Statins, the widely used class of drugs for cholesterol management, are now showing promising results in slowing smoking-induced lung damage. In a new study presented at CHEST 2006, the 72nd annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), current and former smokers who used statins had lower lung function decline than those not using statins, regardless of whether patients continued or stopped smoking.

"Until now, no medication has...

Pervasis Therapeutics, Inc. announced that it has reached an agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the design of a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial for Vascugel®, an investigational new drug for the prevention of hemodialysis access graft failure. The agreement was made under the FDA's Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) procedure. Pervasis expects to initiate the study in 2010.

"We are pleased that the FDA approved the SPA agreement and are confident that we now ...

Conference delegates at the 38th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Cape Town, South Africa, that began on Thursday are focusing on challenges presented by the HIV/TB co-epidemic, the AP/Google reports. Although about one-third of people living with HIV worldwide have TB, the two diseases often are treated separately, according to the AP/Google Nullis, AP/Google, 11/7).

About 3,000 HIV/AIDS researchers, government ministers, health officials, advocates and people living with the di...

A new study has shown a stroke-prevention drug designed to be an improvement over prior treatments is less cost-effective for most patients than warfarin, the blood thinner with a 50-year history of helping prevent blood clots and strokes. The study, conducted by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found, however, that the new drug would be cost-effective for those atrial fibrillation patients whose risk of bleeding is high.

The findings are reported ...

A new generation of cancer drugs designed to starve tumors of their blood supply - called "angiogenesis inhibitors" - succeeds at first, but then promotes more invasive cancer growth - sometimes with a higher incidence of metastases, according to a new study in animals. The research clarifies similar findings in other animal studies and is consistent with some early evidence from a small number of clinical trials with cancer patients.

"People have thought that angiogenesis-inhibiting th...