An industry update: the latest developments in therapeutic delivery covering May 2020.

The present industry update covers the period 1-31 May 2020, with information sourced from company press releases, regulatory and patent agencies as well as scientific literature.

An industry update: the latest developments in therapeutic delivery.

The present industry update covers the period 1-30 June 2017, with information sourced from company press releases, regulatory and patent agencies as well as scientific literature. The combination of drug and devices such as improved, safer injectables (see various market reports, companies Adamis and Baxter), patches (Microdermis) and (nano)carriers are moving increasingly from the R&D stage into clinical trials and toward the market. This addresses increased safety and effectiveness requirements, limiting physico-chemical properties of active ingredients, cost-effectiveness and patient comfort through ease of use.

An industry update: the latest developments in therapeutic delivery.

The present industry update covers the period 1-31 January 2017, with information sourced from company press releases, regulatory and patent agencies as well as the scientific literature. With a new year come new resolutions, annual operation plans but also reports and outlooks for the years(s) to come. A number of the latter have been published in January forecasting various spaces in drug delivery (Market and Research).

PET-CT imaging with [(18)F]-gefitinib to measure Abcb1a/1b (P-gp) and Abcg2 (Bcrp1) mediated drug-drug interactions at the murine blood-brain barrier.

Introduction: The efflux transporters P-glycoprotein (P-gp, ABCB1) and breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP, ABCG2) are expressed at the blood-brain barrier (BBB), and can limit the access of a wide range of drugs to the brain. In this study we developed a PET-CT imaging method for non-invasive, quantitative analysis of the effect of ABCB1 and ABCG2 on brain penetration of the anti-cancer drug gefitinib, and demonstrated the applicability of this method for identification and quantification of potential modulators of ABCB1 and ABCB2 using the dual inhibitor elacridar.

Methods: In vitro cellular accumulation studies with [(14)C]-gefitinib were conducted in LLC-PK1, MDCKII, and the corresponding ABCB1/Abcb1a and ABCG2/Abcg2 overexpressing cell lines.

Classical and all-floating FETI methods for the simulation of arterial tissues.

High-resolution and anatomically realistic computer models of biological soft tissues play a significant role in the understanding of the function of cardiovascular components in health and disease. However, the computational effort to handle fine grids to resolve the geometries as well as sophisticated tissue models is very challenging. One possibility to derive a strongly scalable parallel solution algorithm is to consider finite element tearing and interconnecting (FETI) methods.

Industry Update: the latest developments in therapeutic delivery.

The present Industry Update covers the period 1-28 February 2014, with information sourced from company press releases, regulatory and patent agencies, as well as the scientific literature. February is traditionally the month of annual reports - looking back and looking forward, hence a number of market reports on past, present and future developments in drug delivery were released. An increased trend in deal making for targeted drug delivery, as in 2013, will continue to drive partnerships in 2014.

Initial experience of MR/PET in a clinical cancer center.

Magentic Resonance/positron emission tomography (PET) has been introduced recently for imaging of clinical patients. This hybrid imaging technology combines the inherent strengths of MRI with its high soft-tissue contrast and biological sequences with the inherent strengths of PET, enabling imaging of metabolism with a high sensitivity. In this article, we describe the initial experience of MR/PET in a clinical cancer center along with a review of the literature.

FETI Methods for the Simulation of Biological Tissues.

In this paper we describe the application of finite element tearing and interconnecting methods for the simulation of biological tissues, as a particular application we consider the myocardium. As most other tissues, this material is characterized by anisotropic and nonlinear behavior.

Industry Update: the latest developments in therapeutic delivery.

The present industry update covers the period 2-28 February 2013, with information sourced from company press releases, regulatory and patent agencies, as well as from scientific literature. With the US presidential inauguration in January, the inevitable 'fiscal cliff' and with the healthcare reform taking shape, there are many challenges ahead for the world's largest healthcare market. Healthcare providers are preparing for the 'accountable care organizations' paradigm shift and it has been reported that the pharmaceutical industry is low in public perception; only 'for-profit' health insurers rank lower according to a survey recently published.

See, reach, treat: ultrasound-triggered image-guided drug delivery.

The integration of therapeutic interventions with diagnostic imaging has been recognized as one of the next technological developments that will have a major impact on medical treatments. Therapeutic applications using ultrasound, for example thermal ablation, hyperthermia or ultrasound-induced drug delivery, are examples for image-guided interventions that are currently being investigated. While thermal ablation using magnetic resonance-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound is entering the clinic, ultrasound-mediated drug delivery is still in a research phase, but holds promise to enable new applications in localized treatments.

Automated synthesis of [18F]gefitinib on a modular system.

In recent years, [(18)F]gefitinib PET has successfully been employed for a number of applications ranging from oncology to in vivo studies of drug transporter proteins. We here report a reliable, automated procedure for routine synthesis of this radiotracer on an Eckert and Ziegler modular system. The 3-step radiosynthesis followed by preparative HPLC-purification provided [(18)F]gefitinib in 17.

Iopamidol as a responsive MRI-chemical exchange saturation transfer contrast agent for pH mapping of kidneys: In vivo studies in mice at 7 T.

Iopamidol (Isovue®-Bracco Diagnostic Inc.) is a clinically approved X-Ray contrast agent used in the last 30 years for a wide variety of diagnostic applications with a very good clinical acceptance. Iopamidol contains two types of amide functionalities that can be exploited for the generation of chemical exchange saturation transfer effect.

Ultrasound triggered image-guided drug delivery.

The integration of therapeutic interventions with diagnostic imaging has been recognized as one of the next technological developments that will have a major impact on medical treatments. Important advances in this field are based on a combination of progress in guiding and monitoring ultrasound energy, novel drug classes becoming available, the development of smart delivery vehicles, and more in depth understanding of the mechanisms of the cellular and molecular basis of diseases. Recent research demonstrates that both pressure sensitive and temperature sensitive delivery systems hold promise for local treatment.

[C1-esterase inhibitor in ACE inhibitor-induced severe angioedema of the tongue].

Angio-oedema are often massive but temporary swellings of the soft tissue of the face or the throat, which can also affect other regions of the human body (e.g. the skin or internal organs).

MyoD stimulates delta-1 transcription and triggers notch signaling in the Xenopus gastrula.

The Notch signaling cascade is involved in many developmental decisions, a paradigm of which has been the selection between epidermal and neural cell fates in both invertebrates and vertebrates. Notch has also been implicated as a regulator of myogenesis, although its precise function there has remained controversial. Here we show that the muscle-determining factor MyoD is a direct, positive regulator of the Notch ligand Delta-1 in prospective myoblasts of the pre-involuted mesoderm in Xenopus gastrulae.

Temporal restriction of MyoD induction and autocatalysis during Xenopus mesoderm formation.

In Xenopus, the activation of the myogenic determination factors MyoD and Myf-5 in the muscle-forming region of the embryo occurs in response to mesoderm-inducing factors (MIFs). Different members of the FGF, TGF-beta, and Wnt protein families have been implicated in this process, but how MIFs induce the myogenic regulators is not known. For MyoD, the induction process may serve to locally stabilize a transient burst of ubiquitous transcription at the midblastula transition, possibly by triggering MyoD's autocatalytic loop.

The globular domain of histone H1 is sufficient to direct specific gene repression in early Xenopus embryos.

One molecule of a linker histone such as histone H1 is incorporated into every metazoan nucleosome [1]. Histone H1 has three distinct structural domains: the positively charged amino-terminal and carboxy-terminal tails are separated by a globular domain that is similar to the winged-helix motif found in sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins [2]. The globular domain interacts with DNA immediately contiguous to that wrapped around the core histones [3,4], whereas the tail domains are important for the compaction of nucleosomal arrays [5].

Somatic linker histones cause loss of mesodermal competence in Xenopus.

In Xenopus, cells from the animal hemisphere are competent to form mesodermal tissues from the morula through to the blastula stage. Loss of mesodermal competence at early gastrula is programmed cell-autonomously, and occurs even in single cells at the appropriate stage. To determine the mechanism by which this occurs, we have been investigating a concomitant, global change in expression of H1 linker histone subtypes.

Disseminated coccidioidomycosis; treatment with ethyl vanillate; a preliminary report.

Ethyl vanillate, previously reported to be useful in the treatment of disseminated histoplasmosis, was administered to eight patients with disseminated coccidioidomycosis. Therapeutically effective concentrations of ethyl vanillate were obtained in only three patients, but, in them, the disease was apparently arrested. Failures occurred with patients who were too ill to tolerate the large amounts of ethyl vanillate required to attain a therapeutic concentration in the blood.