Clemson bioengineer Frank Alexis is designing new ways to target drugs and reduce the chances for side effects.
Pharmaceutical commercials can cause the unsettling feeling that if the disease doesn't kill, the cure will, what with a drug's long list of side effects and warnings. Many therapeutic drugs administered by pill, cream, syringe, IV or liquid can be a hit or miss delivery system. Researchers report that only 1 of 100,000 molecules of an intravenous drug make it to the intended spot in the body.
"The big issues for making medicines more effective are getting drugs to where they are needed and keeping them from breaking down as they circulate through the body," said Alexis. "A way to improve targeting a drug and preventing it from being passed out of the body is putting it in envelopes — putting the drug inside something to protect it until it's at the right spot."
The envelopes Alexis uses are nanoparticles. Think of an M&M, with the nanoparticle being the hard outer candy shell and the chocolate being the medicine. The goal would be the same as for an M&M — to melt in the right place.
Nanotechnology operates on the molecular level. It involves engineering materials on such a small scale that the results can be seen only with electron and atomic force microscopes. Nano-engineers take advantage of natural forces — positive and negative electrical charges, attraction and repulsion, surface texture — to have materials self assemble.
READ MORE @ CLEMSON UNIVERSITY NEWSROOM
Showing posts with label acute adverse drug effects. Show all posts
Showing posts with label acute adverse drug effects. Show all posts
Monday, October 12, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
New Antipsychotic Eases Schizophrenia Symptoms
The novel antipsychotic lurasidone appears to improve acute schizophrenia symptoms without the weight gain or metabolic problems common among second generation agents, according to a preliminary report from the drug's second pivotal trial.
Patients treated with the 40 and 120 mg doses of the drug had reductions of 25.7 and 23.6 points on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total score, significantly greater than the 16.0 decline among placebo treated patients, according to data released by drug developer Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma.
In the phase III PEARL 2 (Program to Evaluate the Antipsychotic Response to Lurasidone) trial, 53% of patients on the lower dose and 47% on the higher dose had at least a 30% improvement on symptom score from baseline whereas only 38% on placebo did.
The company press release also announced that lurasidone met key secondary efficacy endpoints at both doses in the trial, including change from baseline on the Clinical Global Impressions Severity scale (-1.5 and -1.4 versus -1.1, respectively).
The results are expected to be reported in greater detail at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology meeting later this year.
aread more @ medpage today
Patients treated with the 40 and 120 mg doses of the drug had reductions of 25.7 and 23.6 points on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total score, significantly greater than the 16.0 decline among placebo treated patients, according to data released by drug developer Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma.
In the phase III PEARL 2 (Program to Evaluate the Antipsychotic Response to Lurasidone) trial, 53% of patients on the lower dose and 47% on the higher dose had at least a 30% improvement on symptom score from baseline whereas only 38% on placebo did.
The company press release also announced that lurasidone met key secondary efficacy endpoints at both doses in the trial, including change from baseline on the Clinical Global Impressions Severity scale (-1.5 and -1.4 versus -1.1, respectively).
The results are expected to be reported in greater detail at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology meeting later this year.
aread more @ medpage today
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Cardiac Risk Same With Typical and Atypical Antipsychotics
Second-generation (atypical) antipsychotic drugs may not have an advantage for cardiovascular risk over typical antipsychotics, according to a recent, large retrospective cohort study. Researchers at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Tennessee found that risk of sudden cardiac death is heightened with antipsychotics, whether typical or atypical, and the risk increases significantly with increasing doses.
In a recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, lead investigator Wayne Ray, PhD, and colleagues,1 report that while a favorable extrapyramidal adverse–effect profile has led many to consider atypical antipsychotics safer than typical antipsychotics for cardiac risk, “the atypical antipsychotic drugs are no safer than the older drugs.”
The study was designed to detect an increased incidence of sudden cardiac death in patients treated with antipsychotics. The researchers identified new users of the study drugs and established the temporal relationship between patient characteristics before treatment and outcomes after treatment initiation. They analyzed data from 44,218 patients treated with a typical antipsychotic, 46,089 patients treated with an atypical antipsychotic, and 186,600 matched nonusers. The participants’ mean age was 45.7 years. The analysis controlled for an array of cardiovascular disease variables.
READ MORE @ PSYCHIATRIC TIMES
In a recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, lead investigator Wayne Ray, PhD, and colleagues,1 report that while a favorable extrapyramidal adverse–effect profile has led many to consider atypical antipsychotics safer than typical antipsychotics for cardiac risk, “the atypical antipsychotic drugs are no safer than the older drugs.”
The study was designed to detect an increased incidence of sudden cardiac death in patients treated with antipsychotics. The researchers identified new users of the study drugs and established the temporal relationship between patient characteristics before treatment and outcomes after treatment initiation. They analyzed data from 44,218 patients treated with a typical antipsychotic, 46,089 patients treated with an atypical antipsychotic, and 186,600 matched nonusers. The participants’ mean age was 45.7 years. The analysis controlled for an array of cardiovascular disease variables.
READ MORE @ PSYCHIATRIC TIMES
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