A frequent challenge for drug developers is how to target drugs – especially cancer drug, which aim to kill their target cells – to the right cell population. But researchers at Johns Hopkins University have turned this problem on its ear: Instead of delivering drugs specifically to cancer cells, they have developed a way to make cancer cells activate prodrugs through use of molecular switches. Read More
If the success rate for drug development overall is bad, the success rate for central nervous system (CNS) drug development can only be described as abysmal, thanks to high placebo effects, low patient compliance, subjective endpoints and the difficulties of the blood-brain barrier. Read More
Kancera AB, of Stockholm, Sweden, said it has identified, in collaboration with scientists at the Karolinska Institute, active compounds that effectively kill pancreatic cancer cells. Results showed that the amount of activated ROR in aggressive cancer cells from pancreas is high, and that active compounds against ROR effectively killed those cells within 48 hours from the start of experimental treatment. Read More
Radioactive carbon dating is most commonly used to determine the age of specimens that are thousands to millions of years old. But researchers at the Swedish Karolinska Institutet have used the method to look at decidedly younger samples, comparing the fat in the cells of healthy and obese individuals. Read More
Threshold Pharmaceuticals Inc. is wasting no time launching a Phase III randomized trial of its sarcoma drug, TH-302, following a successful end-of-Phase-II meeting with the FDA, resulting in a special protocol assessment. Read More
WASHINGTON – The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) didn't make the cut in a draft House subcommittee fiscal 2012 appropriations bill for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Read More
