Parkinson’s drugs can triple the odds that people develop impulse control problems such as gambling, binge eating, shopping sprees and compulsive sexual behaviors, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

The study of more than 3,000 people with Parkinson’s disease confirms that so-called dopamine agonists, such as GlaxoSmithKline’s Requip or ropinirole or Boehringer Ingelheim’s Mirapex or pramipexole, can cause impulse control problems.

And it may mean doctors who prescribe the drugs for other conditions like restless legs syndrome should watch for these symptoms in patients, they said.

“For some time now we’ve suspected there might be an association between exposure to dopamine agonists and the development of impulse control problems in patients,” said Dr. Daniel Weintraub of the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, whose study appears in the Archives of Neurology.

Dopamine agonists work by helping the brain make more dopamine, the message-carrying chemical made by brain cells destroyed by Parkinson’s. Patients with the incurable disease have difficulties with movement, muscle control and balance and can eventually become paralyzed and die.

Weintraub’s team studied 3,090 Parkinson’s patients. Nearly all were taking either a dopamine agonist or a levodopa dopamine replacement drug such as Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Sinemet.

They found impulse control disorders in 13.6 percent of patients taking a dopamine agonist, including compulsive gambling in 5 percent of patients, compulsive sexual behavior in 3.5 percent of patients, compulsive buying in 5.7 percent and binge-eating in 4.3 percent.

And 4 percent of patients had two or more of these disorders, the team found.

“It confirms that dopamine agonist treatment is associated with one or more impulse control disorders in patients with Parkinson’s disease,” he said.

Weintraub said there was also an association with the impulsive behaviors in patients taking levodopa, but it was much weaker.

Weintraub said more study is needed to see whether impulse control problems occur at the same rates in people who take dopamine agonists for restless legs syndrome because the drugs are often given at lower doses.

Source: Reuters

Popularity: 5% [?]

Companies will contribute promising projects into a joint portfolio that they will co-develop.

The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) and AstraZeneca will collaborate on the discovery and development of drugs against tuberculosis (TB) including drug-resistant strains of the disease. Under the agreement, the companies will both contribute promising TB drug-discovery projects into a joint portfolio that will be co-developed by the parties.

The initial set of projects contributed by the TB Alliance results from its ongoing collaboration with several researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University, and New York Medical College. AstraZeneca’s projects come from its TB research center in Bangalore, India. The joint portfolio will be staffed by a core group of scientists based at AstraZeneca’s TB research center in Bangalore with expertise and funding provided by both organizations.

Promising compounds identified in this collaboration will also be tested in combination with other therapies as part of the Critical Path to TB Drug Regimens, a cross-sector initiative intended to speed TB drug regimens to patients who need them.

“AstraZeneca is building a leading franchise in the treatment of infectious diseases, both through our own in-house research as well as through collaborations,” says Les Hughes, AstraZeneca’s vp of infection discovery. “This collaboration is part of the global partnership that will be needed to conquer the TB epidemic.

Source: GEN

Popularity: 2% [?]

A brain implant made partly of silk can melt onto the surface of the brain, providing an “intimate” connection for recording signals, researchers reported on Sunday.

Tests of their device showed the thin, flexible electrodes recorded signals from a cat’s brain more accurately than thicker, stiff devices.

Such devices might help people with epilepsy, spinal cord injuries and even help operate artificial arms and legs, the researchers report in the journal Nature Materials.

John Rogers of the University of Illinois, Urbana and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania and Tufts University in Boston made the electrode arrays using protein from silk and thin metal electrodes.

The silk is biocompatible and water-soluble, dissolving into the brain and leaving the electrodes draped over its contours, the researchers reported.

They tested them on cats who were anesthetized but whose eyes were functioning. The electrodes recorded the signals from the eyes of the cats as they were shown visual images.

“These implants have the potential to maximize the contact between electrodes and brain tissue, while minimizing damage to the brain,” said Dr. Walter Koroshetz of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health, which helped pay for the study.

“They could provide a platform for a range of devices with applications in epilepsy, spinal cord injuries and other neurological disorders.”

For instance, such a sensitive electrode could detect a seizure as it starts and deliver pulses to counter it. Brain signals might be routed to prosthetics for people with spinal cord and other injuries.

Silk is also transparent, strong and flexible, and it is possible to control the rate at which it dissolves.

Source: Reuters

Popularity: 5% [?]

Yet another study is calling the efficacy of antidepressants into question. New research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that only patients with severe depression truly benefit from the drugs. Those suffering from mild to moderate depression get little or no help from those drugs, and that help may simply be due to seeing a doctor, learning about depression, and other circumstances, the researchers conclude.

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What about all those studies that show antidepressants work better than placebo? You know, the studies that helped these drugs get approved? Well, the researchers told the Los Angeles Times that many studies only include patients with severe depression. “[T]here is a tendency to generalize the findings to mean that all depressed people benefit from medications,” lead author Robert J. DeRubeis of the University of Pennsylvania said.

The researchers looked at six randomized, controlled studies with a total of 718 patients, who were adults with levels of depression ranging from mild to very severe according to a common depression-rating scale. Scores on that scale at the beginning of the study and at the end were compared. Very severely depressed patients who took antidepressants had a significantly larger improvement in their scores than did very severely depressed patients who took placebo. But mildly to moderately depressed patients using placebo saw about the same improvement as those who took the drugs.

Other studies have come to similar conclusions. But as the Wall Street Journal Health Blog points out, this doesn’t necessarily mean that antidepressant drugs don’t work in mildly depressed folks. It may just mean that placebo works against mild depression, too.

Source: FiercePharma

Popularity: 6% [?]

President Barack Obama has created a new Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues and appointed Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania, to serve as chair and James W. Wagner, president of Emory University, to serve as vice chair. The committee will ultimately be composed of 13 members, it is unclear when the other 11 will be named.

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This new commission will replace the council that advised the Bush administration, which President Obama disbanded earlier this year.

The President’s Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues will advise the President on bioethical issues that may emerge from advances in biomedicine and related areas of science and technology.  The Commission will work with the goal of identifying and promoting policies and practices that ensure scientific research, healthcare delivery, and technological innovation are conducted in an ethically responsible manner.

Dr. Amy Gutmann, in addition to being president of UPenn, is also the Christopher H. Browne distinguished professor of political science in the school of arts and sciences and holds secondary appointments in communications, education, and philosophy. She was previously provost at Princeton University, where she was the founding director of the University Center for Human Values—a multidisciplinary center that fosters greater research and discourse on ethics and human values.

At Emory, Dr. Wagner has championed the role of ethics in the mission of the university by enhancing the prominence of Emory’s university-wide Center for Ethics and including ethical engagement as one of the six pillars of the University’s strategic vision.

Source: GEN News

Popularity: 2% [?]

Antidepressants get to work immediately to lift mood, contrary to current belief, UK researchers say.

Although patients may not notice the effects until months into the therapy, the team say they work subconsciously.

The action is rapid, beginning within hours of taking the drugs, and changes negative thoughts, according to the Oxford University researchers.

These subtle, positive cues may add up over time to lift the depression, the American Journal of Psychiatry reports.

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It may also explain why talking therapies designed to break negative thought cycles can also help.

Psychiatrist Dr Catherine Harmer and her team at Oxford University closely studied the reactions of 33 depressed patients and 31 healthy controls given either an antidepressant or a dummy drug.

The depressed patients who took the active drug showed positive improvements in three specific measures within three hours of taking them.

These patients were more likely to think about themselves in a positive light, rather than dwelling on their bad points, the researchers said.

They were also more likely to see the positive in others.

For example, if they saw a grumpy person they no longer internalised this to think that they must have done something wrong to upset the person.

New drugs

This was despite feeling no improvement in mood or anxiety.

Dr Harmer said: “We found the antidepressants target the negative thoughts before the patient is aware of any change in feeling subjectively.

“Over time, this will affect our mood and how we feel because we are receiving more positive information.”

She said the findings could help scientists looking for new drugs to treat depression.

Dr Michael Thase, a psychiatrist from the University of Pennsylvania, said the findings challenged conventional wisdoms and were potentially “paradigm-changing”.

But he said much more research was needed.

“The highest research priority is to confirm that the rapid effects observed in this study are predictive of eventual clinical benefit.”

He said it was possible that switching off the negative thoughts was a crucial part of the therapy.

Alternatively, it might merely be a sign that the drug was beginning to work at the cell level in the brain.

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Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind, said: “This research may contribute to our understanding of how our bodies respond to antidepressants, but the changes recorded can’t always be felt by patients and it can be some weeks before they begin to feel the symptoms of depression easing.

“We must also remember that the side-effects of medication can often be felt straight away long before the benefits really kick in, and this will always affect people’s experiences in the initial stages of treatment.”

Source: BBC NEWS

Popularity: 3% [?]

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) and Schering-Plough Corporation (NYSE: SGP) announced that the following three representatives from the current Schering-Plough board of directors are expected to remain on the Board of the newly combined company upon completion of the merger: C. Robert Kidder, Patricia F. Russo, and Craig B. Thompson, M.D.

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C. Robert Kidder, 64, has served as chairman and chief executive officer of 3Stone Advisors LLC, a private investment firm, since August 2006. Previously, he was a principal of investment firm Stonehenge Partners, Inc. from April 2004 to July 2006. He is chairman of Chrysler Group LLC and the lead director of Morgan Stanley. Kidder has been a Schering-Plough director since 2005.

Patricia F. Russo, 57, served as chief executive officer of Alcatel-Lucent from 2006 to 2008. Prior to that, she served as chief executive officer of Lucent Technologies Inc. until its merger with Alcatel in 2006. She is a director for Alcoa Inc. and General Motors. Russo has been a Schering-Plough director since 1995 and lead director since Jan. 1, 2009.

Craig B. Thompson, M.D., 56, has served as the director of the Abramson Cancer Center since 2006. Prior to that, he was the founding scientific director of the Abramson Institute, chair of the Department of Cancer Biology, and professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Thompson has been a Schering-Plough director since 2008.

Merck and Schering-Plough continue to expect the merger to close in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Source: Pharmafeed

Popularity: 3% [?]

Healthy people should be able to take the anti-hyperactivity drug Ritalin to boost brain power, a UK ethicist says.

Bioethics expert Professor John Harris, of the University of Manchester, said if the drug was safe for children, adults should also be able to take it.

Writing on the British Medical Journal website, he said many students were already using the drug – which is illegal without prescription in the UK.

A US expert said there were too many risks for it to be more widely used.

Ritalin, also known as methylphenidate, is given to children with ADHD – attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Many doctors say it can help children control their behaviour and perform better at home and school.

If not prescribed, Ritalin is a class B drug in the UK, meaning possession can lead to a five-year prison sentence and dealing could put you behind bars for 14 years.

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But there is increasing evidence that healthy adults, especially students, are using it to enhance their mental ability.

‘Synthetic sunshine’

Professor Harris said Ritalin’s benefits included enhanced study skills and concentration.

He said it was “unethical” to stop healthy people from taking the drug and that there was evidence it was safe to use.

And he added: “Safe always means safe enough and since no drugs are free of side effects, that always means the consumer has judged the risks of adverse effects worth taking, given the probable benefits.”

Professor Harris said that if it was safe for children to use Ritalin over a long period of time for a condition that was not usually life-threatening, there was no reason to prevent healthy adults using it too.

He said it was “not rational” to be against human enhancement and likened using drugs to enhance brain power to the use of “synthetic sunlight” – firelight, lamplight and electric light.

“Before synthetic sunshine people slept when it was dark and worked in the light of day.

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“With the advent of synthetic sunshine, work and social life could continue into and through the night, creating competitive pressures and incentives for those able or willing to use it to their advantage.”

Pressure

But Professor Anjan Chatterjee, of the University of Pennsylvania, said there were too many risks in taking Ritalin unless a person was actually ill.

He said the US Food and Drug Administration had labelled it with a “black box” – the most alarming of possible warnings – because of its high potential for abuse, dependence, risk of sudden death and serious adverse effects on the heart.

Professor Chatterjee questioned whether children at top schools would take Ritalin in “epidemic proportions” and if people such as pilots, police officers and on-call doctors would be pressurised into taking the drug to perform better.

Again writing in the BMJ, he said: “Endorsing the legal non-therapeutic use of methyphenidate or other cognitive enhancers now is premature.

“The efficacy and risks of enhancers in healthy people needs to be researched adequately and this information needs to be disseminated broadly.

“Until such preparations are made, it is not acceptable to recommend that healthy people take drugs to enhance performance.”

Source: BBC NEWS

Popularity: 4% [?]

A common anti-diabetes drug may boost the potency of vaccines against cancer, research suggests.

Tests on mice found metformin, used for Type 2 diabetes, helps the body’s T-cells work more effectively.

These cells, the body’s key defenders against disease, “remember” former infections or vaccinations, enabling them to fight subsequent illness.

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Writing in the journal Nature, a US team said metformin appeared to improve this important memory of disease.

This ability to remember disease has been the subject of much research, but there has been little understanding of the cellular mechanisms behind it.

The team from McGill University and the University of Pennsylvania used an experimental cancer vaccine and found that when administered in mice, the diabetes drug appeared to improve the strength of the inoculation.

Diseases ‘linked’

Several studies in recent years have shown that people with diabetes may be more likely to develop certain cancers, although the exact nature of the relationship is unclear. Type 2 diabetes is associated with extra weight for instance, as are certain types of cancer.

But there also appear to be similarities between the basic chemical reactions which happen in the cells when affected by either of these diseases.

“Many genes involved in diabetes regulation also play a role in cancer progression,” said Dr Russell Jones of McGill’s Goodman Cancer Centre, one of the report’s author.

“There is also a significant body of data suggesting that diabetics are more prone to certain cancers. However, our study is the first to suggest that by targeting the same metabolic pathways that play a role in diabetes, you can alter how well your immune system functions.”

This is turn could help the body fight cancer more effectively with a vaccine.

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Cancer vaccines are still at an early stage, but ideally could help both stop the disease developing in the first place or treat it when it arises.

Dr Kat Arney, Cancer Research UK’s senior science information officer, said: “This is a fascinating piece of research, which sheds light on the complex links between the immune system, cell metabolism and cancer.

“At the moment, this research has only been done in mice and there is a long way to go before it can be applied to cancer patients, but it certainly holds promise for the future.”

Source: BBC NEWS

Popularity: 3% [?]

GlaxoSmithKline is scheduled to present data from a head-to-head study comparing its cervical cancer vaccine Cervarix to Merck & Co.’s Gardasil at a medical meeting on May 10, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, said the decision to release the findings 14 months after completion of the trial, and to present them at the International Papillomavirus Conference in Malmö, Sweden, “certainly has both [his] eyebrows up.”

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Caplan remarked that “half the world is waiting to see which vaccine is the better one” and he noted that there is “a huge ethical obligation to get information out quickly. I’m never a fan of releasing key findings on a highly contentious issue…at a relatively unknown meeting,” Caplan added. In response, GlaxoSmithKline spokesman Stephen Rea said the drugmaker chose the International Papillomavirus Conference because it is “internationally renowned and has a reputation for scientific rigour.”

The HPV-010 study of Cervarix and Gardasil, which ended in March 2008, was designed to measure which of the two products induced a greater immune system response seven months after vaccination in a group of over 1000 women. Mirabaud Securities analyst Nick Turner speculated that GlaxoSmithKline may have taken more time to analyse the research in order to determine whether women were protected against strains of human papillomavirus not contained in Cervarix.

Rea also indicated the drugmaker would present findings at the meeting from the HPV-008 study evaluating the efficacy of Cervarix in over 18 600 women, which the FDA will review before making a decision on approval for the vaccine later this year.

Source: FirstWord

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