Aterovax has teamed up with Biomnis to target the clinical trial industry with a new atherosclerosis biomarker, sPLA2, designed to give researchers better insight into a candidate heart drug’s therapeutic potential.
UK researchers have boosted the bioavailability of the tomato skin extract lycopene and produced a pill that they claim can reduce “bad” LDL cholesterol by more than 90 per cent.
DSM Biomedical and Caliber Therapeutics aim to expand their presence in the balloon catheter market with a project to develop new drug delivery devices for vascular diseases, including atherosclerosis.
Pharmaceutical Products Development (PPD) has announced it is
moving into Russia, along with the news of positive trial results
for its statin, although profits dipped again during the fourth
quarter of 2007 as its R&D bill mounts.
It was supposed to keep Pfizer at the top of the cardiovascular
drug tree, but when torcetrapib failed, other pharma firms
developing similar drugs looked on nervously to see if their drugs
were also doomed. A new study suggests they...
US researchers have identified an enzyme that reduces the build up
of heart-disease causing plaques by removing the cholesterol that
causes them to form.
The latest in a series of periodic roundups of drugs that have
moved from preclinical research into clinical testing via the
announcement of a Phase I trial or an application for a trial to
industry regulators.
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) has agreed to fund Isis Pharmaceuticals'
antisense drug development programme aimed at preventing and
treating heart disease.
Suggestions that Pfizer's scrapped cholesterol drug could actually
make coronary artery disease worse could set hearts racing among
others developing drugs in the same class.
A novel drug designed to prevent coronary heart disease has failed
a pivotal clinical trial although the developers are hopeful the
drug might still win approval.
Research undertaken by Nastech has uncovered that endothelial tight
junctions play a role in atherosclerosis, which may provide new
therapeutic targets for cardiovascular disease.
Dynatek dalta Scientific Instruments are to introduce its
drug-eluting stent tester to audiences throughout the US and
Europe, signifying the first time a coating durability tester for
medical devices has been commercially available.
Stem cells have the potential to become an effective diagnostic
tool singling out those susceptible of atherosclerosis, say
researchers. These cells could also help to predict regeneration of
heart cells following a heart attack.
Merck has signed a research and drug development agreement with
FoxHollow Technologies, which represents the first
pharmaceutical-medical device partnership aimed at identifying
cardiovascular biomarkers for use as diagnostics and...
A new study, which uses a new method in identifying the specific
gene involved in high cholesterol has been hailed as, "a landmark
publication." The study also describes the potential to use this
approach in forming a treatment...
Pfizer has started production at a newly opened $90m plant
expansion in Ireland that will make torcetrapib, a cardiovascular
drug in late-stage clinical testing, reports Phil Taylor.
Arena Pharmaceuticals have been issued with a patent for drug
screening methods for the treatment of metabolic-related disorders,
especially in relation to the niacin receptor. Ligands of the
niacin receptor play a role in regulating...
A new generation of cholesterol lowering drugs could be in the
offering after a team of scientists identified a key protein that
is involved in cholesterol regulation. The discovery could provide
alternatives for the 25 million people...
Biopharmaceutical company deCODE genetics, announced the initiation
of trials for a first-in-class compound used to treat
atherosclerosis for which there is currently no effective drug
treatment. The disease strikes almost 20 per...
There is no doubt that the introduction of stents, and latterly
those that deliver pharmacological agents, has revolutionised the
treatment of coronary artery disease over the last 10 years and all
but consigned heart surgery to second-line...
Scandinavian biopharmaceutical company deCode Genetics intends to
initiate a Phase I clinical trial of the first-in-class treatment
of peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) which represents a
promising therapeutic approach...
Researchers in Sweden have voiced the intriguing notion that a
course of vaccinations in childhood might help protect people from
heart disease later in life.
Irish biopharma firm Alltracel Pharmaceuticals has reinforced its
position in the dissolvable film market with a reverse takeover of
London firm Westone Products.
Dutch drug delivery company OctoPlus has licensed two
biodegradeable polymers to SurModics that can be used to coat
medical devices and deliver drugs into the surrounding tissues.
Occam International of the Netherlands has licensed its coating
technology to Xtent, a company specialising in the development of
cardiovascular stents that deliver drugs directly into the blood
vessels.
Avanir Pharmaceuticals has discovered a series of orally-active
small molecules that, in animal models, reduce the fatty deposits
in blood vessel walls typically associated with atherosclerosis.
Researchers in Finland and the US have identified a gene that
predisposes people to one of the most common causes of coronary
heart disease, raising the hope that it could represent a new
target for drug treatment.
Researchers have discovered the first gene that may play a direct
role in longevity by protecting against some of the most important
diseases of ageing, such as heart disease, diabetes and stroke.
