Study Finds No Drug-Drug Interaction Between Aggrenox (aspirin/extended-release dipyridamole) 25mg/200mg Capsules and Omeprazole, a Widely Used PPI

Boehringer Ingelheim presented results of a drug interaction study that found Aggrenox® (aspirin/extended-release dipyridamole), an antiplatelet medication, is not affected by the co-administration of omeprazole, a proton pump inhibitor (PPI), frequently used to treat several gastrointestinal conditions. These data were presented at the International Stroke Conference (ISC) in New Orleans.

"Omeprazole has been shown to interact with some medications that are metabolized through the CYP2C19 system. AGGRENOX is not metabolized through the CYP2C19 system, however we wanted to understand if it would be affected when given together with omeprazole," said John Smith, MD, PhD, senior vice president for clinical development and medical affairs, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
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Why Human Brains Are Smarter Than Chimp Brains

Extended synaptic development may explain why humans are intellectually superior to primates, a new study suggests.During the first few years of life, human babies' mental abilities continue to develop and absorb information and experiences from the environment in a way that far surpasses even the closest primate relatives of humans.This is due to extended synaptic development, according to the study published online Feb. 1 in the journal Genome Research. The finding sheds new light on the biology and evolution of human brain development, according to the researchers.

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Malaria hopes rise as chemists produce cheap artemisinin

The cost of the life-saving antimalarial drug artemisinin could be lowered by a third, with a new method that utilises a waste product from the current plant extraction process, according to researchers.Artemisinin is sourced from the cultivated plant Artemisia annua (sweet wormwood), but demand is outstripping supply because artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs) are now recommended as a front-line treatment for malaria by the WHO.

The plant Artemisia annua is used to make Artemisinin, currently the most efficient drug combating malaria.

WILLIAM DANIELS / PANOS

The artemisinin extraction process produces around ten times as much artemisinic acid as it does artemisinin itself.But converting the artemisinic acid precursor into the chemically more complex artemisinin molecule has proved a "formidable challenge" for chemists, researchers noted.Now, they have found a quick and easy way of converting this acid into artemisinin.They used continuous flow chemistry which involves passing chemicals down a tube to increase reaction times, efficiency and safety.

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Biotech entrepreneurs swoon over proposed fundraising changes

In the pharmaceutical industry, where a single drug can cost more than a billion dollars to develop, $50 million may soundlike small change. But to many biopharma startups, that amount of cash can be the difference between getting off the ground or crashing and burning. In the US, a law known as Regulation A allows small, private companies, including biopharmas, to sell up to $5 million in  public shares without having to file lengthy, expensive paperwork and divulge financial details to the country's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). But a  bipartisan piece of legislation working its way through Congress, known as the Small Company Capital Formation Act, proposes to modify Regulation A such that these  companies could sell up to www.nature.com/nm/journal/v18/n1/full/nm0112-3.html$50 million in public shares with the same exemption.
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Protein structures give disease clues

Using some of the most powerful nuclear magnetic resonance equipment available, researchers at the University of California, Davis, are making discoveries about the shape and structure of biological molecules - potentially leading to new ways to treat or prevent diseases such as breast cancer and Alzheimer's disease.The findings appear in the latest issues of the journals Nature and Journal of Biological Chemistry."These are exquisite three-dimensional objects, and the structures really give insight into how they function in the cell," chemistry professor James Ames said.Two recently published studies show what the campus can do with its 800-megahertz nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer, acquired with grant support from the National Science Foundation.
                In a paper published online Jan. 29 by the journal Nature, Ames and colleagues at the University of Toronto and the University of Cambridge, England, offer insight into the hot topic of calcium channels, linked to Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, among other things.The researchers described the workings of two protein channels that are similar in structure and function. Inositol triphosphate is the "key" that unlocks the inositol triphosphate receptor, opening a gateway that releases calcium inside the cell. The ryanodine receptor does the same thing when it binds another molecule, ryanodine.

         The new three-dimensional view shows that although the sequences of these proteins are different, their structures at the "receptor end" are very similar."They are basically superimposable," Ames said. They are also interchangeable - if the "receptor end" of one is grafted to the "calcium channel end" of the other, the receptor still functions.

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