Archive for clinical trials
Safety trial of algal anesthetic kicks off
Two years ago, we told the story of the quest of Charles Berde, MD, PhD, of Boston Children’s Division of Pain Medicine, to turn an algal toxin called neosaxitoxin into a long-lasting local anesthetic. At that time, Berde—together with Alberto Rodríguez-Navarro, MD, from Padre Hurtado Hospital in Santiago, Chile, and a Chilean company called Proteus ... Read More about Safety trial of algal anesthetic kicks off
Tagged: anesthesia, clinical trials, drug development, toxins
This post may contain peanuts: Two-pronged treatment may ease severe allergies
Tripp Underwood contributed to this post. Families with peanut-allergic children live in fear that their child will ingest peanuts—even minute amounts—accidentally. Now, a small pilot study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology offers hope for peanut allergy. In the year-long study, immunologist Dale Umetsu, MD, PhD, and colleagues in the Division of Allergy and Immunology at ... Read More about This post may contain peanuts: Two-pronged treatment may ease severe allergies
Tagged: allergy, clinical trials, feeding therapy, immunology
First-ever drug trial reverses some signs of aging in progeria
The children came from all over the world: 28 families from 16 countries, speaking over a dozen languages. They faced a grim prognosis: death at an average age of 13 from cardiovascular disease. Not the congenital heart defects we so commonly see in babies coming to Boston Children’s Hospital, but the kind of disease you ... Read More about First-ever drug trial reverses some signs of aging in progeria
Tagged: clinical trials, rare disease
Taking a targeted approach when leukemia comes back
The news that your child has cancer always comes as a shock, but for one cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), parents can take comfort in the fact that doctors are really good at treating it. The cure rate for ALL has, over the last 40 years, climbed to nearly 90 percent. Less comforting is the fact ... Read More about Taking a targeted approach when leukemia comes back
Tagged: cancer, clinical trials, leukemia
A new start for gene therapy for ‘bubble boy’ disease: First U.S.-treated patient doing well
Until this month, Agustín Cáceres’s baptism was the only time his family could come close to him. Everyone had to wear masks, gloves and gowns. After that, he went into isolation, along with his mother Marcela, who came out only for meals. His father Alberto, and his four-year-old brother Jeremías, kept to a separate bedroom. ... Read More about A new start for gene therapy for ‘bubble boy’ disease: First U.S.-treated patient doing well
Tagged: cancer, clinical trials, gene therapy, immune disorders
Moving gene therapy into high gear
Gene therapy, still experimental but beginning to enter the clinic, attempts to utilize advanced molecular methods to treat and even reverse genetic diseases. The field started in earnest about 25 years ago and has had many setbacks along the way to its recent earliest successes. International collaboration has been critical. Children’s Hospital Boston is one ... Read More about Moving gene therapy into high gear
With algae blooms hope for a long-acting local anesthetic
For decades, Chile’s shoreline has had problems with periodic algal blooms – referred to as Red Tide, but actually containing a mix of microorganisms including bluegreen algae. Their toxins accumulate in shellfish, landing seafood consumers in the hospital, partially paralyzed, sometimes needing ventilators to breathe. The nerve block caused by the toxins is reversible, so ... Read More about With algae blooms hope for a long-acting local anesthetic
Tagged: anesthesia, clinical trials, drug development, toxins
Neurogenetic disorders: Dreaming the impossible dream
People with autism and most other disorders of brain development have never had medications to treat their core behavioral and cognitive symptoms. The best they can get are drugs targeting secondary problems, like irritability or aggression. But now, a new wave of clinical trials aims to change this. In the last decade, scientists have discovered ... Read More about Neurogenetic disorders: Dreaming the impossible dream