R&D UPDATE

By Eleanor McDermid, Senior medwireNews Reporter.
JAMA 2013; 309: 453–460, 487–488 medwireNews: Six months of treatment with the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor ramipril produces notable improvements in the walking ability of patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) and intermittent claudication, shows a large randomized trial. As a result, the patients reported significant improvements in their quality of...

By Lynda Williams, Senior medwireNews Reporter. Lancet Oncol 2012; Advance online publication medwireNews: Reduced-intensity conditioning reduces toxicity associated with allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) without affecting long-term outcomes, show results from the first randomized trial of this treatment. The findings published in The Lancet Oncology confirm the reported...

By Nikki Withers. N Engl J Med 2012; 367: 1087–1097, 1098–1105, 1106–1107 medwireNews: Results of the CONFIRM and DEFINE studies suggest that dimethyl fumarate (BG-12) should be considered as an oral treatment for patients with relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis (MS). Both studies appeared in The New England Journal of Medicine. The Comparator and an Oral Fumarate in Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (CONFIRM)...

Neurology 2012; Advance online publication. medwireNews: Pediatric neurologists can reasonably assume that an antiepileptic drug that is effective in adults will have similar benefits in children with partial-onset seizures, say the authors of a systematic review. “The finding should provide some reassurance and support to all pediatric neurologists who, for decades, have had no other choice but to prescribe antiepileptic drugs...

Neurology 2012; Advance online publication. MedWire News: The PRACTISE intervention to boost stroke thrombolysis rates is not just cost-effective, but cost-saving, show the results of a prespecified analysis. In an editorial accompanying the study in Neurology, Anthony Kim (University of California, San Francisco, USA) and Kate Young (University of Rochester, New York, USA) say that “this intervention appeared to pay for itself and...

J Clin Oncol 2012; Advance online publication. MedWire News: Adding motesanib to carboplatin–paclitaxel does not boost overall survival (OS) in patients with advanced nonsquamous non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), including those with adenocarcinoma, say MONET1 investigators.
For patients with stage III/IV or recurrent NSCLC and no prior systemic treatment for advanced disease, median OS was a comparable 13.0 and 11.0 months in...

Although treatment for localised melanoma is individualised with respect to surgical decisions and analysing biomarkers of...

Despite this, there is still no cure for diabetes and development efforts by pharmaceutical companies have been subjected to greater...

* The FDA approved Vertex’s (VRTX) Kalydeco (ivacaftor) for cystic fibrosis (CF) patients harboring the G551D CFTR gene mutation, ushering in a new era of the molecular-based management of CF.
* Although only about 4% of CF patients are eligible for Kalydeco now, physicians and patients hope that the drug eventually proves valuable to the majority of CF patients. * Kalydeco’s high cost ($294,000 a year list price) and earlier...

* Pharmasset (VRUS), acquired for nearly $11 billion this week, will provide Gilead (GILD) with two developmental hepatitis C virus...