Thirty patients have died after taking Symdeko, a Vertex Pharmaceuticals treatment for cystic fibrosis, according to a government database. The deaths, reported to the Food and Drug Administration’s database of side effects, are tied to Symdeko, a Vertex medicine approved last year. Reports to the database are commonly submitted by health care professionals and often contain
Scientific investigations conducted by people on the International Space Station (ISS) are currently contributing to our knowledge in many fields. The research alliance between the University of Pittsburgh’s (Pitt) McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine (MIRM) and the ISS is a great example of the ultimate vision of a space development that could result in the advancement of biomedical products in space,
The collapse of Italy’s coalition government has left researchers vulnerable. The president should use his moral authority with party leaders to make sure that promises of increased funding are kept. Source Nature 572, 563 (2019)doi: 10.1038/d41586-019-02560-1 Last week, Italy’s coalition government ended abruptly, when the nationalist Lega party of deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini announced that
Allergic diseases have become a global health problem and the most prevalent allergic disorders include allergic asthma, allergic skin diseases, allergic rhinitis, and allergic conjunctivitis. In the therapy of allergic diseases, corticosteroids, antihistamines, antileukotrienes and β2 adrenergic receptor agonists temporarily inhibit inflammation mediators and immune cells. However, long-term treatment causes various adverse effects. Drug resistance and intolerance
Alternate-day fasting (ADF) had positive effects on body weight, cardiovascular measures, and molecular markers of aging when assessed in a randomized controlled trial among healthy adults without obesity or diabetes, researchers report in a study published online August 27 in Cell Metabolism. ADF is a different approach to control weight than the common caloric restriction (CR) or intermittent fasting (IF)
There is a growing demand for diagnostic markers for early disease detection and prognosis. Exosomes are potential biomarkers for cancer progression and neurodegenerative disease but it can be difficult to identify what tissue a specific exosome comes from. Researchers at Uppsala University and spin-off company Vesicode AB have solved the problem by developing a method
The development of a retina-on-a-chip, which combines living human cells with an artificial tissue-like system, has been described today in the open-access journal eLife. This cutting-edge tool may provide a useful alternative to existing models for studying eye disease and allow scientists to test the effects of drugs on the retina more efficiently. Many diseases that
DiscGenics, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on developing regenerative cell-based therapies that alleviate pain and restore function in patients with degenerative diseases of the spine, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track designation for its investigational cell therapy, IDCT, currently being evaluated in regulator-allowed clinical trials
The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM), the international advocacy organization representing the cell and gene therapy and broader regenerative medicine sector, today released a Therapeutic Developers’ Statement of Principles, setting forth a bioethical framework for the use of gene editing in therapeutic applications. The statement, developed by ARM’s Gene Editing Task Force and signed by
NIH Director is sharing a cool video that reveals how Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative is opening up potential plans to help people with disabilities, such as vision loss, that were once unimaginable. Source NIH Director This video, produced by Jordi Chanovas and narrated by Stephen Macknik, State University of New York Downstate Health Sciences
