Pharmacology

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is the most common leukaemia in children and third most common in adults. Although the majority of children and adults with ALL achieve a complete remission with intensive chemotherapy, relapse will occur in 20% and 50% respectively. As further intensification risks greater toxicity and may not...

Extended-cycle combined hormonal contraception has become a common practice among women seeking effective contraception and menstrual regulation. Extended cycle regimens have the benefit of decreasing scheduled bleeding as compared to traditional combined oral contraceptive (COC) regimens containing 21 days of hormones followed by a 7-day hormone-free interval (HFI) by reducing...

Background: Fospropofol is a phosphate-ester water soluble prodrug of propofol approved in the United States for the short-term sedation of adults undergoing diagnostic or therapeutic procedures with monitored anesthesia care. Fospropofol may be advantageous for procedural sedation because it is not a lipid formulation, it lacks pain on injection,...

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a common sleep disorder, clinically diagnosed in the presence of a unique symptom complex which adversely impacts a patient’s quality of life. There is an urge to move the legs which develops during or is worsened by rest, is alleviated with movement, and is more...

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality worldwide and is endemic in many areas of Asia and Africa. Adequate treatment of hepatitis B with effective antiviral agents can improve disease burden. Entecavir is a potent, selective nucleoside analogue with activity against HBV....

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the world. Therapy for stable CAD is currently based on conventional medical therapy, including nitrates, β-blockers and calcium-channels antagonists and, more recently, metabolic therapy, of which a pivotal therapeutic role is increasingly recognized. Under normoxic condition, the...

Background: Patients that do not achieve therapeutic response with over the counter non-triptan medications may benefit from triptan-based treatments. Objective: Phase IV, open-label, multi-center, prospective cohort study assessing the effectiveness of rizatriptan in the management of migraines for patients that have not responded to non-triptan treatment. Methods: Patients were treated with one...

The agents currently approved for use in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) can be divided broadly into two categories: (1) vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR)-directed therapies or (2) inhibitors of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). The latter category includes everolimus and temsirolimus, both approved for distinct indications in...

The sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) Cypher was the first commercially available drug-eluting stent. The use of this stent has resulted in significantly lower rates of restenosis and lesion revascularization compared to bare metal stents and balloon angioplasty. In this review, angiographic and clinical outcomes in patients treated with SES are compared...

Hypertension is one of the major cardiovascular and renal risk factors and is linked to high morbidity and mortality in patients worldwide. The control rates of hypertensive patients are still low, and this makes the issue of newer drugs highly necessary in order to improve control rates. Since this will...

Glulisine (ApidraTM) is a rapid acting recombinant insulin analogue which differs from regular human insulin (RHI) by the substitution of lysine for asparagine at position B3 and glutamic acid for lysine at position B29. The chemical name is 3B-Lys-29- B-Glu-human insulin. The amino acid substitutions of glulisine and other rapid...

Osteoporosis is the most common bone disease. Low levels of oestrogens or testosterone are risk factors for primary osteoporosis. The most common cause of secondary osteoporosis is glucocorticoid treatment, but there are many other secondary causes of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis can be secondary to anti-oestrogen treatment for hormone-sensitive breast cancer and...

Clobetasol-17 propionate is a dihalogenated corticosteroid which, on the basis of the vasoconstrictor assay, is classified as the most potent of all topical steroids. Since 1973 it has been marketed specifically for the short term topical treatment of moderate and severe cortico-responsive dermatoses for its antinflammatory, immunosuppressive and antimitotic effects....

Immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is an autoimmune disease characterized by the production of antibodies to circulating platelets. Traditionally it has been regarded as a disorder of increased platelet destruction, so therapies have targeted this mechanism, including corticosteroids, IVIG, splenectomy and rituximab. More recently, it has become clear that decreased...

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) presents one of the greatest clinical challenges in oncology. The prevalence of cigarette smoking is the major cause for the high incidence that makes NSCLC the commonest cause of cancer-related death in the western world. Patients frequently present late, with locally advanced or metastatic disease....

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of visual loss in the developed World in patients over age 55. Therapeutic advances in the dry (non-exudative) form of AMD have been very modest with a protective role demonstrated for supplemental anti-oxidant vitamin therapy in patients showing high risk characteristics for...

The trifunctional, bispecific antibody catumaxomab (anti-EpCAM x anti-CD3) is a new therapeutic strategy for epithelial cancer patients with symptomatic malignant ascites. The trifunctionality has the advantage of binding tumor cells and simultaneously two different immune effector cells (e.g. macrophages and T-lymphocytes). The unique binding specifities of catumaxomab induce an effective...

The worldwide incidence of head and neck cancer exceeds half a million cases annually with squamous-cell histology as the most predominant. Almost half of newly diagnosed cases have advanced disease at diagnosis. The high morbidity and mortality associated with the malignancy has brought more attention to this cancer. The improvement...

As aberrant platelet activation underlies intra-arterial thrombus formation, dual antiplatelet therapy- of aspirin and clopidogrel- has become a mainstay of treatment of acute coronary thrombosis. Two complementary yet independent mechanisms of blocking platelet activation and aggregation have proven to be clinically beneficial in preventing atherothrombotic complications, including myocardial infarction (MI),...

Palonosetron, the second generation 5-hydroxytryptamine-3 receptor antagonist (5-HT3RA), has shown superior efficacy in preventing the delayed phase of highly emetogenic chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) when administered in combination with dexamethasone in a randomized phase III trial, as compared with granisetron, a first generation drug in the same class....

Pemetrexed is a third generation multi-target agent able to inhibit at least three crucial enzymes involved in the folate pathway. Pemetrexed is indicated in combination with cisplatin as first line treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) and in mono-chemotherapy as second line treatment of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In...

Background: Combination oral glucose-lowering drug therapy is often required to maintain glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes. Single-tablet fixed-dose combinations of oral glucose-lowering agents provide one means to increase adherence, which may improve metabolic and clinical outcomes. A new fixed-dose combination of pioglitazone and extended-release metformin has recently...

The overactive bladder (OAB) is a debilitating condition in which patients suffer from urinary urgency, frequency and nocturia with or without urge urinary incontinence. The mainstay of pharmacotherapy for OAB is muscarinic receptor antagonists, which have been shown to be effective treatments for the symptoms of OAB. The mechanism underlying...

Meropenem is an effective broad-spectrum carbapenem antibiotic frequently prescribed for treatment of severe bacterial infections. We conducted a structured review of the published literature to review the microbiology, clinical efficacy and pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and tolerability of meropenem for the treatment of serious bacterial infections. Robust susceptibility data describes the broad...

Manipulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis via androgen deprivation therapy has been in use since the 1940’s for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer. Androgen deprivation may be achieved via surgical castration or pharmacological castration. Pharmacological castration is preferred by patients due to its decreased psychological impact on body image and...

Because of the dramatic increase in severe infections caused methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), including skin and skin structure infections (SSSI), and reports of vancomycin failures in the treatment of these infections, agents with better activity against MRSA are clearly needed. Daptomycin, the first cyclic lipopeptide, exerts its concentration dependent bactericidal...

Functional Dyspepsia (FD) is a common affliction in western countries effecting approximately 25% of the population. Due to its heterogeneous pathogenesis, effective therapeutics are limited. Mosapride, a serotonin receptor agonist with enterokinetic properties, has been evaluated for treating dyspeptic symptoms in a limited number of clinical trials. Most trials found...

Overactive bladder (OAB), a bothersome condition that is frequently associated with incontinence, commonly affects middle-aged and elderly people. OAB not only has a negative effect on physical and mental well-being but also accounts for billions of dollars in health care costs and lost productivity. Although OAB can be treated effectively...

Capecitabine is an oral 5-fluorouracil pro-drug with activity in metastatic breast cancer. As a single agent, response rates of 30%–30% and 15%–30% have been reported in first-line and more heavily pretreated populations, respectively. Capecitabine in combination with chemotherapy and biologic agents has resulted in significant improvement in the clinical...

Azelastine HCl (Astelin™) is an intranasal antihistamine indicated for use in patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR) and non-allergic vasomotor rhinitis (VMR). A side effect of this medication is bitter taste which many patients find aversive. To address the issue of bitter taste, azelastine has been reformulated to include sucralose...