Month: February 2014

An experimental once-weekly medicine for type 2 diabetes developed by Eli Lilly and Co proved as effective in lowering blood sugar as Victoza from Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk in an eagerly anticipated late stage study. The Lilly drug, dulaglutide, achieved the primary goal of the 599-patient study by demonstrating so-called non-inferiority to the highest approved dose of Victoza after 26 weeks, according to initial results released by the company on Tuesday. Lilly shares rose more than 1 percent before retreating. Dulaglutide, considered one of the more important medicines in Lilly’s pipeline of drugs in development, is awaiting U.S. and European approval decisions.

Zaheer and Indira Ali say they were left alone in the delivery room.        

(Reuters) – InterMune Inc’s lead drug reduced the progression of a fatal lung disease in a late stage trial, inching closer to U.S. approval and almost tripling the company’s shares. The latest trial data brings the world’s biggest drugs market closer for InterMune’s pirfenidone, a medicine already in use in Europe, Canada and Asia. Pirfenidone was rejected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in May 2010, citing lack of data to prove its effectiveness in treating idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a potentially fatal lung disease. The health regulator asked InterMune to conduct a new trial to support the drug’s U.S. marketing clearance.

Sure, you may reach your weight loss goal, but when you go off the diet, … eat your favorite food once a week, pack a healthy lunch several days a …

A California study has resulted in a medical breakthrough for patients wait-listed for liver transplants. Researchers from the Gladstone Institutes and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) were able to overcome a past hurdle in regenerative medicine by creating cells that were fully mature, according to ScienceDaily. The scientists used a novel cellular reprogramming technique to transform skin cells into liver cells that were fully functioning even after they were transplanted to animals modified to have the characteristics of liver failure. Their findings suggested that the new liver cells were indistinguishable from cells in existing liver tissue.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said on Tuesday that he had recently consumed alcohol, but not excessively, as he tries to get clean after admitting last year that he smoked crack while drunk and drove after drinking. Ford publicly pledged last year to stay away from drugs and alcohol and said at the time he had stopped drinking completely.

(Reuters) – Bristol-Myers Squibb Co said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its drug to treat rare and potentially fatal disorders involving loss of body fat. The drug has been approved as a replacement therapy to treat complications caused by leptin hormone deficiency in patients with congenital or acquired generalized lipodystrophy. Generalized lipodystrophy patients experience a loss of fat tissue, especially under the skin, leading to low levels of leptin. The deficiency can lead to diabetes, pancreatitis and fatty liver disease.