Monthly Archives: May 2012

April was Autism Awareness Month, but lately autism awareness seems to be a 24/7 and 365-days-a-year proposition. Researchers continue to look for a root cause, but the prevalence of autism is on the rise. In late March, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a study saying that one in 88 children is diagnosed with having autism symptoms by age 8; that's up from one in 110 just six years ago. The numbers are even more alarming for boys -- one in 54. But perhaps more troubling to parents who already have a child diagnosed is the pending revision of the autism definition as it appears in the upcoming fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Publication of the new edition in May 2013 revises diagnostic criteria for psychiatric diagnoses. Members of the American Psychiatric Association are charged with refining the definition. The changes have been criticized by many parents and advocacy groups. Opinions from health professionals have spanned a wide spectrum. "It seems to be controversial," says Dr. Laura Murphy, chief of psychology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center's Boling Center for Developmental Disabilities. "There are a couple of schools of … Continue reading →

DANVERS, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- NeuroLogica Corporation and German based MEYTEC GmbH announced today the development of the worlds first comprehensive mobile stroke ambulance. Stroke-Emergency-Mobile, VIMED STEMO, combines MEYTECs cutting-edge telemedicine solutions with NeuroLogicas state of the art portable CT scanner, CereTomTM. First conceived by the Charite-University Medicine Berlin, with the support of MEYTEC GmbH, VIMED STEMO is currently embedded in the emergency service system of Berlin. VIMED STEMO integrates a fully-functioning pre-clinical stroke care suite, comparable to most specialized stroke hospitals, with the added benefit of NeuroLogicas portable CereTomTM CT scanner. The pairing allows the on-board stroke physician to quickly evaluate, diagnose and treat the patient within the first hour of onset. Utilizing 3G, 4G, and satellite connectivity, VIMED STEMO will transmit fully-encrypted laboratory results, high-quality imaging and additional instruction to emergency rooms or trauma centers, greatly reducing time to treatment and possible mitigation of patient disability resulting from stroke. With the technological solution realized in STEMO, we have got a fascinating mobile facility that has already proven its technological stability and clinical usefulness in hundreds of cases, according to Prof. Heinrich Audebert of Charite-University Medicine and head of the Stroke-Emergency-Mobile consortium. Hyper-acute stroke care, including thrombolytic treatement before arrival at … Continue reading →

EXTON, Pennsylvania, May 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- ViroPharma Incorporated today announced that three posters relating to long term data on Plenadren (hydrocortisone, modified release tablet) were presented at the 2012 joint 15th International Congress of Endocrinology and 14th European Congress of Endocrinology (ICE/ECE), held May 5 through 9, in Florence, Italy. Plenadren is the first true innovation in over 50 years in the treatment of adrenal insufficiency (AI), a rare and potentially life-threatening disease caused by insufficient cortisol production by the adrenal glands. In November 2011, the European Commission (EC) granted European Marketing Authorization for Plenadren (hydrocortisone, modified release tablet), an orphan drug for treatment of adrenal insufficiency in adults. ViroPharma anticipates commercial launch of Plenadren in the EU in the fourth quarter of 2012. Plenadren is not approved in the United States. However, it has received orphan drug designation status in the United States and has maintained orphan status in Europe upon approval. ICE/ECE Poster Presentations A poster entitled An Open, Multi-Centre, Phase IIIb, Long-Term Follow-up Study to Assess the Safety, Tolerability and Efficacy of Once-Daily Oral Dual-Release Hydrocortisone in Patients with Adrenal Insufficiency (#P78) described data from a long-term follow-up study in 71 patients with AI showing that … Continue reading →

NEW YORK, May 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Intellect Neurosciences, Inc. (ILNS.PK), a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of disease-modifying therapeutic agents for the treatment of Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases, today announced two new programs in its Alzheimer's disease development pipeline.The new programs are based on two antibodies that target early neurotoxic forms of tau protein, which Intellect intends to develop for therapeutic and diagnostic uses. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111214/NY22484LOGO) Through an exclusive license obtained from Northwestern University, the company intends to develop and commercialize two proprietary antibodies, tauC3 and TOC-1, each of which targets certain abnormal forms of tau protein that are implicated in the nerve cell death that is characteristic to Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathies.The monoclonal antibodies were developed by Professor Lester Binder, Ph.D., the Abbott Laboratories, Duane and Susan Burnham Research Professor of Genetic and Molecular Medicine, at Northwestern University. "Obtaining these two antibodies is a logical next step in positioning ourselves as a leader in Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, as they add to our current approaches, which target tau proteins to develop new therapies for Alzheimer's disease. We intend to aggressively pursue the development of both antibodies, each of which has potential … Continue reading →