Idrugs最新文献

Informa Life Sciences' Fifth Annual Conference on Cell-Based Assays, held in Cologne, Germany, included topics covering new technical developments in the field of cell-based assays. This conference report highlights selected presentations on cell-based assays for compound screening and 3D cell-based assays.

The 46th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held in Chicago, included topics covering new therapeutic developments in the field of oncology. This conference report highlights selected presentations on novel therapies for cancers including glioblastoma, breast cancer, myeloma, NSCLC and solid tumors. Investigational drugs discussed include rindopepimut and PF-299804 (both Pfizer Inc), entinostat (Syndax Pharmaceuticals Inc), panobinostat and NVP-LDE-225 (both Novartis AG), CHR-3996 (Chroma Therapeutics Ltd), and HGS-1029 (Human Genome Sciences Inc).

The 57th Annual Meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine, held in Salt Lake City, UT, USA, included topics covering new developments in imaging agents and radiopharmaceutical therapies in the field of nuclear medicine. This conference report highlights selected presentations related to imaging of the brain, the prediction of heart disease, and the detection and treatment of various cancers. Investigational drugs discussed include TF-2 plus [68Ga]IMP-288 and TF-2 plus [111In]IMP-288 (both Immunomedics Inc), [11C]PBR-170 (Royal Prince Alfred Hospital/Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organization), [11C]LY-2795050 (Eli Lilly & Co), yttrium (90Y) clivatuzumab tetraxetan (Garden State Cancer Center/Immunomedics Inc), [18F]LMI-1195 (Lantheus Medical Imaging Inc), fluciclovine (18F) (GE Healthcare/Nihon Medi-Physics Co Ltd), [99mTc]MIP-1340 and [99mTc]MIP-1407 (both Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals Inc).

The Digestive Disease Week 2010 conference, held in New Orleans, included topics covering new therapeutic developments in the field of gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy and gastrointestinal surgery. This conference report highlights selected presentations on the apolipoprotein E-mimetic peptide COG-112 (Cognosci Inc) for the potential treatment of Citrobacter rodentium-induced colitis; the inhibition of sphingosine kinase with ABC-294640 (Apogee Biotechnology Corp) to alleviate stress after hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury; TLR4 targeting with NI-0101 (NovImmune SA) to prevent colitis-associated cancer; immunization against TNF with TNFalpha kinoid (Neovacs SA) for the treatment of patients with Crohn's disease; and preclinical studies with the anti-inflammatory agent minnelide (University of Minnesota) for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Recent years have seen an explosion of research into increasingly prevalent neurodegenerative diseases. Arimoclomol (BRX-220), being developed by CytRx Corp, is an oral therapeutic candidate for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the most common form of motor neuron disease. ALS is a fatal, incurable disorder, which can present as sporadic (90 to 95% of cases) or familial (5 to 10% of cases) forms. The etiology of sporadic ALS remains unknown and much of the understanding of ALS pathogenesis has been derived through study of its familial forms; in particular, through study of autosomal dominant mutations in the SOD1 (copper/zinc superoxide dismutase) gene, which cause approximately 20% of familial ALS cases. Under conditions of excessive stress, arimoclomol induces amplification of the cytoprotective heat shock response in order to protect motor neurons from death. Comprehensive in vivo and in vitro studies demonstrated its effect in the prevention of neuronal loss and promotion of motor neuron survival, even after symptom onset. Clinical trials have reported good tolerability and safety. This paper discusses the rationale for arimoclomol use in ALS, the preclinical and clinical evidence collected to date, the likelihood of its promising preclinical results translating to humans, and the relevance of this research for neurodegeneration as a whole.

Mutations located in the human genes encoding voltage-gated calcium channels are responsible for a variety of diseases referred to as calcium channelopathies, including familial hemiplegic migraine, episodic ataxia type 2, spinocerebellar ataxia type 6, childhood absence epilepsy and autism spectrum disorder, all of which are rare inherited forms of common neurological disorders. The genetic basis of these calcium channelopathies provides a unique opportunity to investigate their underlying mechanisms from the molecular to whole-organism levels. Studies of channelopathies provide insight on the relationships between channel structure and function, and reveal diverse and unexpected physiological roles for the channels. Importantly, these studies may also lead to the identification of drugs for the treatment of genetically acquired channel disorders, as well as to novel therapeutic practices. In this feature review, recent findings regarding neurological calcium channelopathies are discussed.

The American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy's 13th Annual Meeting, held in Washington, DC, included topics covering new developments in the field of gene therapy. This conference report highlights selected presentations on adenoviral therapies for the treatment of cancer, HIV immunotherapies and gene/cell therapies for the treatment of genetic disorders. Investigational drugs discussed include the TAG vaccine and INGN-007 (both Gradalis Inc), AdCD40L (Uppsala University), Ad5-SSTR/TK-RGD (University of Alabama at Birmingham), CGTG-102 (Oncos Therapeutics Ltd) and lexgenleucel-T (VIRxSYS Corp).

The Digestive Disease Week 2010 conference, held in New Orleans, included topics covering new therapeutic developments in the field of gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy and gastrointestinal surgery. This conference report highlights selected presentations on the novel thiopurine-based immunosuppressive agents B-0N and E-1 (both Giuliani SpA/Friedrich-Alexander-Universitaet Erlangen-Nuernberg); the investigation of ML-3403 (c-a-i-r biosciences GmbH), a p38 MAPK inhibitor for the treatment of chronic inflammatory disease; the development of ALV-003 (Alvine Pharmaceuticals Inc) for the treatment of celiac disease; efficacy studies of AST-120 in patients with irritable bowel syndrome; and a clinical trial evaluating linaclotide (Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc/Forest Laboratories Inc/Astellas Pharma Inc/Almirall Prodesfarma SA) withdrawal during chronic constipation therapy.

The Second Annual marcus evens Drug Development for Neurodegenerative Diseases Conference, held in Boston, included topics covering new therapeutic developments in the field of neurodegenerative diseases. This conference report highlights selected presentations on biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases; novel approaches to therapy for neurodegenerative disorders, including targeting PKCepsilon in Alzheimer's disease, small-molecule therapeutics for neurogenesis, neureglins to promote neurorecovery, and updates on several investigational drugs; and progress in neurodegenerative disease research, including measuring microtubule dynamics in Parkinson's disease and drug delivery to the brain. Investigational drugs discussed include NNI-251 (NeuroNascent Inc), neuregulins including glial growth factor 2 (Acorda Therapeutics Inc), AL-108 (Allon Therapeutics Inc) and EVP-0962 (EnVivo Pharmaceuticals Inc).

Protein kinases are among the most attractive therapeutic targets for a broad range of diseases. This feature review highlights and classifies the main design principles employed to generate active and selective kinase inhibitors. In particular, emphasis is focused on a fragment-based lead-generation approach, which constitutes a novel design method for developing type II kinase inhibitors with distinct binding kinetic attributes. This 'retro-design' strategy relies on a customized fragment library, and contrasts the traditional approach used in the design of type II inhibitors.