MindPharm Blog

Sea snail venom has been previously used to make an injection for pain, but this formulation has a much wider range of potential applications, including peripheral neuropathy.  

Sea snail saliva may become new treatment for most severe pain

Scientists have developed a new version of a medication, first isolated from the saliva of sea snails, that could be taken in pill form to relieve the most severe forms of pain as effectively as morphine but without risking addiction. An article on the topic appears in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News

This article covers the advances being made in individualized (patient-specific) cancer vaccines as well as the science behind them.  Most of this generation of vaccines will be used following radiation and chemotherapy to clear residual cancer cells  from the body, but the potential exists for future vaccines that would replace chemo entirely.

New Cancer Vaccine Kills Lymphoma, Now in Phase III Clinical Trials | Singularity Hub

Accentia Biopharmaceuticals and Biovest International have developed a non-Hodgkin?s lymphoma (NHL) vaccine that teaches the body?s immune system to identify and destroy tumor cells while leaving healthy tissue intact. The vaccine, called BiovaxID, is already in Phase III clinical trials.

Autopsy results have confirmed that scans performed using the dye while the patient was still alive map the distribution of plaques in the brain.  The dye is currently in clinical trials by Pfizer, Eli Lilly, and Bristol-Myers


Squibb,

Brain dye can spot Alzheimer's - FierceBiomarkers

A study has found that researchers can detect Alzheimer's disease with a brain scan using radioactive dye called AV-45 or florbetapir, which was developed by Philadelphia-based Avid Radiopharmaceuticals.

No recommendations are being made until there is independent confirmation, but the results are encouraging.

Fish Oil May Reduce Risk of Breast Cancer

Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Wash., led by Emily White, Ph.D., a member of the public health sciences division, asked 35,016 postmenopausal women who did not have a history of breast cancer to complete a 24-page questionnaire about their use of non-vitamin, non-mineral ?specialty? supplements in the Vitamins and Lifestyle (VITAL) cohort study.

After six years of follow-up, 880 cases of breast cancer were identified using the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results registry.

Regular use of fish oil supplements, which contain high levels of the omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA, was linked with a 32 percent reduced risk of breast cancer. The reduction in risk appeared to be restricted to invasive ductal breast cancer, the most common type of the disease.