Pharma News

Novartis today announced new two-year results demonstrating sustained efficacy with Cosentyx™ (secukinumab) with an acceptable safety profile for the treatment of psoriasis patients. The data comes from the extension study of the pivotal Phase III FIXTURE and ERASURE trials. Results were presented for the first time in a late-breaking session at the 73rd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) in San Francisco. Cosentyx is the first and only interleukin-17A (IL-17A) antagonist approved to treat adult moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis patients.

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Scientists have discovered the hiding place of HIV in cells, an advance that may lead to new therapies to combat the deadly virus. Researchers at the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in Italy have photographed the structure of nucleic lymphocytes with a high-resolution microscopy technique to discover the "hiding place" of HIV.

Scientists have identified the first-ever evidence of a human population uniquely adapted to tolerate the toxic chemical arsenic in the Andes Mountains of Argentina. A Swedish research team led by Karolinska Institutet and Uppsala University professor Karin Broberg, performed a genome wide survey from a group of 124 Andean women screened for the ability to metabolise arsenic (measured by levels in the urine).

Scientists have for the first time found that an abnormal protein whose accumulation in the brain is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease starts building up inside neurons of people as young as 20. It has long been known that amyloid accumulates and forms clumps of plaque outside neurons in ageing adults and in Alzheimer's but this is the first time amyloid accumulation has been shown in such young human brains, researchers said.

Two of the four known groups of human AIDS viruses originated in western lowland gorillas in Cameroon, according to a new study. An international team of scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Montpellier, the University of Edinburgh, and colleagues conducted a comprehensive survey of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection in African gorillas.

Emergent BioSolutions under several agreements signed with the Oxford university, GSK and the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) respectively, it has manufactured a modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) Ebola Zaire vaccine candidate (MVA EBOZ) anticipated for use in a Phase 1 clinical study to be conducted by Professor Adrian Hill of the Jenner Institute.

Scientists have successfully developed healthy cartilage from embryonic stem cells, a breakthrough that could help treat arthritis patients.

US researchers have successfully used a dog to sniff out thyroid cancer in people who had not yet been diagnosed. The trained scent dog accurately identified whether patients' urine samples had thyroid cancer or were benign (noncancerous) 88.2 per cent of the time, researchers said.

To commercialise Ayurvedic medicines, National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) signed a pact with Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS). The scope of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) also includes providing Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) services to CCRAS in India and abroad.