Data from the largest clinical trial of myelofibrosis patients treated with ruxolitinib (Jakavi, Novartis) support its safety profile and efficacy benefit, as measured in primary and secondary end points, according to a study presented at the 56th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in San Francisco.
MP Diagnostics HTLV Blot 2.4 (MP Biomedicals) has been approved by FDA as the first FDA-licensed supplemental test for human T-cell lymphotropic virus-I/II (HTLV-I/II). It is a qualitative enzyme immunoassay test, which is to be used to confirm the presence of HTLV antibodies as well as to differentiate between HTLV-I and HTLV-II infection.
On the 1-year anniversary of the first G8 summit on dementia, new funding has been announced for a study to research the use of tadalafil (Adcirca, Cialis; Eli Lilly), an erectile dysfunction drug, for the treatment of vascular dementia.
Formulary managers should be alert to the use of opioid painkillers by special populations, such as people with epilepsy, according to findings during a poster session at the American Epilepsy Society annual meeting in Seattle.
Dr OvbiageleFor recent ischemic stroke patients, using an optimal combination of evidence-based secondary prevention medication classes, compared to not doing so, was associated with 61% lower odds of experiencing a recurrent stroke, according to a study published online in Neurology.
FDA approved a new use for ruxolitinib (Jakafi, Incyte) to treat patients with polycythemia vera (PV), a chronic type of bone marrow disease. Jakafi is the first drug approved by FDA for this condition.
Nilotinib (Tasigna) should be considered as a leading option for front-line therapy in the treatment of Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia (Ph+ CML), according to data presented at the 56th ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition in San Francisco.
Actavis Plc has announced that the Infective Drugs Advisory Committee, which makes recommendations to the FDA concerning the safety and effectiveness of drug products for use in the treatment of infectious diseases, has voted to recommend approval of its New Drug Application for ceftazidime-avibactam.
Patients taking statins may be at an increased risk for cataracts, according to a study published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.
In patients with opioid dependence, buprenorphine and naloxone (Zubsolv, Orexo) sublingual tablet (CIII) demonstrated comparable patient retention in treatment at days 3 and 15 versus generic buprenorphine and Suboxone film respectively, according to data presented at the 25th Annual Meeting and Symposium of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP) in Aventura, Fla.
FDA has approved blinatumomab (Blincyto, Amgen) immunotherapy for the treatment of relapsed or refractory Philadelphia chromosome-negative precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
This year, the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions were held in Chicago, Illinois, from November 15 to 19. Of all of the late-breaking clinical trials presented at AHA 2014, the IMPROVE-IT (IMProved Reduction of Outcomes: Vytorin Efficacy International Trial) study of Merck’s low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C)-reducing drugs-the statin, Zocor (simvastatin), and the fixed-dose combination, Vytorin (ezetimibe/simvastatin)-stole the show.
Investigational, oral proteasome inhibitor, ixazomib (MLN9708, Takeda) has FDA has granted breakthrough therapy status for the treatment of relapsed or refractory systemic light-chain (AL) amyloidosis. This is the first proteasome inhibitor and first investigational therapy for AL amyloidosis to receive breakthrough therapy designation.
While pharmaceutical manufacturer AbbVie’s new hepatitis C drug has not yet been approved by FDA, pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts has expressed interest in switching to the drug in its preferred drug formulary.
The costs of developing new prescription drugs have soared 145% since 2003, according to a new study from the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development.
The first experimental Ebola vaccine has been shown to be safe and prompt an immune response in results from a National Institutes of Health (NIH) phase 1 clinical trial. The vaccine produced immune system responses and was well tolerated in the whole study cohort of 20 healthy adults.
Following a priority review designation, FDA has approved rifapentine (Priftin, Sanofi) in combination with isoniazid (INH) for a new indication for the treatment of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in patients aged 2 years and older at high risk of progression to tuberculosis (TB) disease.
Once-daily rivaroxaban (Xartelto, Janssen) is associated with significantly fewer hospitalization days and outpatient visits compared to warfarin in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF), according to data presented at the American Heart Association (AHA) 2014 Scientific Sessions in Chicago.
In new guidelines, the World Health Organization (WHO) is recommending that countries significantly expand access to naloxone to help manage opioid overdoses.
Prolonged use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) may disrupt the makeup of bacteria in the digestive system, potentially raising the risk of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), according to a study published in Microbiome.
FDA is warning that a patient with multiple sclerosis (MS) who was being treated with Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate), developed progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a rare and serious brain infection, and later died. As a result, information describing this case of PML is being added to the Tecfidera drug label.
There’s no hiding that hospital pharmacies have long been considered cost centers for healthcare systems. That positioning has been accentuated over the past 5 years, as the healthcare industry has seen a steady increase in high-cost, brand-name specialty medications that range from hundreds to thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, of dollars per dose. Nearly every hospital, however, has untapped opportunities to substantially improve efficiencies and improve costs. One important factor is improving how these hospitals use generic medications.
Melanoma, an aggressive disease with a rapidly rising incidence rate, presents the oncology field with some of its greatest challenges and opportunities. Long considered one of the most difficult diseases to treat with pharmacotherapy, drug development within melanoma has lagged behind that of many other cancers, culminating in decades of limited progress. Developments in molecular biology, however, have led to an increased understanding of the molecular heterogeneity of melanoma in recent years, which has resulted in new insights into the roles of oncogenes, signaling pathways, immune checkpoints, and tumor-promoting events, accelerating the rate of discovery of therapeutic targets.
Adding tumor treating fields (TTFields) therapy to temozolomide significantly increases progression-free survival (PFS) for newly diagnosed glioblastoma patients versus giving temozolomide alone, according to data presented at 2014 Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO) Annual Meeting, in Miami.
