Data-sharing breeds Alzheimer’s progress

A 2003 venture to bring together the NIH, FDA, industry, universities and nonprofits is paying dividends for Alzheimer's biomarker research. There have been advancements in using imaging for early disease detection, and about 100 clinical studies are in progress for Alzheimer's. The Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, as it is called, doesn't just raise money or conduct trials: one of the major goals when the group first set out in 2003 was to share information. All data on the...

Biomarkers promise to revolutionize Alzheimer’s research

A slate of new biomarkers developed to diagnose Alzheimer's at an early stage may revolutionize drug development work in the field. After years of study investigators have concluded that the dementia associated with the disease comes at the end of a lengthy process. But biomarkers that can be detected through brain scans, MRIs and spinal taps present a new opportunity to identify the disease early on, creating a big opening to slow or even stop disease progression before it blights a patient's...

Merck trumpets a global research initiative to speed cancer drugs

Merck (NYSE: MRK) has pieced together an international network of cancer research centers that will collaborate with the Big Pharma company on new and better ways to speed the development of cancer drugs and vaccines. In trumpeting the move, Merck cited a recent IOM study which concluded that half of all cancer trials were scuttled due to bureaucracy, bad procedures and poor coordination-hurdles that could be overcome through better coordination and collaboration. "By partnering at an...

Biomarkers key to better cancer trials

Joseph Nevins, director of the of the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy's Center for Applied Genomics & Technology, believes it's time to radically change the way that cancer drugs are developed if we expect to see a new generation of personalized therapies. Because of the complexity of cancer--breast cancer, he speculates, could be broken down into 15 different types of cancers - tissue samples should be collected from patients going through clinical trials so that more...

Biomarker breakthrough highlights potential of adaptive trials

Researchers reported a major breakthrough on their use of biomarkers in a study of several existing lung cancer therapies, and their fresh insights into adaptive clinical trials are likely to have a major impact on the way new cancer drugs are studied. The Battle cancer study was mounted by the renowned M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Tumor biopsies from the 255 patients enrolled in the study were examined and the patients were randomly assigned one of four cancer therapies. Eight weeks after...