Botox untuk terapi Migren

Botox telah disetujui sebagai pengobatan preventif untuk migren kronis oleh regulator obat di Inggris. Penelitian ini diungkapkan setelah percobaan lebih dari 1.300 pasien menunjukkan keberhasilan dalam mengurangi frekuensi sakit kepala.

Namun hanya pasien yang menderita sakit kepala selama minimal 15 hari sebulan, setengah dari yang datang dengan gejala migrain, yang memenuhi syarat, kata staf Badan Obat dan Produk Kesehatan Inggris.

Diperkirakan sekitar 700.000 orang di Inggris mendapatkan migren kronis. Dalam uji klinis, pasien diberikan sampai dengan lima program dari suntikan botox di kepala dan otot leher yang spesifik setiap 12 minggu.

Setelah 24 minggu, mereka yang dirawat dengan Botox lebih sedikit kena migren dibandingkan dengan mereka yang menerima injeksi plasebo.

Sumber Berita
BBC News

Children treated with Botox died

LAURAN NEERGAARD of AP Medical Writer reported from Washington about The popular anti-wrinkle drug Botox and a competitor Myobloc have been linked to some deaths and other severe side effects suggestive of botulism, the government warned doctors Friday.

The drugs use botulinum toxin, which blocks nerve impulses to muscles, causing them to relax.

But in rare cases, the toxin may have spread beyond the injection site to other parts of the body, resulting in such problems as paralysis of respiratory muscles and difficulty swallowing, the Food and Drug Administration said.

Consideration of Arthritis drug for dementia

I’ve read some news of health about arthtritis drugs. The point is Arthritis drug may ease dementia. According of a new report in study case, U.S. researchers describe the improvement in brain function that occurred in a patient with Alzheimer’s disease just minutes after receiving an injection in the spine of the arthritis drug Enbrel (also known as etanercept).

This case was describe by Dr. Edward L. Tobinick, from the University of California at Los Angeles, and Dr. Hyman Gross, from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles in the Journal of Neuroinflammation.

Their studies approved that a protein involved in inflammation known as TNF-alpha is involved in the development of Alzheimer’s disease, the investigators note. Etanercept blocks this protein. Further studies looking at the effects of TNF-alpha blockers on symptoms of dementia are warranted, the researchers conclude.

So with consistention of the earlier observations, etanercept injection suggested rapidly improved cognition.

Cholesterol Drugs

I just have read about “Do Cholesterol Drugs Do Any Good?” at businessweek.com artcle by John Carey. He said “Martin Winn’s cholesterol level was inching up. Cycling up hills, he felt chest pain that might have been angina. So he and his doctor decided he should be on a cholesterol-lowering medication called a statin. He was in good company. Such drugs are the best-selling medicines in history, used by more than 13 million Americans and an additional 12 million patients around the world, producing $27.8 billion in sales in 2006. Half of that went to Pfizer (PFE) for its leading statin, Lipitor. Statins certainly performed as they should for Winn, dropping his cholesterol level by 20%. “

Some of research suggest that except among high-risk heart patients, the benefits of statins such as Lipitor are overstated

The drugs are thought to be so essential that, according to the official government guidelines from the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP), 40 million Americans should be taking them. Some researchers have even suggested—half-jokingly—that the medications should be put in the water supply, like fluoride for teeth. Statins are sold by Merck (MRK) (Mevacor and Zocor), AstraZeneca (AZN) (Crestor), and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) (Pravachol) in addition to Pfizer. And it’s almost impossible to avoid reminders from the industry that the drugs are vital. A current TV and newspaper campaign by Pfizer, for instance, stars artificial heart inventor and Lipitor user Dr. Robert Jarvik. The printed ad proclaims that “Lipitor reduces the risk of heart attack by 36%…in patients with multiple risk factors for heart disease.”