The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has proposed to terminate the coverage with evidence development requirement for the use of positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging for patients suspected of suffering from beta amyloids, a marker of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, CMS is also considering a removal of the coverage policy that limits each patient to a single PET scan per lifetime, although the proposal to allow Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) to determine coverage is drawing fire from industry and physician groups alike.
Biogen Inc. has synthesized 3-β-hydroxysteroid-δ(8),δ(7)-isomerase (EBP) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS).
By using machine learning techniques to scour electronic health records, researchers have identified individuals who were likely to have binge eating disorder (BED) but had not received a formal diagnosis. Genomewide association studies including such patients enabled the investigators to identify several risk variants that were correlated with BED irrespective of body mass index (BMI), which covaries with BED and is a potential confounding factor.
Harmony Biosciences Holdings Inc.’s agreement to acquire Zynerba Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $60 million cash plus as much as $140 million in contingent value rights (CVRs) didn’t register as one of the larger potential outlays recently, but Wall Street had questions about the term sheet just the same. Plymouth Meeting, Pa.-based Harmony is paying about $1.10 per share in cash for Zynerba, of Devon, Pa., plus one non-tradeable CVR tied to clinical, regulatory and sales milestones.
The composition of the skull bone is unique and plays a direct role in influencing brain health through small channels in the bone and immune cell expression pathways, reported researchers based at the Helmholtz Center and Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich.
Annexon Inc. has identified boronic acid derivatives acting as complement C1s subcomponent inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of neurodegeneration, inflammatory, eye, metabolic and autoimmune diseases.
The role of the enzyme γ-secretase in neuronal cholesterol metabolism could have a beneficial effect on the synapse that has not yet been explored in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). On Aug. 4, 2023, scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute published a study online in Neuron that linked cholesterol levels in the brain to synaptic dysfunction in AD.
The composition of the skull bone is unique and plays a direct role in influencing brain health through small channels in the bone and immune cell expression pathways, reported researchers based at the Helmholtz Center and Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich.
The inter partes review (IPR) process used to adjudicate patent disputes in the U.S. has had its share of critics, but ongoing patent litigation revolving around nerve stimulation technology between Axonics Inc., and Medtronic plc has disclosed another bone of contention in how IPRs are handled. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled that a patent holder, Dublin-based Medtronic in this instance, can offer a new claim construction for its disputed patent once an IPR has been instituted, but said also that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) had erred in not allowing Axonics to respond to the new claim construction, sending the related IPRs back to the PTAB for another look.
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