Rheumatoid Arthritis :: ORENCIA, abatacept demonstrate continued efficacy in adults with rheumatoid arthritis

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) today announced that two-year data from three Phase III pivotal trials demonstrate the long-term efficacy of ORENCIA? (abatacept) in adult patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who have had an inadequate response to one or more disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) such as methotrexate and TNF antagonists. The data also demonstrate that ORENCIA provided clinically meaningful improvements in multiple aspects of health-related quality of life and physical function, sustained improvements in pain and had a consistent safety and tolerability profile through two years of treatment. These data will be presented at the upcoming 2006 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Annual Scientific Meeting.

Lung Transplant :: Proteins may predict lung transplant rejection

Researchers have identified three proteins that appear to be highly predictive of chronic lung rejection up to 20 months before the rejection occurred. Lung transplants are a common therapy for many end-stage lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis and pulmonary hypertension. If doctors can predict which patients are beginning to reject the transplanted organ, they could try to head it off.

Health :: New Team Training Tool for Health Care Settings

The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Department of Defense’s military health system today released TeamSTEPPS, a new evidence-based team training and implementation toolkit that demonstrates techniques of effective communication and other teamwork skills. The new toolkit, which responds to the Institute of Medicine’s call for “interdisciplinary team training programs that incorporate proven methods for team management” to prevent medical errors, is designed to optimize team performance and outcomes across the health care delivery system.

Hepatitis :: PEG-INTRON, peginterferon and REBETOL, ribavirin in Hepatitis C — Schering-Plough

Schering-Plough reported data from EPIC3, a large ongoing clinical study, showing that retreatment with PEG-INTRON(R) (peginterferon alfa-2b) and REBETOL(R) (ribavirin, USP) combination therapy can result in sustained virologic response(1) (SVR) in patients with chronic hepatitis C who failed previous treatment with any alpha interferon-based combination therapy, including peginterferon regimens. In this study, 56 percent of patients who had undetectable virus (HCV-RNA) after 12 weeks went on to achieve SVR with a 48-week course of therapy. Of the first 1,354 patients retreated, approximately 38 percent had undetectable virus at week 12. Importantly, patients who did not have undetectable virus at 12 weeks had little chance of achieving SVR. Overall, 23 percent of patients achieved SVR.

ADHD :: Daytrana, methylphenidate transdermal system provides individualized ADHD symptom management

Shire plc (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPGY, TSX: SHQ) announced that its Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) patch, DAYTRANA tm (methylphenidate transdermal system), has significant efficacy in reducing the symptoms of ADHD in children aged 6 to 12 years, even when the ADHD patch is taken off earlier than the recommended nine hours. The ability to remove the patch earlier than the recommended nine-hour wear time allows physicians the opportunity to manage the potential for late-day side effects, such as lack of appetite or difficulty sleeping. These phase IIIb clinical trial results were reported today at a major scientific and educational meeting of child and adolescent psychiatrists in San Diego, Calif.

HIV :: Virco introduces an improved rapid methodology to establish new hiv-1 resistance profiles

Responding to the need to make timely evaluations and decisions when treating treatment experienced HIV patients, Virco (http://www.vircolab.com), a leader in drug resistance testing recently introduced an improved virco(R)TYPE HIV-1 test that rapidly determines the complex phenotypic resistance profiles for darunavir, tipranavir and other antiretroviral (ARV) drugs. Utilizing clinical trial data that was used to support the approval of darunavir and tipranavir, virco(R)TYPE HIV-1 reports now include Clinical Cut-Offs (CCOs) for these recently introduced agents(1). Virco(R)TYPE HIV-1 analyzes patient HIV-1 resistant genotypes using Virco’s large database to quickly and accurately predict phenotypic resistance. This timely determination of phenotypic resistance assists physicians in choosing a drug treatment plan that has the least amount of drug resistance.

Health :: Antibiotic Ceftobiprole shows promise against MRSA infections

Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development, L.L.C. today announced that ceftobiprole, a novel cephalosporin(1) antibiotic in Phase III clinical trials, was found to be active against complicated skin infections caused by common, potentially deadly bacteria, including MRSA. These data were from two poster presentations given at the 46th Annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC). These data also were highlighted by ICAAC. Ceftobiprole is being co-developed with Basilea Pharmaceutica, Ltd. through an exclusive worldwide collaboration.