Roughly 47 million people around the world are living with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) — a number that is expected to increase to 75 million by 2030 and 150 million by 2050. Researchers are pursuing a range of treatments: disease modifying, symptomatic treatment and therapy for behavioral issues. Yet no new therapy has been approved since...
This is the thirteenth installment of our look at the increasingly high placebo response that is plaguing clinical trials in analgesia and psychiatry. Read the rest of the posts in the series here. Until now, our Placebo Problem series has focused exclusively on the placebo response in adults. Today we turn to another population: kids....
This is the twelfth installment of our look at the increasingly high placebo response that is plaguing clinical trials in analgesia and psychiatry. Catch up on the rest of the posts in the series here. After focusing exclusively on the placebo effect in this series, today we’re going to take a quick detour, turning to...
Even when things go pretty well, launching a clinical trial is a game of long odds. And when the deck is stacked against you the way it was when we set out to study a drug for sickle cell disease, the difficulties can add up fast. So even we were surprised by the success of...
This is the eleventh installment of our look at the increasingly high placebo response that is plaguing clinical trials in analgesia and psychiatry. Read the rest of the posts in the series here. As we discussed last week, there are so many trial-related details that can influence the magnitude of the placebo response. But there...
While in many ways similar to pharmaceutical drug development, medical device development must work through some unique challenges, including: Variations in complexity — Devices may have multiple different constituent parts, including hardware, software, and medicinal components. Very different purposes — Almost all drugs are therapeutic, while devices may be therapeutic, diagnostic, monitoring, supportive, surgical, and more. Regulations regarding...
Quality Agreements are an effective bridge to a successful future for companies in the drug development sector – putting one in place at the start of the business relationship can prevent problems later. Quality Agreements mitigate risk and increase collaboration between partners. These agreements define timelines and establish responsibility and accountability. They supplement contractual commitments....
This is the tenth installment of our look at the increasingly high placebo response that is plaguing clinical trials in analgesia and psychiatry. Catch up on the other posts in the series here. Over the last two weeks we’ve discussed several specific strategies to reduce the placebo response. One effort that is becoming increasingly popular...
We’ve previously discussed several issues around psoriasis, including the pathogenesis of the condition and the challenges (and solutions!) of conducting psoriasis clinical trials. Today we turn toward three strategies for treating it. Although moisturizer may be an effective solution for some cases of mild psoriasis, many patients require medical intervention to ease their symptoms and...
DURHAM, N.C., OCTOBER 17, 2017 — Patients with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, a congenital malformation disorder caused by variably sized chromosomal deletions, may have fewer motor-skill and communicative impairments than commonly believed. That’s the conclusion of an article in the European Journal of Medical Genetics co-authored by an expert at Premier Research. Dr. Susanne Schmidt, Premier Research...