Chikungunya antibody set to enter clinical trial

A monoclonal antibody against the chikungunya virus developed by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center is the first monoclonal antibody encoded by messenger RNA to enter a clinical trial. Moderna Inc., a biotechnology firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that is focused on developing mRNA-based vaccines and therapeutics, announced the clinical trial earlier this month. The specific antibody against the mosquito-borne […]

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Clinical trial investigators violate EU regulations—entries in EU Register are incomplete

According to EU legislation, clinical trials must be prospectively registered in the European Union Clinical Trials Register (EUCTR) and the main results must be reported there one year after completion of the trial. The information is thus publicly available. But in fact, results are only reported for half of drug trials (49.5 percent). According to an analysis recently published in […]

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First practice guidelines for clinical evaluation of Alzheimer’s disease

Despite more than two decades of advances in diagnostic criteria and technology, symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) too often go unrecognized or are misattributed, causing delays in appropriate diagnoses and care that are both harmful and costly. Contributing to the variability and inefficiency is the lack of multidisciplinary ADRD evaluation guidelines to inform U.S clinicians in primary […]

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Experimental MERS treatments enter clinical trial

Enrollment has begun in an early-stage clinical trial testing the safety of two human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) designed to treat people infected with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). The trial is sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and is funded in part by the Biomedical Advanced Research […]

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Lupus treatment generates positive results in Phase III clinical trial

New research indicates that belimumab, a monoclonal antibody therapy that targets a component of the immune system, provides considerable benefits to patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a predominately female, chronic inflammatory disease that can affect virtually any organ. The Arthritis & Rheumatology findings are encouraging because lupus is among the leading causes of death in young women. SLE is […]

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First-in-human clinical trial of new targeted therapy drug reports promising responses for multiple

A phase I, first-in-human study led by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reveals for the first time, an investigational drug that is effective and safe for patients with cancers caused by an alteration in the receptor tyrosine kinase known as RET. The drug appears to be promising as a potential therapy for RET-driven cancers, such as medullary […]

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Fecal microbiota transplantation produces sustained improvements in cognitive and clinical outcomes

A single treatment using an optimized, targeted form of faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) produces sustained clinical and cognitive improvements, according to the results of a long-term follow-up of patients with liver cirrhosis and hepatic encephalopathy (HE) who had participated in a short-term study. The original, randomized, open label study, which enrolled 20 outpatient men with cirrhosis and recurrent HE receiving […]

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Clinical trial to find new treatment for visceral leishmaniasis begins in eastern Africa

A new study to find a safer, efficacious and more patient-friendly treatment and improved diagnostic tools for people living with visceral leishmaniasis (VL) has begun in eastern Africa, within the new Afri-KA-DIA Consortium with funding from The European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP). The large-scale Phase III clinical trial seeks to assess the efficacy and safety of a […]

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