From no treatment at all, to treatments that do not work well, new therapies are reaching the market, probably this month or next, moving hepatitis C virus (HCV) victims from the dark zone of desperation into the light of amazing anticipation – probably of a cure. We don’t know if the opening statement is one of those run-on sentences, from which you might have lost your breath trying to read it to your spouse, but we know with certainty that the news coming from Vertex’ (VRTX) drug is breathtaking. The road has been long, very long, yet, this is always the case when new molecules are designed to become drugs for life-threatening diseases that have yet to find treatments. The fact is that it is a real miracle just finding a road towards conquering a disabling virus that disrupts the functioning of one of the major vital organs. HCV could cause fibrosis (cirrhosis) of the liver, which could, sometimes, necessitate liver transplant or cause cancer. More...

When Professor Irving Boime and his team at Washington University in St. Louis observed that human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) has a longer half life than other natural hormones, researchers’ curiosity led them to discover that a carboxyl terminal peptide (CTP) linked to the hormone molecule increases its half life. Experimenting with CTP on other proteins left no doubt in the minds of the researchers that linking Nature’s CTP to protein therapeutics could be safe and effective in extending their half-life. When it comes to reproduction, Mother Nature does not err and does not cause harm. It selected CTP to link to the hormone, which without it, pregnancy would have never been possible. Read also The Value of CTP Technology  More...

According to data from its IL-1 beta inhibitor drug Xoma 052 in patients with uveitis, all seven patients with Behcet's uveitis enrolled in the XOMA 052 trial experienced rapid reduction of intraocular inflammation and improvement in visual acuity following a single treatment with the drug. A recent data presented at the 2010 American College of Rheumatology Scientific meeting demonstrate that all the five patients re-treated with XOMA 052 due to a recurring uveitis exacerbation have responded all over again to XOMA 052 and maintained their response for several months. Cytokine data showed reduced levels of IL-1 beta, IL-1 alpha and IL-6, as compared to baseline, with an increase in the levels of interferon gamma, which protects against infection.  More...