Diseases/Conditions News Headlines

Researchers have developed an easier method to insert viruses carrying special genes into the eye. Their eventual goal is restoring sight destroyed by blinding diseases.

Loading up on burgers and deli meats may be tempting, but too much red meat could trigger metabolic changes that upset the body’s glucose balance.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The California serial killer known as the "Night Stalker," who died this month at age 53 while on death row for a mid-1980s reign of terror in the Los Angeles area, succumbed to complications of cancer, authorities said. Richard Ramirez, who in 1989 was convicted of committing 13 murders in the Los …

DALLAS (AP) — Susan G. Komen for the Cure announced Monday that a physician with a long career in health policy and research will become the breast cancer charity's new president and CEO.

By Ransdell Pierson (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson said it would pay up to $1 billion for Aragon Pharmaceuticals and its experimental drugs for prostate cancer, to bolster J&J's role in the field after it acquired another experimental prostate-cancer treatment four years ago that has become a leading brand. J&J on Monday …

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Watching and routinely examining men with early, slow-growing prostate cancer is more effective and cheaper than sending them to surgery or radiation right away, according to a new study. The findings are based on a model of 65- to 75-year-old men that takes into account costs …

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Increasing the number of hamburgers and other red meat people eat on a daily basis is linked to a higher risk of developing diabetes down the road, according to a new study. "I think the difference is enough to encourage people at least not to increase red meat consumption, …

ZURICH (Reuters) - Japan's health ministry has approved drug Avastin for the treatment of aggressive brain cancer in Japan, Swiss pharmaceuticals company Roche said on Monday. Avastin is the first new medicine approved worldwide for newly diagnosed glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of primary brain cancer, …

Researchers at Canada's McMaster University have taken an alternative path in trying to uncover more information about Crohn's disease. They have developed a new mouse model to study the digestive disorder.

A ruling by the Supreme Court that human genes can't be patented is expected to increase access and drop the cost for tests for gene mutations that greatly raise the risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer.

LONDON (Reuters) - British drugmaker AstraZeneca is deepening its collaboration with academia by roping in more outside researchers to help to find new cancer drugs. Scientists at the Cancer Research UK Paterson Institute for Cancer Research at the University of Manchester will use the company's compounds as a starting …

By Ransdell Pierson (Reuters) - Eli Lilly and Co. said on Thursday it halted a mid-stage study of an experimental Alzheimer's disease treatment due to potential liver toxicity, the latest setback in the quest to find a treatment that can slow or cure the memory-robbing condition. Lilly said the Phase II study of the drug, …

NEW YORK (AP) — Eli Lilly and Co. said Thursday that it stopped a mid-stage clinical trial of an experimental Alzheimer's disease drug because of potential side effects on patients' livers.

A Persistent Case of Diabetes Mellitus in Guam

University of Pittsburgh chemists have come up with a breath sensor that's designed to detect and monitor diabetes. Although they have yet to test the prototype on humans, they see a major potential impact of their discovery on both undetected diabetics and those who dread the continual monitoring the condition require …

(Reuters) - Eli Lilly and Co and Incyte Corp said their experimental drug was effective in reducing painful symptoms associated with rheumatoid arthritis after 52 weeks of treatment. The drug, baricitinib, is part of a new family of medicines called JAK inhibitors that block enzymes believed to be involved in the inflammatory …

Dear Dr. Roach: A friend of mine has Parkinson's disease. She is 90 years old and has been very active for her age, but recently she has not enjoyed life as much as she had. What do you know about Parkinson's? Are there any cures or relief? - W.W.

By Bill Berkrot NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global drugmakers said on Wednesday they would cooperate with an independent review to address concerns of a potential link between widely used diabetes medicines and pancreatic cancer and other safety problems. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) this week called for a new evaluation …

(Reuters) - Amgen Inc's trebananib drug for ovarian cancer extended the length of time that patients lived without the disease getting worse by about two months, meeting the main goal of a late-stage clinical trial, the company said on Wednesday. The trial is the first of three pivotal-stage studies of the experimental …

By Lisa Maria Garza DALLAS (Reuters) - A Texas hospital placed an oncologist on leave after she was charged with spiking her lover's coffee with a sweet-tasting chemical poison, a hospital spokeswoman said on Tuesday. Ana Maria Gonzalez-Angulo, a breast cancer doctor at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center …

ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG has received Swiss approval for Erivedge, the first medicine for people with advanced forms of basal cell carcinoma, the most common skin cancer. Roche, the world's largest maker of cancer drugs, said about 10,300 people are diagnosed with carcinoma in Switzerland a year …

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - After being diagnosed with prostate cancer, men who eat a diet high in vegetable fats, such as those in nuts and olive oil, may be less likely to have their disease spread, a new study suggests. Researchers found that replacing some carbohydrates with those healthy fats was …

(Reuters) - Aveo Oncology said the Food and Drug Administration denied approval for its experimental kidney cancer drug citing inconsistent trial results and asked for an additional study. In a complete response letter to the company, the health regulator said inconsistent survival data from the drug tivozanib's trials …