December 2015

Children with allergic disease, particularly asthma and hay fever, have twice the rate of high blood pressure and high cholesterol, setting them on course for heart disease at early age, finds a new study.

Five in six women with increased risk of breast cancer turn down drugs that are likely to prevent the disease, finds cancer research scientists in Britain.

Researchers at the University of Warwick have worked with Coventry-based Medherant, a Warwick spinout company, to produce and patent the World’s first ever ibuprofen patch delivering the drug directly through skin to exactly where it is needed at a consistent dose rate.

Pfizer  announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved QuilliChew ER chewable tablets. Pfizer now offers two different products for the treatment of ADHD in patients ages 6 years old and above – liquid Quillivant XR® (methylphenidate HCl) CII and new QuilliChew ER chewable tablets.

Unichem Laboratories has received final approval from the US health regulator to market generic Irbesartan tablets, used in treating hypertension, in the American market.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited announced results from the TOURMALINE-MM1 trial presented at the 57th Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), showing that treatment with NINLARO® (ixazomib) capsules is effective in extending progression free survival (PFS) with a manageable tolerability profile in patients with relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma. The TOURMALINE-MM1 trial is an international, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 3 clinical trial designed to evaluate once-weekly oral ixazomib plus lenalidomide and dexamethasone compared to placebo plus lenalidomide and dexamethasone.

AstraZeneca announced plans to test a digital support service for women undergoing treatment for recurrent platinum-sensitive high-grade ovarian cancer in clinical trials of cediranib plus olaparib. Voluntis has developed the service in close clinical collaboration with AstraZeneca and the US National Cancer Institute (NCI). It is delivered through a smartphone app paired with a web portal to help clinicians and patients manage side effects of hypertension and diarrhoea sometimes associated with combination therapy with cediranib and olaparib. Such side effects are traditionally described to care teams through manual, time-consuming and non-digitised channels.