Articles By Marcus Johnson

81. Researchers Find Drugs That Slow Progression Of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis 5/19/2014

    Studies recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine have presented research demonstrating that researchers have found several new treatments for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. These new treatments—pirfenidone and nintedanib — did not cure patients or reverse the disease, however these drugs did slow the progression of the fatal lung disease. Researchers hope that by stabilizing lung function, they will eventually be able to prolong patients’ lives.

82. Jubilant Biosys Enters Into Drug Discovery Collaboration With Orion 5/19/2014

    Jubilant Biosys has announced that it is entering into a drug discovery collaboration with Orion Corporation. Jubilant is based out of Bengaluru while Orion is the largest pharmaceutical company in Finland. The companies will be working together to discover small molecule inhibitors in the neuroscience therapeutic area in order to develop a drug for pain management in patients with unmet needs in the pain management area.

83. Cytovance Biologics Enters cGMP Manufacturing Agreement With Selexys Pharmaceuticals 5/19/2014

    Cytovance Biologics,CMO of mammalian and microbial biologics, recently s announced that it has entered into a development and manufacturing agreement with Selexys Pharmaceuticals. Selexys, based out of Oklahoma City, is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company that focuses on developing drugs that treat inflammatory diseases as well as cancer. The two companies are partnering for the manufacture of Selexys’ new investigational drug for Crohn’s Disease and Multiple Myeloma. The drug is called SELK2, and it is a humanized monoclonal antibody. Cytovance will be responsible for the process development, scaling up, and cGMP manufacturing of the SELK2 drug for a Phase I human clinical trial.

84. Abbott Acquires CFR Pharmaceuticals, Expands Generics Portfolio 5/19/2014

    Abbott has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire CFR Pharmaceuticals. CFR is a Latin American company based in Santiago, Chile. This acquisition will help Abbott to enter into the regional market and expand its presence in Latin America. According to the press release, , Abbott’s branded generics has more than doubled following this acquisition, making it one of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies in Latin America overnight.

85. Scientists Discover “Mother Cells” Of Cancer 5/19/2014

    Researchers at Oxford University believe that they have discovered the “mother cells” which produce cancer tumors and allow them to grow. The discovery was made by researchers at Oxford who were studying patients with leukemia. These “mother cells,” or cancer stem cells, are believed to be the reason that cancer cells can spread throughout the body and ultimately cause the death of those suffering from cancer.

86. Could Antidepressant Slow Alzheimer's? 5/19/2014

    Researchers have begun to investigate citalopram, an antidepressant manufactured by Lundbeck, to determine if the drug can slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Citalopram has been found to decrease the creation of a protein that binds together in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients and creates the plaques that cause the disease. The protein, known as beta-amyloid, has been shown in previous studies to play a part in memory loss and mental cognitive issues associated with the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

87. FDA Grants Abeona Therapeutics Orphan Drug Designation For Sanfilippo Syndrome Treatments 5/19/2014

    The FDA has announced that it has granted Abeona Therapeutics orphan drug designation for its Sanfilippo Syndromes A and B treatments. Abeona spent 2013 raising seed funds, and the company plans to start Phase I/II clinical trials for its gene based therapies later this year.

88. Chagas Disease Drug Offers Insight Into Future Potential Treatments 5/19/2014
    Researchers at the Infectious Disease Department of the Catalan Institute of Health in Barcelona, Spain, found that patients with chronic Chagas disease who were treated with ergosterol inhibitor posaconazole suffered from significantly more treatment failures than those treated with benznidazole, the current treatment standard.
89. Plexxikon's Experimental Cancer Drug Eases Pain From PVNS 5/16/2014

    An experimental cancer drug developed by Plexxikon, a unit of Daiichi Sankyo, has been shown to relieve pain caused by pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS). The drug is called PLX3397.

90. Merck Cardiovascular Drug Zontivity Approved By FDA 5/16/2014

    Last week, the FDA announced that it approved Merck’s platelet receptor antagonist drug, vorapaxar (Zontivity), for use in patients with a history of myochardial infarction (MI) or peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in the US. This comes after January’s FDA Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee 10-1 vote in favor of approving the drug.