How are drugs developed, et al

[Guest guest]

Information on pharmacology of how drugs are tested.

After in vitro experiments, new compounds need to be administered to living

animals. Pharmacology and toxicology data show whether a potential drug has

toxic side effects and its safety at different doses. Animal testing measures

how much of a drug is absorbed into the blood, how it is broken down chemically

in the body, the toxicity of its breakdown products (metabolites), and how

quickly the drug and its metabolites are excreted from the body. Venous blood is

collected for pharmacokinetic data, for monitoring immunologic responses, for

complete blood counts and for chemistry analysis. A complete necropsy is

performed on each animal and major organs are collected for histopathology

review. Pathology is performed by a board-certified animal pathologist.

Mice and rats are generally the species of first choice because their mammalian

bodies are incredibly similar to those of humans and usually provide a good

basis for predicting how a new compound will react inside the body. Other

species are used in studies only if sufficiently meaningful results are unlikely

to be obtained using rats and mice. In safety studies, the FDA usually demands

studies in a non-rodent species (pigs, non-human primates) as well as rodents to

ensure that possible effects or side effects are detected before the product is

used in humans for the first time. At the Institute, the non-rodent species of

choice is Cynomolgus macaque because of their genetic, anatomical and

immunologic similarities to humans.

http://www.swcancerresearch.org/pharmacology.php

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Growing Bacteria in Petri Dishes (a new kind of art????)

These bacteria look like pictures of different colors and shapes, video

included.

The bacteria are subjected to different temperatures and have limited food

sources inside the dish. Despite these conditions, most colonies tend to

communicate and reproduce. Their growth results in unique patterns of varying

colors--a sort of " bacteria painting. " Researchers are hoping to learn more

about the strategies the bacteria use to thrive, in order to find weaknesses

that new drugs could exploit.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2008/1211-bacteria_as_art.htm

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Combination Therapy Targets Stubborn Leukemia Stem Cells reported from:

ScienceDaily (May 17, 2010)

Dr. Bhatia and colleagues of City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte,

California were interested in examining whether histone deacetylase inhibitors

(HDACi) that have shown some promise as a treatment for several other cancers,

might be effective at eliminating CML stem cells. HDACi were of interest because

they not only target rapidly dividing cancer cells but also have been shown to

eliminate non-proliferating cancer cells. The researchers found that treatment

with a combination of HDACi and IM effectively reduced CML cells that were

resistant to IM alone. Further, a combination of HDACi and IM markedly

diminished leukemia stem cells in a mouse model of CML.

The group went on to show that the interaction of HDACi and IM inhibited genes

involved in regulating leukemia stem cell survival. " Our studies indicate that

treatment with HDACi combined with IM is effective against CML leukemia stem

cells that resist elimination by IM alone, " concludes Dr. Bhatia. " Several HDACi

are in clinical development, and our studies support clinical trials of HDACi in

combination with tyrosine kinase inhibitors to eliminate leukemia stem cells in

patients with CML. "

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100517132842.htm

*Note in the credits that Dr. Tessa Holyoake, University of Glasgow, Scotland,

UK is one of the researchers, among others.

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Scientists create liver cells from patients' skin

By Kate Kelland Posted 2010/08/25 (Liver Cancer Research)

LONDON, Aug. 25, 2010 (Reuters) — Scientists have created liver cells in a lab

for the first time using reprogrammed cells from human skin, paving the way for

the potential development of new treatments for liver diseases that kill

thousands each year.

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre67o4rc-us-stemcells-liver/

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Putting Bacterial Antibiotic Resistance Into Reverse

ScienceDaily (Apr. 28, 2010) — The use of antibiotics to treat bacterial

infections causes a continual and vicious cycle in which antibiotic treatment

leads to the emergence and spread of resistant strains, forcing the use of

additional drugs leading to further multi-drug resistance. Immunotherapy drugs

-- medicines that enlist the help of the body's immune system to fight disease

-- are a relatively new form of cancer treatment. In April, the U.S. Food and

Drug Administration medicines regulators approved Dendreon Corp's Provenge, a

therapeutic vaccine designed to stimulate the immune system to attack prostate

cancer, as the first vaccine to treat tumors. The same technique could also be

trialed in other types of cancer.

In a presentation at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular

Biology's annual meeting, titled " Driving backwards the evolution of antibiotic

resistance, " Harvard researcher Roy Kishony discussed his recent work showing

that some drug combinations can stop or even reverse the normal trend, favoring

bacteria that do not develop resistance.

" Normally, when clinicians administer a multi-drug regimen, they do so because

the drugs act synergistically and speed up bacterial killing, " Kishony explains.

However, Kishony's laboratory has focused on the opposite phenomenon: antibiotic

interactions that have a suppressive effect, namely when the combined inhibitory

effect of using the two drugs together is weaker than that of one of the drugs

alone.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100426072125.htm

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Study Identifies Key Cause of Chronic Leukemia Progression

ScienceDaily (Mar. 5, 2010) — Researchers have discovered a key reason why a

form of leukemia progresses from its more-treatable chronic phase to a

life-threatening phase called blast crisis. The study, led by cancer researchers

at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. Cancer

Hospital and J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC-), indicates that

chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) progresses when immature white blood cells lose a

molecule called miR-328. (Materials provided by Ohio State University Medical

Center)

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100304184544.htm

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FYI,

Lottie Duthu