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Developments in antiepileptic drug therapy.

Development of new antiepileptic drugs has continued to progress, with both the evolution of new drugs, as well as new formulations of old drugs. It is hoped that, with advances in the understanding of the molecular basis of epilepsy, novel antiepileptic drugs will come about through design rather than serendipity. This article concentrates on a selection of the more promising antiepileptic drugs and reviews their recent progress. Felbamate, lamotrigine, vigabatrin, zonisamide, and gabapentin are already in clinical use in certain countries. Stiripentol and other potential antiepileptic drugs are also reviewed. In addition, there have been strategies to improve the pharmacokinetics of currently used antiepileptic drugs and we have concentrated on controlled-release carbamazepine and oxcarbazepine, both available in certain countries. It is, however, increasingly apparent that good comparative studies are needed before definitive advice can be given in the drug treatment of epilepsy.

Anticonvulsants↗

[Gene therapy: new developments].

Gene therapy is based on the transfer and the expression of therapeutic genes in specific target cells. For the treatment of genetic diseases gene therapeutic approaches aim at replacement of the deficient gene or at the correction of the genetic defect. Malignant diseases and an increasing number of other acquired diseases are additional targets for gene therapeutic strategies. For gene therapy to become a potential future treatment option, safe and therapeutically efficient gene transfer into specific target cells is a central requirement. A variety of nonviral and viral vector systems have been developed. Nonviral vectors transfer genes are far less efficient than viral vectors, but they have advantages due to their low immunogenicity and their large size capacity for therapeutic DNA. To improve the function of nonviral vectors, the addition of viral functions such as receptor mediated uptake, enhanced endosomal release and nuclear translocation of DNA may finally lead to the development of an artificial virus. In contrast, natural viruses are already highly developed structures for the transfer of nucleic acids. Recombinant viruses can be used for efficient gene transfer. Retroviruses, adeno-associated viruses and lentiviruses are suitable for gene therapeutic approaches which are based on the permanent expression of therapeutic genes such as the correction of enzyme deficiencies or the manipulation of hematopoetic stem cells, as they are able to integrate nucleic acids into the cellular genome. In contrast, adenoviral vectors result in highly efficient, but transient gene expression and are therefore especially useful for the treatment of malignant tumors. Novel developments of viral vectors mainly aim at the reduction of immunogenicity, increase of capacity for therapeutic genes and at improved vector production. Viruses which replicate selectively in tumor cells leading to tumor cell lysis represent a novel generation of viral vectors, which can further be improved by the addition of therapeutic genes resulting in enhanced tumor toxicity.

Adenoviridae↗

Mechanisms of tissue injury in multiple sclerosis: opportunities for neuroprotective therapy.

Development of neuroprotective therapies for multiple sclerosis is dependent on defining the precise mechanisms whereby immune effector cells and molecules are able to induce relatively selective injury of oligodendrocytes (OLs) and their myelin membranes. The selectivity of this injury could be conferred either by the properties of the effectors or the targets. The former would involve antigen specific recognition by either antibody or T cell receptor of the adaptive immune system. OLs are also susceptible to non antigen restricted injury mediated by components of the innate immune system including macrophages/microglia and NK cells. Target related selectivity could reflect the expression of death inducing surface receptors (such as Fas or TNFR-1) required for interaction with effector mediators and subsequent intracellular signaling pathways, including the caspase cascade. Development of therapeutic delivery systems, which would reach the site of disease activity within the CNS, will permit the administration of inhibitors either of the cell death pathway or of effector target interaction and opens new avenues to neuroprotection approach.

Autoimmune Diseases↗

Anti-angiogenic agents: clinical trial design and therapies in development.

Development of therapies aimed at inhibiting the growth of new blood vessels is among the most intensively studied approaches to the treatment of cancer. Deciphering the many biological processes involved in tumour angiogenesis has led to the development of new agents targeting either metalloproteases, angiogenic growth factors, endothelial cells or other components of the tumour neovasculature. More than 35 anti-angiogenic agents have already entered clinical trials in cancer patients and most of them are reviewed here. It has rapidly emerged from the preliminary results of these studies that the steps and endpoints classically adopted and used worldwide in developing new anticancer agents could be inappropriate to assess the efficacy of agents that do not target cancer cells directly. One of the major challenges for scientists and clinical researchers is to define new surrogate endpoints adapted to anti-angiogenic agents in the design of clinical trials. Once this has been achieved, the place of clinically active anti-angiogenic agents will need to be further refined in order to determine where they best fit in our current armamentarium, either as single agents or in combination with classical anticancer therapies. Finally, the use of these new agents may in the future encompass every aspect of cancer management, not only from palliative to curative treatment but also in the prevention of cancer.

Angiogenesis Inhibitors↗

Prosthetic valve endocarditis caused by Staphylococcus epidermidis. Development of rifampin resistance during vancomycin and rifampin therapy.

Development of rifampin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis was documented in three patients receiving vancomycin and rifampin therapy for prosthetic valve endocarditis. The minimum inhibitory concentrations and minimum bactericidal concentrations of rifampin for the original three isolates were 0.4 micrograms/mL or less. Organisms cultured during relapse or prosthetic valve replacement had minimum inhibitory concentrations of rifampin that were 12.5, 50, and greater than 100 micrograms/mL, respectively. Surgical intervention was necessary in all patients. One died, and one required a second prosthetic valve placement. The patients were treated with vancomycin plus aminoglycoside following identification of rifampin resistance. These observations suggest that vancomycin and rifampin may not be adequate therapy for prosthetic valve endocarditis caused by S epidermidis.

Drug Resistance, Microbial↗

[Cysteine proteinases and their inhibitors in the development of mouse HA-1 hepatoma and antineoplastic therapy].

Development of murine HA-1 hepatoma was accompanied by increased activity of cathepsin B (in ascitic cells), cathepsin D (in ascitic fluid) and increased activity of procathepsin B. There were some changes of cysteine proteinases in liver and spleen, not involved directly into tumor growth. The most prominent changes included the decreased level of cysteine proteinase inhibitors cystatin C and stefin A in ascitic cells (and to a lesser degree in liver tissue). During tumor development serum cystatin C concentration decreased by 3-times compared to intact mice. Treatment by antitumor drug Ukraine increased life span of mice with HA-1 hepatoma (transplanted intravenously), decreased the increment of tumor weight. In ascite such treatment caused a decrease of number of tumor cells and an increase of number of macrophages. Ukraie (administered once or 5-times in a dose of 0.5 mg per mice) increased cystatin C level, revealing protective mechanism of action.

Alkaloids↗

New perspectives on developing acute stroke therapy.

The development of additional acute stroke therapies to complement and supplement intravenous recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator within the first 3 hours after stroke onset remains an important and pressing need. Much has been learned about the presumed target of acute stroke therapy, the ischemic penumbra, and clinically available imaging modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography hold great promise for at least partially identifying this region of potentially salvageable ischemic tissue. Understanding the biology of ischemia-related cell injury has also evolved rapidly. New treatment approaches to improve outcome after focal brain ischemia will likely be derived by looking at naturally occurring adaptive mechanisms such as those related to ischemic preconditioning and hibernation. Many clinical trials previously performed with a variety of neuroprotective and thrombolytic drugs provide many lessons that will help to guide future acute stroke therapy trials and enhance the likelihood of success in future trials. Combining knowledge from these three areas provides optimism that additional acute stroke therapies can be developed to maximize beneficial functional outcome in the greatest proportion of acute stroke patients possible.

Acute Disease↗

[Pathology and clinical aspects of retarded child development. Diagnosis and therapy of defective development].

21 cases of "small for date" pregnancies were analysed. Serial ultrasonic tracings and determinations of total estrogen excretion in the 24-hour-urine and of serum HPL concentration were carried out. The fetal heart rate was measured by cardiotocogram. Retrospectively, the patients were divided into 3 groups according to birth weight. All patients were treated with a combination of Complamin, Calciparin and Partusisten. Fetal growth retardation could not be stopped by this treatment; there was, however, definite fetal weight gain following long term therapy. Results of HPL and total estrogen determinations were inconclusive; in most cases, however, a fall of concentrations was observed. Following long term therapy a rise in concentration up to almost normal values was seen. The positive effect of therapy was best shown by serial cardiotograms.

Betamethasone↗

Inhibitor development and substitution therapy in a developing country: Turkey.

Prevalence of inhibitor in developing countries, such as Turkey, where fresh frozen plasma (FFP) is still in use due to high cost of concentrates, is unknown. To determine the frequency of inhibitors in Turkish haemophiliacs exposed to blood products, 53 haemophilia A patients (age range 1-20; median: 11 years) and 12 haemophilia B patients (age range 3-20; median: 10 years), were evaluated; 31 haemophilia A patients (23 severe) received plasma-derived concentrates and 22 patients (10 severe) only FFP. No haemophilia B patients developed inhibitor, compared with seven of 53 (13%) haemophilia A patients, all with a severe defect (7/33; 21%) and treated with concentrates (7/23; 30%), whereas severe patients treated with FFP showed a lower risk to develop inhibitors (0/10, P = 0.07). Inhibitors were detected after 8-125 exposure days (median: 52). Intermediate-purity concentrates and pasteurization seemed to be linked with a higher risk of inhibitor compared to high-purity concentrates and solvent-detergent inactivation for seven patients with inhibitor. In four of seven inhibitor patients low-dose concentrate was administered at 25 IU kg-1 twice weekly and inhibitor disappeared in 1-4 months. This regimen might be recommended for immune tolerance in developing countries for its lower cost.

Adolescent↗

Lipid-lowering therapies in development.

Lipid lowering is established as a proven intervention to reduce atherosclerosis and its complications. This article summarises novel developments in the lipid-altering therapies under development, including combination therapies, squalene synthase inhibitors, microsomal transfer protein inhibitors, acyl-cholesterol acyl transferase inhibitors, cholesterol ester transfer protein antagonists, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor agonists, high-density lipoprotein-derived peptides and inflammation inhibitors, which have at least reached trials in animal models. Lipid-altering drugs are likely to to be a fast-developing area for novel treatments as possible synergies exist between new and established compounds for the treatment of atherosclerosis. New agents will have to show significant advantage in tolerability or efficacy over existing agents and have the potential to be used in combination therapy as is well established for bile acid sequestrants, nicotinic acid or fibrates and statins. Any new drugs will also have to be assessed in clinical end-point trials against current compounds with proven outcome benefits.

Cholesterol, LDL↗

Antiplatelet therapy and development of hypertension induced by recombinant human erythropoietin in uremic patients.

The pathogenesis of hypertension induced by recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) remains a subject of intense interest. The observation that patients treated with antiplatelet drugs never developed hypertension following rHuEPO therapy prompted us to study retrospectively the incidence and risk factors associated with the development of hypertension in 91 patients on renal replacement therapy who had commenced rHuEPO therapy in the last three years. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the risk factors associated with the development or aggravation of hypertension during the first six months on rHuEPO therapy. The predictors were: age, gender, number of months on dialysis, antecedent of hypertension, use of antiplatelet drugs, and those parameters related with dose, route and magnitude of the hematological response to rHuEPO. Of the 91 patients studied, 34 developed hypertension (37%). Of the 34 patients who were on antiplatelet treatment, 2 (5.8%) developed hypertension, whereas among 57 who did not receive antiplatelet drugs, 32 (56%) developed it. By multiple logistic regression analysis, the best predictive variables over the development of hypertension were: age (odds ratio: 0.959, P = 0.02), antecedent of hypertension (odds ratio: 6.52, P = 0.002), and use of antiplatelet therapy (odds ratio: 0.030, P < 0.0001). The rest of the studied variables failed to explain the development of hypertension. Antiplatelet therapy may prevent the development of hypertension in patients treated with rHuEPO. Since the antiplatelet drugs used in this study did not have a significant hemodynamic effect, we infer that changes in platelet aggregability induced by rHuEPO may be involved in the pathogenesis of hypertension induced by this hormone.

Adolescent↗

Distal lower extremity paresthesia and foot drop developing during adalimumab therapy.

The development of tumor necrosis factor inhibitor biologic therapy is arguably one of the most significant achievements in the treatment of rheumatic diseases to date. Neurologic events suggestive of demyelination have been reported for patients receiving treatment with the antitumor necrosis factor agents etanercept and infliximab. We describe the onset of lower extremity paresthesia and foot drop in a patient who was receiving adalimumab for the treatment of psoriasis and examine the relationship of tumor necrosis factor antagonism and demyelinating disease.

Adalimumab↗

Oral tazarotene and oral pimecrolimus: novel oral therapies in development for psoriasis.

Psoriasis is a chronic skin disorder that affects approximately 2% of the US and European population. Over the last several years, one of the major focuses in psoriasis research has been the development of novel biologic therapies for this disease. The aim of these therapies is to provide selective, immunologically directed intervention, with the hope that such specificity will result in fewer side effects than traditional therapies. In addition to these therapies, there are also oral medications in development for psoriasis. The goal of this article is to review oral tazarotene, a novel retinoid, and oral pimecrolimus, a novel macrolactam therapy, for the treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis.

Administration, Oral↗

A checklist to assess patient education in physical therapy practice: development and reliability.

Patient education in physical therapy is gaining attention because it can contribute to patient compliance and prevention. This article describes the development of an assessment tool for investigating patient education in physical therapy. A checklist of 65 educational activity items was constructed. The investigators tested the applicability of the checklist using 227 audiotaped treatment sessions involving patients from various private practices in the Netherlands. The 227 audiotaped sessions covered the entire period of treatment for 25 patients, each of whom participated in an average of 9 treatment sessions. The results showed that all except 1 of the 65 educational activities occurred in the 227 treatment sessions and that no educational activities occurred that could not be rated in the checklist. These findings may indicate that the checklist covers the entire range of educational activities currently applied by physical therapists. The reliability of the checklist was tested using a subsample of the treatments. The average scores for interrater and intrarater reliability, as determined by the use of the Cramer's V coefficient of association for ordinal data, were .76 and .81, respectively. The checklist can be used to investigate the current educational activities in physical therapy practice. In addition, the checklist can be used in peer review and can contribute to the development of standards for the quality of care. [Sluijs EM. A checklist to assess patient education in physical therapy practice: development and reliability.

Educational Measurement↗

Viral and non-viral vectors in gene therapy: technology development and clinical trials.

Gene therapy as part of modern molecular medicine holds great promise for the treatment of both acute and chronic diseases and has the potential to bring a revolutionary era to cancer treatment. Gene therapy has been named the medicine of the future. For the past 10 years various viral and non-viral vectors have been engineered for improved gene and drug delivery. Although various diseases have been targeted, cancer therapy has been addressed to a large extent because of the straight forward approach. Delivery of toxic or immunostimulatory genes by viral and non-viral vectors has been investigated and encouraging results have been obtained in animal models. A large number of clinical trials have been conducted with some highly promising outcome. We propose that combinations of viruses with liposomes or polymers will solve the problem of systemic viral delivery and tumor targeting, bringing a revolution in molecular medicine and in applications of gene therapy in humans.

Animals↗