For the Treatment of Moderate to Severe Alzheimer’s Disease, a Combination Treatment That Delays Nursing Home Admission Would Earn Higher Patient Share in the U.S. Than Europe

WALTHAM, Mass., Feb. 17, /PRNewswire/ -- Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that, for the treatment of moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease, a combination therapy that delays nursing home admission at 19...

Compound could become important new antidepressant

Chemists at Oregon State University have discovered and synthesized a new compound that in laboratory and animal tests appears to be similar to, but may have advantages over one of the most important antidepressant medications in the...

Blocking CRF may prevent excessive alcohol consumption

A team of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute has found that a specific stresshormone, the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), is key to the development and maintenance of alcohol dependence in animal models. Chemically blocking the stress factor also blocked the signs and symptoms of addiction, suggesting a potentially promising area for future drug...

Positive results from Supernus Pharmaceuticals’ SPN 810 Phase IIa trial for ADHD

Supernus Pharmaceuticals Inc., today announced that its Phase IIa U.S. clinical trial for SPN 810 in children with ADHD and persistent serious conduct problems met the primary endpoints of safety and tolerability, as well as showed statistically significant reduction versus baseline in conduct problems across all doses. The trial was initiated in 2009 and was a proof-of-concept, open-label study in children 6 to 12 years of age, assigned to one of four doses over a six-week treatment period,...

Brain protein critical to movement, memory, and learning deciphered at the Advanced Light Source

(PhysOrg.com) -- The structure of a protein that is sending electrical pulses between neurons in your brain as you read this article has been fully mapped for the first time using Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Advanced Light Source. This much-anticipated milestone could lead to new treatments for neurological diseases and a better understanding of how the nervous system controls movement, memory, and...

Organization of the brain’s dictionary

Two hundred years ago, archaeologists used the Rosetta Stone to understand the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Now, a team of Carnegie Mellon University scientists has discovered the beginnings of a neural Rosetta Stone. By combining brain imaging and machine learning techniques, neuroscientists Marcel Just and Vladimir Cherkassky and computer scientists Tom Mitchell and Sandesh Aryal determined how the brain arranges noun representations. Understanding how the brain codes nouns is important...

Researchers identify proteins that might contribute to memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease

A scientific group led by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) have identified three kinases, or proteins, that dismantle connections within brain cells, which may lead to memory loss associated with Alzheimer's...

Epilepsy Pipeline Update 2010 Showcasing New and Promising Epilepsy Therapies to Be Held in San Francisco

February 25-26 Forum to Bring Together Innovators, Clinicians and Investors MIDDLEBURG, Va., Jan. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Epilepsy Therapy Project (ETP), a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing new therapies for people living with epilepsy, announces the Epilepsy Pipeline Update...

Small Signs of Memory Loss Can Lead to Big Problems

NEW YORK, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- If you are over 65 and feel like you might have an issue with your memory it is more important than ever to have an open dialogue with your doctor. A new study published in the January 11, 2010 issue of the journal Alzheimer's and Dementia, finds that...

Targacept gets $200M payment from AstraZeneca

Targacept has received a hefty $200 million milestone payment from AstraZeneca. The money is part of a deal signed in December that could be worth up to $1.2 billion. Targacept is developing TC-5214, a drug for major depressive disorder (MDD), which is headed into Phase III trials this year. The milestone payment was triggered by the early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. Targacept and AstraZeneca hope to file an NDA for TC-5214 as a...