Covidien has launched Mallinckrodt TaperGuard and TaperGuard Evac endotracheal tubes. The TaperGuard line of endotracheal tubes incorporates a taper-shaped cuff made from polyvinylchloride. The TaperGuard Evac endotracheal tube additionally provides for secretion drainage through an integrated suction lumen. As a result, the TaperGuard Evac endotracheal tube is associated with a reduction in ventilator-associated pneumonia. Microaspiration refers to the entry of foreign material into the respiratory tract.

An FDA panel voted 12 to 1 that Acoherapeutics Inc’s Phase III trials provided substantial evidence that fampridine sustained-release was effective in improving the walking ability in patients with multiple sclerosis. The FDA’s Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee also voted 10 to 2, that there are conditions under which fampridine SR could be safely used as a therapy to improve walking in patients with MS.

The new lab testing of the drug vorinostat indicated that the medication is able to cross the blood-brain barrier and reduce the occurrence of metastatic tumors in mice. The study, published in the September 29 online issue of Clinical Cancer Research, demonstrated that vorinostat reduced the development of large metastatic tumors in mice by 62% as compared a group of mice that did not receive the drug. Although vorinostat has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, it has only been used experimentally as a treatment for other cancers.

An experimental test, which involves placing of six electrodes around the forehead and on the earlobes, can accurately predict within a week whether a particular antidepressant will be effective by using brain-wave patterns on an EEG. The lead author of the study and professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, Dr. Andrew Leuchter, said that until now there had been no reliable method for predicting whether a medication would lead to a good response or remission. The test can be performed in 10 to 15 minutes in any office setting.