usually treated with either tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) (e.g. gefitinib) or platinum-based regimens (e.g. cisplatin). TKIs have resulted in vastly improved outcomes for patients with EGFR mutations; however, TKI resistance has emerged as a significant unmet medical need, and long-term prognosis with platinum-based therapies is poor. Compared to other countries, Asian patients with NSCLC have a higher incidence of EGFR mutations (up to 60 percent; compared to 10-20 percent in Western populations) and are more susceptible to TKI resistance.

Additionally, NSCLC patients have a high incidence of brain metastases, which is associated with a poor prognosis. The median overall survival time for patients with stage IV NSCLC is four months, while one-year and five-year survival is less than 16 percent and 2 percent, respectively. VAL-083 can cross the blood-brain barrier and is currently being evaluated in the United States in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial to treat the most common form of brain cancer, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).

 

VAL-083 drug compound shows promise against non-small cell lung cancer

Synthetic oil triheptanoin improves Rett syndrome, longevity

We know that, Triheptanoin is a triglyceride that is composed of three seven-carbon fatty acids. These odd-carbon fatty acids are able to provide anaplerotic substrates for the TCA cycle. Triheptanoin is used clinically in humans to treat inherited metabolic diseases, such aspyruvate carboxylase deficiency and carnitine palmitoyltransferase II deficiency. It also appears to increase the efficacy of the ketogenic diet as a treatment for epilepsy.

Now the research team used mice lacking the MeCP2 protein, which left them with severe Rett syndrome. In examining those mice, what stood out, according to Gabriele Ronnett, M.D., Ph.D., who led the research project at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, was that they weighed the same as healthy mice but had large fat deposits accompanied by lower amounts of nonfat tissue, such as muscle. This suggested that calories were not being used to support normal tissue function but instead were being stored as fat.

This possibility led Ronnett and her research team to consider the role of mitochondria, which transform the building blocks of nutrients into a high-energy molecule, ATP. This molecule drives processes such as the building of muscle and the growth of nerve cells. Mitochondria use a series of biochemical reactions, collectively called the TCA cycle, to make this transformation possible. According to Susan Aja, Ph.D., a research associate and lead member of the research team, "If the components of the TCA cycle are low, nutrient building blocks are not processed well to create ATP. They are instead stored as fat."

Synthetic oil triheptanoin improves Rett syndrome, longevity

Akynzeo Approved for Side Effects of Chemotherapy

The combination drug Akynzeo [netupitant (left) and palonosetron (right)] has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat nausea and vomiting among people undergoing chemotherapy, the agency said Friday in a news release.

Akynzeo contains a new anti-nausea drug, netupitant, and palonosetron, which was approved to treat nausea and vomiting in 2008.

The combination drug's effectiveness was evaluated in two clinical studies involving 1,720 people. The trials established that Akynzeo was more effective in preventing nausea and vomiting than palonosetron taken alone, the FDA said.

The most frequent side effects of the combination drug included headache, weakness, fatigue, indigestion and constipation.

Akynzeo is marketed and distributed by Eisai Inc. of Woodcliff Lake, N.J., under license from Switzerland-based Helsinn Healthcare.

Akynzeo Approved for Side Effects of Chemotherapy 

Harvoni Approved for Chronic Hepatitis C

In continuation of my update on  ledipasvir and sofosbuvir (Harvoni-combination pill) 

Harvoni, a daily pill that treats the most common form of hepatitis C, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday.

It's the first combination pill (ledipasvir and sofosbuvir) approved to treat the chronic infection, and the first medication that doesn't require that the antiviral drugs interferon or ribavirin be taken at the same time, the FDA said in a news release.

Both drugs in the combination pill interfere with the hepatitis C virus' ability to multiply. One of the drugs, sofosbuvir (Sovaldi) was approved in December 2013, while ledipasvir is a new antiviral, the agency said.

"With the development and approval of new treatments for hepatitis C virus, we are changing the treatment paradigm for Americans living with the disease," Dr. Edward Cox, director of the Office of Antimicrobial Products in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in the news release. "Until last year, the only available treatments for hepatitis C virus required administration with interferon and ribavirin. Now, patients and health care professionals have multiple treatment options, including a combination pill to help simplify treatment regimens."

One expert applauded Harvoni's approval.

"This is a giant step forward for people with [hepatitis C]. One pill, once daily, no interferon, no ribavirin and 94 to 99 percent cure! It moves the risk-benefit ratio needle way over toward benefit," said Dr. Douglas Dieterich, a professor of medicine in the division of liver diseases at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

However, price has been an issue with some of the new treatments for hepatitis C. For example, Sovaldi alone costs $1,000 a day and not all insurance companies cover the cost of treatment, experts have noted. Harvoni will cost $1,125 a pill, the Associated Press reported Friday.

Hepatitis C causes inflammation of the liver, which could spark other problems including diminished liver function (cirrhosis), scarring, liver cancer or liver failure. Most infected people aren't aware that they carry the virus until liver damage has occurred, the agency said.

Some 3.2 million Americans are believed to be infected with hepatitis C, the FDA said.

Harvoni was evaluated in three clinical studies involving more than 1,500 people who either hadn't been treated previously or hadn't responded to prior treatment. The most common side effects were fatigue and headache.

Harvoni Approved for Chronic Hepatitis C  

Impotence Drug Might Counter Common Gene Mutation in Type 2 Diabetes

In a small study, Swedish researchers found that the impotence drug yohimbine might help people with type 2 diabetes who have a particular gene mutation that lowers their insulin production.

Among 50 men and women with type 2 diabetes partially caused by a mutation in a gene called alpha(2A)-AR, those treated with yohimbine showed improved insulin production and lower blood sugar levels, compared with those receiving a placebo.

"If a diabetic patient carries the risk mutation, he or she is more sensitive to stress hormones such as adrenaline," said lead researcher Dr. Anders Rosengren, head of the translational diabetes research group at Lund University Diabetes Center in Malmo.

About 40 percent of patients with type 2 diabetes carry this mutation. "It is not that patients are more stressed, but that adrenaline suppresses insulin secretion," he added.

Rosengren explained how the drug overcomes the effects of the mutation: "It is like driving a car with the brakes constantly on. If you add yohimbine, you release the brake and the car -- the insulin-producing cells -- can go at normal speed. The cells secrete adequate amounts of insulin in response to sugar."

Impotence Drug Might Counter Common Gene Mutation in Type 2 Diabetes: Study 

FDA Approves Uceris (budesonide) Rectal Foam for Ulcerative Colitis

In continuation of my update on budesonide

Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted final approval for Uceris (budesonide) rectal foam for the induction of remission in patients with active mild-to-moderate distal ulcerative colitis (UC) extending up to 40cm from the anal verge. The foam is a rectally administered corticosteroid that overcomes treatment limitations associated with currently approved therapies which are often ineffective due to insufficient distribution of active drug to the distal colon. On September 15, 2014 the FDA tentatively approved Uceris rectal foam pending expiration of the 45-day waiting period described in section 505( c )(3)( C ) of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. The waiting period has expired and the FDA has granted Uceris rectal foam final approval as of October 7, 2014.

FDA Approves Uceris (budesonide) Rectal Foam for Ulcerative Colitis

Attacking type 2 diabetes from a new direction with encouraging results

Type 2 diabetes affects  an estimated   28  million  Americans  according  to  the  American  Diabetes association, but medications now  available  only  treat  symptoms,  not  the root  cause of the disease.    New research from Rutgers shows promising evidence that     a  modified form of a different drug, niclosamide     now used to eliminate    intestinal parasites   may       hold the key to battling the disease at its source.

Ref : http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nm.3699.html

Attacking type 2 diabetes from a new direction with encouraging results  

First pictures of BRCA2 protein show how it works to repair DNA

In continuation of my update on BRCA2 

Scientists have taken pictures of the BRCA2 protein for the first time, showing how it works to repair damaged DNA. The findings showed that each pair of BRCA2 proteins binds two sets of RAD51 that run in opposite directions. This allows it to work on strands of broken DNA that point in either direction. They also show that BRCA2's job is to help RAD51 form short filaments at multiple sites along the DNA, presumably to increase the efficiency of establishing longer filaments required to search for matching strands.

Researchers at Imperial College London and the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute purified the protein and used electron microscopy to reveal its structure and how it interacts with other proteins and DNA. The results are published today in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology.

Around one in 1000 people in the UK have a mutation in the BRCA2 gene. The lifetime risk of breast cancer for women with BRCA2 mutations is 40 to 85 per cent, depending on the mutation, compared with around 12 per cent for the general population. Many women who test positive for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations choose to undergo surgery to reduce their risk of breast cancer. Mutations can also raise the risk of other cancers, such as ovarian, prostate and pancreatic cancer.

The BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes encode proteins involved in DNA repair. The DNA in our cells undergoes damage thousands of times a day, caused by toxic chemicals, metabolic by-products and ultraviolet radiation. Repair mechanisms correct most of this damage, but unrepaired damage can lead to cancer.

The study was led by Professor Xiaodong Zhang from the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London and Dr Stephen West at the London Research Institute.

"This study improves our understanding of a fundamental cause of cancer," said Professor Zhang, a Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator. "It's our first view of how the protein looks and how it works, and it gives us a platform to design new experiments to probe its mechanism in greater detail.

"Once we have added more detail to the picture, we can design ways to correct defects in BRCA2 and help cells repair DNA more effectively to prevent cancer. We can also think about how to make the repair process less effective in cancer cells, so that they die."

The study found that BRCA2 proteins work in pairs -- which the researchers found surprising since BRCA2 is one of the largest proteins in the cell.

BRCA2 works in partnership with another protein called RAD51. BRCA2 helps RAD51 molecules to assemble on strands of broken DNA and form filaments. The RAD51 filaments then search for matching strands of DNA in order to repair the break.

The findings showed that each pair of BRCA2 proteins binds two sets of RAD51 that run in opposite directions. This allows it to work on strands of broken DNA that point in either direction. They also show that BRCA2's job is to help RAD51 form short filaments at multiple sites along the DNA, presumably to increase the efficiency of establishing longer filaments required to search for matching strands.

Ref : http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.2899

First pictures of BRCA2 protein show how it works to repair DNA  

'Programmable' antibiotic harnesses an enzyme to attack drug-resistant microbes

Rockefeller University researchers colonized mouse skin with a mix of bacterial cells, some resistant to the antibiotic kanamycin. They made the resistant cells glow (left) and treated the mix with an enzyme that targeted and killed off most resistant cells (right).

Conventional antibiotics are indiscriminate about what they kill, a trait that can lead to complications for patients and can contribute to the growing problems of antibiotic resistance. But a a 'programmable' antibiotic would selectively target only the bad bugs, particularly those harboring antibiotic resistance genes, and leave beneficial microbes alone.

Researchers at Rockefeller University and their collaborators are working on a smarter antibiotic. And in research to be published October 5 in Nature Biotechnology, the team describes a 'programmable' antibiotic technique that selectively targets the bad bugs, particularly those harboring antibiotic resistance genes, while leaving other, more innocent microbes alone.

"In experiments, we succeeded in instructing a bacterial enzyme, known as Cas9, to target a particular DNA sequence and cut it up," says lead researcher Luciano Marraffini, head of the Laboratory of Bacteriology. "This selective approach leaves the healthy microbial community intact, and our experiments suggest that by doing so you can keep resistance in check and so prevent certain types of secondary infections, eliminating two serious hazards associated with treatment by classical antibiotics."

The new approach could, for instance, reduce the risk of C. diff, a severe infection of the colon, caused by the Clostridium difficile bacterium, that is associated with prolonged courses of harsh antibiotics and is a growing public health concern.

The Cas9 enzyme is part of a defense system that bacteria use to protect themselves against viruses. The team coopted this bacterial version of an immune system, known as a CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) system and turned it against some of the microbes. CRISPR systems contain unique genetic sequences called spacers that correspond to sequences in viruses. CRISPR-associated enzymes, including Cas9, use these spacer sequences as guides to identify and destroy viral invaders.

The researchers were able to direct Cas9 at targets of their choosing by engineering spacer sequences to match bacterial genes then inserting these sequences into a cell along with the Cas9 gene. The cell's own machinery then turns on the system. Depending on the location of the target in a bacterial cell, Cas9 may kill the cell or it may eradicate the target gene. In some cases, a treatment may prevent a cell from acquiring resistance, they found.

"We previously showed that if Cas9 is programmed with a target from a bacterial genome, it will kill the bacteria. Building on that work, we selected guide sequences that enabled us to selectively kill a particular strain of microbe from within a mixed population," says first author David Bikard, a former Rockefeller postdoc who is now at the Pasteur Institute in Paris.

'Programmable' antibiotic harnesses an enzyme to attack drug-resistant microbes 

Omega-3 fatty acids may prevent some forms of depression

Omega-3 fatty acids may prevent some forms of depression 

FDA Approves New Obesity Drug Contrave

In continuation of my update on Contrave

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of a new weight-loss drug on Wednesday marks the third time the agency has given its blessing to a new diet medication since 2012.

Called Contrave, the medicine is a combination of two approved drugs: naltrexone, which treats alcohol and drug addiction, and bupropion, which treats depression and seasonal affective disorder and is used to help smokers quit.

The agency said in a news release that Contrave can be used by obese adults and by overweight adults who have at least one other weight-related condition or illness, such as high blood pressure or type 2 diabetes.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one-third of adults in the United States are obese, the FDA said in its news release.

"Obesity continues to be a major public health concern," said Dr. Jean-Marc Guettier, director of the division of metabolism and endocrinology products in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "When used as directed in combination with a healthy lifestyle that includes a reduced-calorie diet and exercise, Contrave provides another treatment option for chronic weight management."

FDA Approves New Obesity Drug Contrave  

Anamorelin drug safe and well tolerated in advanced non-small cell lung cancer, Phase III trial reveals

A new drug, anamorelin, improves appetite and body mass in patients with advanced lung cancer who are suffering cancer anorexia and cachexia, according to phase III data presented at the ESMO 2014 Congress in Madrid, Spain.

"Anorexia and cachexia are among the most troubling and distressing symptoms of advanced cancer, for both patients and their families," says the study's principal investigator, Dr Jennifer Temel from the Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA.

Symptoms of the wasting syndrome can include a loss of weight and muscles, together with fatigue, weakness, and loss of appetite. The condition is very common in patients with advanced lung cancer. Anamorelin aims to address the symptoms by mimicking the effects of the so-called "hunger hormone" ghrelin, which is secreted by the stomach.

The large, randomized controlled ROMANA 1 and 2 trials are the first phase III studies examining the impact of anamorelin on anorexia-cachexia in patients with advanced lung cancer.

In the ROMANA studies, patients with unresectable stage III or IV non-small cell lung cancer with cachexia were randomized to receive either 100 mg anamorelin or placebo, given orally each day for 12 weeks.

Among 484 participants in ROMANA 1, those taking anamorelin experienced a median increase in lean body mass of 1.10 kg in 12 weeks, compared to a loss of 0.44 kg for those taking placebo. Body weight increased in the anamorelin arm by an average of 2.2 kg, compared to 0.14 kg in the placebo arm of the study. Patient symptoms or concerns regarding anorexia-cachexia, including appetite, also significantly improved over 12 weeks in patients taking anamorelin. The most frequent drug-related adverse events included hyperglycemia and nausea.

In ROMANA 2, 495 participants with advanced non-small cell lung cancer experiened similar benefits. Body weight increased by 0.95 kg on average, compared to a loss of 0.57 kg for those receiving placebo, and patient symptoms/concerns regarding anorexia-cachexia significantly improved over 12 weeks.

Patients receiving anamorelin did not experience improvements in their muscle strength, as measured by hand grip strength, although Temel notes that particular test can be difficult to administer in this patient population.

Anamorelin drug safe and well tolerated in advanced non-small cell lung cancer, Phase III trial reveals

Oral afatinib significantly improves progression-free survival in patients with head and neck cancer

The tyrosine kinase inhibitor afatinib significantly improved progression-free survival compared to methotrexate in patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck after failure of platinum-based chemotherapy, the results of a phase III trial show.

Presented at the ESMO 2014 Congress in Madrid, the Lux-Head & Neck 1 trial showed that patients who received treatment with 40 mg/day oral afatinib had a 20% reduction in risk of progression or death compared to patients who received methotrexate, with a median progression-free survival of 2.6 months.

"The improvement in progression-free survival was associated with a significant delayed worsening of symptoms (such as pain, swallowing and global health status) versus chemotherapy. Patients treated with afatinib had less pain over time than patients treated with methotrexate. "These are important outcomes for patients with these conditions," notes study author Dr Jean-Pascal Machiels, a medical oncologist at Institut Roi Albert II, Cliniques Universitaires St. Luc, in Brussels, Belgium.

Recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck often has a poor outcome, Machiels explains. "This is a poor prognosis population and a disease that does not get enough attention from the scientific community, because this group of patients often has severe co-morbidities and social problems such as alcoholism and tobacco use."

"Frequently these patients have a relapse in the head and neck area. This location is responsible of many symptoms that are difficult to palliate: pain, breath disorder and swallowing difficulties."

Afatinib is a compound that irreversibly blocks the ErbB family of cell surface receptors, which includes epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), HER3 and HER4. Around 90% of squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck overexpress EGFR.

Oral afatinib significantly improves progression-free survival in patients with head and neck cancer

Isavuconazole demonstrates successful outcomes in treatment of mucormycosis

In continuation of my update on Isavuconazole

Isavuconazole demonstrates successful outcomes in treatment of mucormycosis

Phase III trial: Rolapitant lessens chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting

Rolapitant reduces nausea and vomiting in patients receiving cisplatin-based chemotherapy, according to the results of a phase III trial presented for the first time today at the ESMO 2014 Congress in Madrid, Spain.

Dr Martin Chasen, lead author and medical director, Palliative Care, Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre, Canada, said: "This agent makes a significant difference in the way people tolerate their chemotherapy. Patients experienced no loss in quality of life and, in fact, many saw meaningful improvements. One of the patients in the rolapitant cohort reported that he had just finished 18 holes of golf one week after receiving chemotherapy. This is in sharp contrast to many patients on current standard anti-emetics that are too ill to get out of bed within a week after each cycle of cisplatin."

"We must treat nausea and vomiting, not just the cancer," added Chasen, emphasising that some patients are extremely sensitive to cisplatin effects and recalling that he had one or two patients with curable cancers who refused treatment after one round of cisplatin. "They preferred to die," he said.

The phase III trial investigated rolapitant, a novel antagonist of the NK-1 receptor, for the prevention of severe nausea and vomiting often experienced by patients receiving cisplatin-based chemotherapy, which may cause dose reductions and treatment discontinuation. The multicentre trial randomised 532 patients 1:1 to receive rolapitant plus granisetron/dexamethasone or placebo plus granisetron/dexamethasone prior to cisplatin-based chemotherapy.

Phase III trial: Rolapitant lessens chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting

Crizotinib drug effectively halts growth of ROS1-positive lung tumors

In continuation of my update on crizotinib

Treatment with the targeted therapy drug crizotinib effectively halts the growth of lung tumors driven by rearrangements of the ROS1 gene. In an article receiving Online First publication in the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with a presentation at the European Society for Medical Oncology meeting, an international research team reports that crizotinib treatment led to significant tumor shrinkage in 36 of 50 study participants and suppressed tumor growth in another 9.

"Prior to this study, there were a handful of reports describing marked responses to crizotinib in individual patients with ROS1-positive lung tumors," says Alice Shaw, MD, PhD, of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center, lead author of the NEJM report. "This is the first definitive study to establish crizotinib's activity in a large group of patients with ROS1-positive lung cancer and to confirm that ROS1 is a bona fide therapeutic target in those patients."

Crizotinib currently is FDA-approved to treat non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLC) driven by rearrangments in the ALK gene, which make up around 4 percent of cases. An MGH Cancer Center report published in 2012 reported that 1 to 2 percent of NSCLCs are driven by rearrangements in ROS1, which encodes a protein with significant structural similarities to that encoded by the ALK gene.

Crizotinib drug effectively halts growth of ROS1-positive lung tumors

FDA Approves Iluvien for Diabetic Macular Edema

pSivida Corp., a leader in the development of sustained release, drug delivery products for treating eye diseases, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Iluvien for the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME). It is indicated for patients who have been previously treated with a course of corticosteroids and did not have a clinically significant rise in intraocular pressure (IOP). A single injection of the Iluvien micro-insert provides sustained treatment of DME for 36 months. Approximately 560,000 people in the U.S. are estimated to have clinically significant DME, the most frequent cause of vision loss in individuals with diabetes and the leading cause of blindness in young and middle-aged adults in developed countries. Iluvien is expected to be commercially available in the U.S. in early 2015.

FDA Approves Iluvien for Diabetic Macular Edema

Candidate H7N9 avian flu vaccine works better with adjuvant

Candidate H7N9 avian flu vaccine works better with adjuvant

Researchers Discover How Bacteria Resist Antibiotics in Hospitals

Tiny circles of DNA called plasmids appear to be the culprit. They can easily enter bacteria and move from one bacteria to another, and some carry a gene that makes bacteria drug-resistant, a new study finds.

"The plasmids we are talking about carry an antibiotic-resistant gene to a class of antibiotic called carbapenems," said the study's co-author, Dr. Tara Palmore, an infection control specialist at the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Carbapenems are antibiotics of last resort, and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) are bacterial pathogens that pose a "formidable" threat to hospitalized patients, according to the research.

The incidence of CRE has quadrupled in the last decade in the United States, according to background information in the report. CRE has been detected in nearly 4 percent of hospitals and about 18 percent of long-term acute care facilities. In addition, the researchers noted, CRE are resistant to most, if not all, antibiotics. Investigations have reported a death rate of 40 percent to 80 percent from infection.

Given ongoing concerns that even bacteria like Klebsiella and Enterobacter -- which are found in the environment and in healthy stomachs -- are becoming increasingly resistant to last-resort antibiotics, the researchers set out to find some answers. Their report, published Sept. 17 inScience Translational Medicine, showed that plasmid transfer in hospitals is likely contributing to the increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Researchers Discover How Bacteria Resist Antibiotics in Hospitals

FDA Approves Triumeq for the Treatment of HIV-1 Infection

In continuation of my update on Triumeq

ViiV Healthcare announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Triumeq (abacavir 600mg, dolutegravir 50mg and lamivudine 300mg) tablets for the treatment of HIV-1 infection. Triumeq is ViiV Healthcare’s first dolutegravir-based fixed-dose combination, offering many people living with HIV the option of a single-pill regimen that combines the integrase strand transfer inhibitor (INSTI) dolutegravir, with the nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) abacavir and lamivudine.

FDA Approves Triumeq for the Treatment of HIV-1 Infection

FDA Approves Contrave (bupropion/naltrexone) for Weight Management

In continuation of my update on bupropion/naltrexone

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Contrave (naltrexone hydrochloride and bupropion hydrochloride extended-release tablets) as treatment option for chronic weight management in addition to a reduced-calorie diet and physical activity.

FDA Approves Contrave (bupropion/naltrexone) for Weight Management

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2014

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2014

FDA Approves Otezla (apremilast) for Moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis

 In continuation of my update on Apremilast (brand name Otezla) is an orally available small molecule inhibitor of phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4). Apremilast specifically inhibits PDE4 and inhibits spontaneous production of TNF-alpha from human rheumatoid synovial cells. It has anti-inflammatory activity.

FDA Approves Otezla (apremilast) for Moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis

FDA Approves Spiriva Respimat (tiotropium) for the Maintenance Treatment of COPD

We know that, Tiotropium bromide,   is a long-acting, 24 hour, anticholinergic bronchodilator used in the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Tiotropium bromide capsules for inhalation are co-promoted by Boehringer-Ingelheimand Pfizer under the trade name Spiriva. It is also manufactured and marketed by Cipla under trade name Tiova.

Now Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced  that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Spiriva Respimat (tiotropium bromide) inhalation spray for the long-term, once-daily

FDA Approves Spiriva Respimat (tiotropium) for the Maintenance Treatment of COPD

FDA Approves Vitekta (elvitegravir) for HIV-1 Infection

We know that, Elvitegravir (EVG, formerly GS-9137) is a drug used for the treatment of HIV infection. It acts as an integrase inhibitor. It was developed by the pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, which licensed EVG from Japan Tobacco in March 2008.^[2][3][4]The drug gained approval by U.S. Food and Drug Administration on August 27, 2012 for use in adult patients starting HIV treatment for the first time as part of the fixed dose combination known as Stribild.

FDA Approves Vitekta (elvitegravir) for HIV-1 Infection

Scripps Research Institute Chemists Modify Antibiotic to Vanquish Resistant Bacteria

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have devised a new antibiotic based on vancomycin that is powerfully effective against vancomycin-resistant strains of MRSA and other disease-causing bacteria.

The new vancomycin analog appears to have not one but two distinct mechanisms of anti-microbial action, against which bacteria probably cannot evolve resistance quickly.

“This is the prototype of analogues that once introduced will still be in clinical use a generation or maybe even two generations from now,” said Dale L. Boger, the Richard and Alice Cramer Professor of Chemistry at TSRI.

The report by Boger and members of his laboratory was published recently online ahead of print by the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Increasing Reports of Resistance

Vancomycin entered clinical use in 1958, five years after its isolation from microbes in a soil sample gathered by an American missionary in Borneo. For nearly six decades it has been useful against a wide range of bacteria, and it remains a standard weapon against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a major cause of hospital-acquired infections. A compound closely related to vancomycin also has been widely used to protect livestock.

Since the late 1980s, there have been increasing reports of vancomycin resistance in classes of bacteria that usually succumb to the antibiotic, including MRSA. Although vancomycin remains useful, scientists have been looking for new drugs to replace it in cases—often life-threatening—where it no longer can help patients.

The Boger laboratory has focused on inventing improved versions of vancomycin rather than entirely new compounds. “Vancomycin has lasted in clinical use for more than 50 years, in part because it isn’t very vulnerable to antibiotic resistance,” Boger said. “Our thought has been that if we find a vancomycin analog that addresses this current source of resistance we’ll get another 50 years of use out of it.”

Vancomycin works by binding to the building blocks of bacterial cell walls, in a way that prevents their proper assembly and leaves bacteria too leaky to live and replicate. The resistance comes from a single amino-acid alteration that some bacteria make to those building blocks, so that the antibiotic molecule can no longer get a firm grip. That drops vancomycin’s potency by a factor of about 1,000.

‘Incredibly Potent’

In 2012, Boger and his team reported making a vancomycin analog—informally termed vancomycin amidine—with a subtly altered binding pocket that fastens about equally well to the original and resistant sites on bacterial cell wall subunits. To get the precise structural modification they needed, they had to come up with a method for the “total synthesis” of this vancomycin-based compound—a controlled, step-by-step construction using organic chemistry reactions in the lab, rather than a natural enzyme-mediated production within cells.

“Years of work in this lab culminated in a total synthesis strategy that not only allowed us access to this target compound, but also gave us the ability to perform almost any other chemical modification of vancomycin that we wished,” said Akinori Okano, first author of the new report, who is an assistant professor of chemistry at TSRI.

Vancomycin amidine turned out to have acceptable level of activity against vancomycin-resistant and -sensitive bacteria, yet there was room for improvement. Thus in the new study, Okano, Boger and their colleagues used their vancomycin synthesis methods to add an additional feature to the molecule—a peripheral chlorobiphenyl (CBP), long known as a general booster of vancomycin’s potency.

“To our delight, the combination of these modifications led to an incredibly potent molecule, well beyond anything we had expected,” said Okano.

Scripps Research Institute Chemists Modify Antibiotic to Vanquish Resistant Bacteria

FDA Approves Tybost (cobicistat) for use in the treatment of HIV-1 Infection

We know that, Cobicistat (formerly GS-9350) is a licensed drug for use in the treatment of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Like ritonavir (Norvir), cobicistat is of interest for its ability to inhibit liver enzymes that metabolize other medications used to treat HIV, notably elvitegravir, an HIV integrase inhibitor. By combining cobicistat with elvitegravir, higher concentrations of the latter are achieved in the body with lower dosing, theoretically enhancing elvitegravir's viral suppression while diminishing its adverse side-effects. In contrast with ritonavir, the only other booster approved for use as a part of HAART, cobicistat has no anti-HIV activity of its own.. 

 Now U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Tybost (cobicistat), a CYP3A inhibitor used in combination with atazanavir or darunavir for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection..

FDA Approves Tybost (cobicistat) for use in the treatment of HIV-1 Infection