Hepatitis News

Latest Liver Disease / Hepatitis News From Medical News Today.

Total news: 25
Last news: August 31, 2007 08:00:00

Administering inhaled nitric oxide (NO) during surgery helps protect liver transplant patients from organ failure, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). The colorless gas improves post-surgical liver function by minimizing reperfusion injury, an unwanted side effect of restoring blood flow swiftly to a donor organ moments after transplantation into the recipient, the study authors said. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: HGSI) announced that it has completed enrollment and initial dosing ahead of schedule in ACHIEVE 1, the first of two pivotal Phase 3 trials of Albuferon(R) (albinterferon alfa-2b) in combination with ribavirin in treatment-naive patients with chronic hepatitis C. Albuferon is being developed by HGS and Novartis under an exclusive worldwide co-development and commercialization agreement entered into in June 2006. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: BAY) and Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ONXX) announced that a planned review by an independent data monitoring committee (DMC) found that Nexavar(R) (sorafenib) tablets significantly improved overall survival, progression free survival, and time to progression in an Asia-Pacific regional Phase 3 trial of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common form of liver cancer. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

A new report from a team of researchers at the University of Washington, Seattle, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham indicates that one of the main complications of liver transplantation can be treated very simply by allowing the transplant recipients to inhale nitric oxide (NO) during the operation in which they received their new liver. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Researchers at Ohio State University are developing technology for keeping liver cells alive and functioning normally inside bioartificial liver-assist devices (BLADs).Such devices enable people who are suffering from acute liver failure to survive while their own liver cells regenerate, or until they receive a liver transplant. The persons blood or plasma circulates through the device. Inside, living cells -- usually pig or human liver cells -- perform normal liver functions. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Physicians at Southern Health have started a phase IIa clinical trial designed to test the efficacy of a new strategy for defeating hepatitis C viral infection, one of the toughest infectious diseases in the modern world. Implicit Biosciences drug, oglufanide disodium, which works as a regulator of the bodys immune response, is being given by intranasal administration to patients with chronic hepatitis C viral infection. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

FDA on Thursday issued a warning that Bristol-Myers Squibbs hepatitis B drug entecavir might increase the likelihood of developing resistance to antiretroviral drugs among people coinfected with HIV, [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: BAY) and Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ONXX) today announced that the supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for Nexavar(R) (sorafenib) tablets for the treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common form of liver cancer, has been accepted for review and granted Priority Review status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). [click link for full article] - [Read more]

The age alone of a liver transplant recipient seems not to be linked to the risk of death following liver transplant, says a report in Archives of Surgery (JAMA/Archives), August issue. The authors of the article explain that the over 70s are becoming a larger and larger proportion of the general population each year. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Medical Services International Inc. (Pink Sheets: MSITF) wishes to announce that its distributor in Hong Kong wishes to begin retailing its VScan Hepatitis B and C test kits in Hong Kong and surrounding areas. This distributor is currently retailing the HIV 1&2 test kits throughout Hong Kong and surrounding areas. The amount of VScan HIV test kits that are being sold on a retail level continues to increase on a quarterly basis. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Progen Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX: PGL; Nasdaq: PGLA) today announced it has executed an agreement with Quintiles, the worlds largest Contract Research Organisation, to utilise their services for a number of clinical development- related projects. This agreement includes the execution of the Phase 3 clinical trial of anti-cancer drug PI-88 for the treatment of primary liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma). [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Romark Laboratories announced that it has initiated a phase II clinical trial of Alinia(R) (nitazoxanide) for treating chronic hepatitis C in the United States. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Oregon Health & Science University researchers have figured out how to turn a mouse into a factory for human liver cells that can be used to test how pharmaceuticals are metabolized.The technique, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, could soon become the gold standard not only for examining drug metabolism in the liver, which helps scientists determine a drugs toxicity. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Cancer of the liver is very difficult to detect, and it is a major cause of death in Asia and Africa, with rising incidence in Western countries as well. Now, VIB researchers connected to Ghent University, in collaboration with research centers in Beijing and Shanghai in China, have developed a test to detect liver cancer in an early stage. A small blood sample is the only requirement for the test. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

The most appropriate system for organ allocation for liver transplants is a subject of continuing debate. In the U.S. the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) was introduced in 2002 as a way of prioritizing those with the highest risk of mortality and since that time waiting list mortality and waiting times have decreased with no negative impact on post-transplant survival. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

After lung and stomach cancer, liver cancer is the third largest cause of cancer deaths in the world. A new study on the relationship between coffee drinking and the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) confirmed that there is an inverse association between coffee consumption and HCC, although the reasons for this relationship are still unresolved. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Cognitive impairment is one of the neurological effects in patients with hepatic encephalopathy (abnormal brain function due to severe liver disease). For the first time, a new study showed that treatment with an anti-inflammatory improves cognitive function in rats induced with chronic liver failure.The results of this study appear in the August 2007 issue of Hepatology, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). [click link for full article] - [Read more]

New research shows how a particular small molecule blocks the activity of a cancer-suppressing gene, allowing liver-cancer cells to grow and spread.This molecule is a microRNA, a recently discovered class of tiny molecules used by cells to help control the kinds and amounts of proteins they make. More than 250 different microRNAs have been discovered, and several have been linked to cancer. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Magnetic resonance CAD is useful in diagnosing fibrosis of the liver, according to a recent study conducted by radiologists at Gifu University School of Medicine in Gifu, Japan."The greater the degree of hepatic fibrosis the more likely the patient will develop liver cancer," said Hiroki Kato, MD, lead author of the study.The study included 52 patients. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

A new study by scientists in Europe concluded that coffee drinking is linked to a reduced risk of primary liver cancer. But the findings do not say if coffee reduces liver cancer or if the link could be due to something else, for instance whether people with liver cancer tend to drink less coffee for other reasons. [click link for full article] - [Read more]