Analysts weigh in on speculation of further slimming by Pfizer

Analysts weigh in on speculation of further slimming by Pfizer

As economists puzzle over the future direction of global markets, there is a growing consensus among pharmaceutical industry analysts that slimming down will reap profits for Pfizer. Last week the company saw its stock price increase after an analyst at Goldman Sachs wrote that Pfizer’s chief executive, Ian Read, had signaled in a meeting she attended that he may go beyond the divestitures the company has already announced. Pfizer is already in the midst of spinning off its nutritional and animal health businesses, and last week’s news raised speculations from analysts that other divisions may also be destined for the chopping block in the near future.  Read more

FDA needs to export know-how to import safer drugs, reports says

FDA needs to export know-how to import safer drugs, reports says

The US Food and Drug Administration must share more safety inspection and training responsibilities with regulators in other developed countries, says a new report published today by the independent, non-governmental US Institute of Medicine (IOM) in Washington, DC. The report calls on the FDA, for example, to collaborate with its European counterparts on the gathering of inspection information related to manufacturing facilities overseas. Among the other 13 recommendations in the report, it also advises that the FDA partner with agencies abroad to help train regulators in nations such as India and China, where drugs are increasingly manufactured for the international market. “If you look at the magnitude of drugs, the number of manufacturers and the complexity of the supply chains, there’s just no way one agency can do it alone,” says Jim Riviere, a pharmacologist at North Carolina State University in Raleigh and the report’s lead author.  Read more

Autism reaches record high levels in the US

Autism reaches record high levels in the US

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today reported that the number of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has risen to an estimated 1 in 88 (1.1%), up from 1 in 110 (0.9%) according to agency estimates released just two years. The prevalence figure is the highest since the CDC began its biennial nationwide survey of children ten years ago.  Read more

Greater oversight needed for genomic tests, experts say

Greater oversight needed for genomic tests, experts say

With an eye to advancing ‘personalized medicine’, clinicians have tried to predict who will respond to certain therapies using biomarkers gleaned from tests that probe genomics, proteomics and other branches of biomedicine. But according to a report from the US Institute of Medicine (IOM), such ‘omics-based’ tests require greater regulatory oversight and more transparent data-sharing before they should be allowed to move from the lab to the clinic.  Read more

Top Canadian biomedical prize goes to antibody pioneer

Top Canadian biomedical prize goes to antibody pioneer

The immunologist who revealed the structure and function of the crucial Fc region of antibodies was one of the researchers recognized today by the Toronto-based Gairdner Foundation for his contributions to biomedicine. Jeffrey Ravetch (pictured), along with six leading scientists in the fields of genetics, neurobiology and infectious diseases, has received one of the prestigious Gairdner awards, which have been called the ‘Canadian Nobels’. The awards come with a hefty C$100,000 ($101,000) cash prize for each winner.  Read more

VIDEO: ‘Resting state’ brain scans give diagnosis by default

Brain scans that map differences in how brain regions communicate while people lie idle in the imaging machine are providing a possible new way to diagnose attention disorders. Michael Milham of the Child Mind Institute in New York talks about the work being done on so-called ‘resting state’ brain scans and explains how they are expanding the field of functional MRI.  Read more

Fluke’s testimony highlights broad uses of birth control, but pain applications go beyond ovarian cysts

Fluke’s testimony highlights broad uses of birth control, but pain applications go beyond ovarian cysts

The Affordable Care Act contraceptive coverage currently being debated in the US Congress could allow institutions that provide health insurance to opt-out of covering birth control pills for religious or moral reasons. Such policies have, in the past, raised difficulties for women prescribed the drugs for noncontraceptive uses, such as the treatment of pain from ovarian cysts. On 23 February, a law student at Georgetown University named Sandra Fluke testified before the US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that when insurance coverage doesn’t cover contraceptives, it can deny women such a friend of Fluke’s with polycystic ovarian syndrome access to birth control prescribed to treat the condition.  Read more

Even without antibodies, B cells can thwart viruses

Even without antibodies, B cells can thwart viruses

Evidence is emerging that B cells, once thought to fight infection solely by producing antibodies, might also prevent disease without them. In the traditional view, antibodies specific to a bacterium or virus are produced by B cells and maintained against future infection by certain classes of T cells as part of the slow-but-smart ‘adaptive’ immune response. However, it seems that B cells also play an important role in the short-term immediate immune response to pathogens.  Read more