Is Pradaxa (dabigatran etexilate) better at reducing the risk for stroke than Coumadin (warfarin) in patients with atrial fibrillation? For many years, Coumadin has been the oral anticoagulant of choice as prophylaxis against thrombus formation in conditions like atrial fibrillation; however, drug interactions with antibiotics, psychiatric drugs, and other drug…
Hepatitis C virus (HCV), a liver infection which has been linked to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, is a potentially chronic condition if left untreated. Because of its extremely long latency period, patients who have recently contracted the virus can go decades without becoming symptomatic.
Sometimes, medical therapy is just funny. Disulfiram, one of the drugs we had to learn for pharmacology months ago, is a treatment for chronic alcoholism. We’re familiar with antibiotics working with the body’s immune system to destroy bacteria and resolve infections. In this case, antibiotics typically interact directly with the…
A few months ago, Human Genome Services Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) and co-development partner GlaxoSmithKline revealed data from a phase III trial of Benlysta™, a promising new drug for treating systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), otherwise known as lupus. Their stock had literally tripled within a matter of two open trading sessions…
A recent Institute of Cancer Research study published in the New England Journal of Medicine describes a novel way of treating BRCA-gene based cancers. Mutations in the BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 genes are routinely linked with higher incidence of breast and ovarian cancers in women; however, in healthy cells, the aforementioned…