Neurology Product Guide

Alzheimers Drug Discovery Foundation Funds AgeneBio To Advance Pharmacological Neural Stabilizer Technology

Jim Marino — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:52:30 +0000

The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) announced that it has awarded a grant of $240,000 to AgeneBio Inc. to develop a new class of small-molecules that have promise in treating amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), a neurological condition that often progresses to Alzheimer’s disease and affects more than 3 million aging Americans. Approximately fifteen percent of aMCI patients progress to an Alzheimer’s disease (AD) diagnosis every year.

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BrainScope(TM) Announces Findings Of Traumatic Brain Injury Study In The Emergency Department

Jim Marino — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:47:08 +0000

BrainScope Company, Inc. announced the publication of clinical research findings from a study in patients presenting to the Emergency Department (ED) following a closed head injury. The study published in the peer-reviewed journal Brain Injury, the official journal of the International Brain Injury Association, entitled “Use of brain electrical activity to quantify traumatic brain injury in the emergency department”, suggests BrainScope’s technology, compared with Computed Tomography (CT), may provide clinically useful triage for CT in patients presenting to the ED.

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Real-Time Detection Of Neuronal Cell Death By Impedance-Based Analysis Using The XCELLigence System

Jim Marino — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:00:04 +0000

A recent study used the xCELLigence System of Roche to investigate the response of the neuronal-like cell line HT-22 and cultured primary rat cortical neurons to different cell death stimuli and neuroprotectants. The xCELLigence System provides a non-invasive and label-free way to continuously monitor cellular parameters such as viability, death, adhesion, and proliferation. It records electrical impedance of cells grown on microelectrode arrays integrated into the bottom of each well of an E-Plate 96.

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Biogen Idec And Knopp Neurosciences Announce License Agreement For Late-Stage ALS Drug Candidate

Jim Marino — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 13:55:56 +0000

Biogen Idec and Knopp Neurosciences announced they have entered into an exclusive, worldwide license agreement under which Biogen Idec will develop and commercialize KNS-760704 for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. KNS-760704 is a novel oral neuroprotective therapy under development. In a Phase 2 study of ALS patients, the compound achieved its primary endpoint evaluating safety and showed favorable dose-related effects in preserving motor function.

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University Of Basque Country Thesis Shows That Multidisciplinary Treatment Of Glioblastoma Multiforme Can Extend Life of Patients

Jim Marino — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:12:04 +0000

The Hospital Universitario Donostia has incorporated a new glioblastoma multiforme treatment protocol, which could be the starting point for a more effective treatment of this type of cancer. The new protocol incorporated into the hospital analysed in this thesis puts forward a more multidisciplinary approach to the treatment of patients suffering from this type of cancer. The idea is to provide a more personalized treatment and monitoring.

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Groundbreaking Study By AGH Neurosurgical Team Suggests Artery Compressing Base Of Brain Is Factor In Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Jim Marino — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:04:34 +0000

A team of Allegheny General Hospital (AGH) physicians has made an important new discovery linking the central nervous system to the onset and progression of type 2 diabetes mellitus. The team presents evidence from a prospective clinical trial that vascular compression of a section of the brain called the medulla oblongata is a factor in some patients with type 2 diabetes and that microvascular decompression surgery (MVD) may be an effective treatment for the condition.

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Designing A Brain Tumor Treatment That Captures Migrating Cancer Cells

Jim Marino — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 09:13:59 +0000

The Georgia Institute of Technology has received a EUREKA grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to design a new way to treat invasive brain tumors by capturing the migrating cells that spread the disease. The research team plans to develop a system that will excavate brain tumor cells by directing them away from their location in the interior of the brain to a more external location where they can be removed or killed.

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TEMPO Study Further Demonstrates the Benefits of Azilect(R) in Early Parkinsons Disease Patients

Jim Marino — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 07:49:16 +0000

H. Lundbeck A/S (Lundbeck) and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. announced newly published long-term data on Azilect® (rasagiline tablets) from the TEMPO study and its open-label extension. The findings confirm the long-term efficacy, safety and tolerability of Azilect® in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and further demonstrate the benefits obtained with early treatment initiation. The data was published in the June 2010 issue of the International Journal of Neuroscience.

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FDA Approves Embryonic Stem Cell-Based Therapy For Patients With Acute Spinal Cord Injury

Jim Marino — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 07:57:11 +0000

FDA has lifted a clinical hold on Geron’s Investigational New Drug (IND) application – the Phase I clinical trial of GRNOPC1 in patients with acute spinal cord injury may now go ahead. GRNOPC1 is the first clinical trial of a human embryonic stem cell based therapy. The Phase I trials aims to establish the safety of GRNOPC1 in patients with “complete” American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Impairment Scale grade A subacute thoracic spinal cord injuries.

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New Approach To Alzheimer Therapy

Jim Marino — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 07:53:57 +0000

Researchers from the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich have shown that the ADAM10 protein can inhibit the formation of beta-amyloid, which is responsible for Alzheimer’s disease. ADAM10 acts like a pair of molecular scissors to cut the protein from which beta-amyloid is formed, effectively preventing the formation of beta-amyloid. This makes ADAM10 a key molecule in Alzheimer’s therapy.

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