Drugs

Phosphodiesterase Inhibitor Ameliorates Asthma, COPD in Early Trials
An inhaled dual phosphodiesterase inhibitor, RPL554, shows promise against asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in a series of preliminary studies in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine. Inhibiting phosphodiesterases 3 and 4 would, in theory, both increase bronchodilation and control inflammation. Journal Watch

FDA advisers unanimously back J&J hepatitis C drug
An experimental hepatitis C drug from Johnson & Johnson has won unanimous support from government experts who say the medication should be approved to treat patients infected with the liver-destroying virus. All 19 members of a panel of Food and Drug Administration advisers voted unanimously in favor of approving J&J's simeprevir, a daily pill designed to eliminate the most common form of hepatitis C. MedicalXpress

Experimental drug reduces brain damage, eliminates brain hemorrhaging in rodents afflicted by stroke
The study, which appears online today in the journal Stroke, provides additional evidence that 3K3A-APC may be used as a therapy for stroke in humans, either alone or in combination with the FDA-approved clot-busting drug therapy tPA (tissue plasminogen activator). Clinical trials to test the drug’s efficacy in people experiencing acute ischemic stroke are expected to begin recruiting patients in the U.S. in 2014. Keck School of Medicine

Genetic variants associated with bronchodilator responsiveness
A new study from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) reveals several new gene variants that are associated with how people living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) respond to inhaled bronchodilators. COPD is a progressive breathing disorder that limits airflow in the lungs. Bronchodilators are medicines used to alleviate respiratory disorder symptoms. Eurekalert!

Buprenorphine Works in Initial Opioid Detox (CME/CE)
An acute opioid detoxification regimen with buprenorphine (Buprenex, Subutex) helped more than half of addicts achieve short-term abstinence in a small randomized trial, researchers said.

When buprenorphine was tapered over 4 weeks, 63% of trial participants were confirmed by urine test to be abstinent at the end of 5 weeks, with rates then declining but stabilizing in the 50% range during an additional 7 weeks of follow-up during which patients were maintained on oral naltrexone, according to Stacey C. Sigmon, PhD, and colleagues at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vt. MedPage Today

New study shows promise for first effective medicine to treat cocaine dependence
New research published in JAMA Psychiatry reveals that topiramate, a drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat epilepsy and migraine headaches, also could be the first reliable medication to help treat cocaine dependence. Eurekalert!

Lithium in drinking water reduces suicide rates – possibly also as a result of medicine residue
A study carried out back in June 2011 at the MedUni Vienna has shown that lithium contained in drinking water could reduce suicide rates. Previously, researchers had assumed that the majority of this lithium came from natural sources, leached out of rocks and stones. According to Nestor Kapusta from the University Department of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy at the MedUni Vienna, new data has indicated that residue from prescribed lithium medication is finding its way into aquifers. MedicalXpress