€196 million pan-European drug discovery platform launched
Large pharmaceutical companies join forces with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and academia in an IMI-supported public private partnership (PPP) to enhance early drug discovery and so address the ever-increasing need for innovative therapeutics to tackle unmet medical needs. The European Lead Factory, a novel platform for innovative drug discovery, was launched today by an international consortium of 30 partners. This partnership, the first of its kind, is supported by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) and creates unprecedented opportunities for the discovery of new medicines by providing public partners with an 'industry-like' discovery platform to translate cutting-edge academic research into high-quality drug lead molecules on a scale and speed that was not possible previously.
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New stroke gene discovery could lead to tailored treatments
An international study led by King's College London has identified a new genetic variant associated with stroke. By exploring the genetic variants linked with blood clotting - a process that can lead to a stroke - scientists have discovered a gene which is associated with large vessel and cardioembolic stroke but has no connection to small vessel stroke. Published in the journal Annals of Neurology, the study provides a potential new target for treatment and highlights genetic differences between different types of stroke, demonstrating the need for tailored treatments.
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Marriage reduces the risk of heart attack in both men and women and at all ages
A large population-based study from Finland has shown that being unmarried increases the risk of fatal and non-fatal heart attack in both men and women whatever their age. Conversely, say the study investigators, especially among middle-aged couples, being married and cohabiting are associated with "considerably better prognosis of acute cardiac events both before hospitalization and after reaching the hospital alive".
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Scientists discover potential new target in fight against 'superbug'
University of Cambridge researchers have discovered how an antibiotic-resistant superbug exploits oxygen-limited conditions in the lungs of patients with severe respiratory disease to thrive. It is hoped the discovery could lead to new ways to target the Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterium, which is responsible for six per cent of healthcare associated infections in NHS patients and has a widespread resistance to many antibiotics.
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Discovering the secrets of tumor growth
Scientists at the University of Copenhagen's Center for Healthy Ageing have identified a compound that blocks the expression of a protein without which certain tumours cannot grow. This compound has the potential as an anticancer agent according to the research published in the journal CHBIOL: Chemistry and Biology this week. The BLM protein is also known to be important in maintaining stability in cells when they multiply, thus preventing cancer. However, certain types of tumour need BLM to grow. This is typical of osteosarcomas - aggressive malignant tumours often seen in bone cancer - and also soft tissue sarcomas.
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New drug protects against side effects of chemotherapy
A drug developed at Linköping University in Sweden protects against the side effects of cancer treatments while strengthening the effects on the tumour. An international drug evaluation is now starting up on a larger group of patients. The results of the studies with the compound, known as calmangafodipir, were published in the latest issue of the cancer journal Translational Oncology with Professor Rolf G. G. Andersson as the main author. The research was initiated on a substance called mangafodipir, which was used as a contrast media in magnetic resonance scans. But pharmacologists at LiU discovered that it also protected healthy cells in connection with cancer treatments.
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Researchers identify new target for common heart condition
Researchers have found new evidence that metabolic stress can increase the onset of atrial arrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation (AF), a common heart condition that causes an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate. The findings may pave the way for the development of new therapies for the condition which can be expected to affect almost one in four of the UK population at some point in their lifetime. The British Heart Foundation (BHF) study, led by University of Bristol scientists and published in Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology, found that metabolic stress - a condition induced by insufficient oxygen supply to the heart (e.g. following blockage of a coronary artery) - caused marked changes in the electrical activity of the heart's atria (the upper chambers of the heart).
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