Pharmapedia

Orchid Pharma, based in Chennai, India, has received approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for its novel invention, ‘Enmetazobactam’. This development comes in close succession to the recent recommendation for approval by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Enmetazobactam is the first completely invented-in-India Beta Lactamase Inhibitor.

Results from a Phase 2b clinical trial, published today in The Lancet by researchers led by King’s, provides hope for arthritis sufferers after it was shown that the biologic drug abatacept reduces progression to this agonising chronic inflammatory disease.

Vinay Kumar Singh.  
Head-Formulation
Kumar Organic Products Research Centre Pvt. Ltd.,
Bengaluru
Email : formulation_krc@kopresearchcentre.net

Vinay Kumar Singh.  
Head-Formulation
Kumar Organic Products Research Centre Pvt. Ltd.,
Bengaluru
Email : formulation_krc@kopresearchcentre.net

A new pharmacological inhibitor can intervene in a central cell death mechanism that is responsible for the death of motor neurons and hence important for the progression of the motor neuron disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). A research team led by Prof. Dr Hilmar Bading, neurobiologist at Heidelberg University, examined a neuroprotective molecule that belongs to a novel drug class. It is able to inhibit the interactions of certain proteins and has been successfully tested in a mouse model of ALS and in brain organoids of ALS patients.

Research throws light on the mystery of why women are much more prone to autoimmune disorders: A molecule made by one X chromosome in every female cell can generate antibodies to a woman’s own tissues.

In the new study, researchers modified DNA from a bacteriophage or “phage,” a type of virus that infects and replicates inside of bacteria. Then, the research team put the DNA inside Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), a deadly bacterium that is also highly resistant to antibiotics. Once inside the bacterium, the DNA bypassed the pathogen’s defense mechanisms to assemble into virions, which sliced through the bacterium’s cell to kill it.

Most patients with Type 2 diabetes will end up needing to add a second-line medication after metformin - the go-to primary drug for glucose management to control their blood sugar levels. But adherence to these second-line drugs can be hit or miss, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.

ABOUT AUTHOR
Dr. R. S. Thakur
Former Secretary, Pharmacy Council of India.
Email : drramsthakur@gmail.com