A research team has developed the first small molecule that can reversibly activate a key protein involved in balancing sodium levels, paving the way for drugs that can treat low blood pressure and related conditions.

Molecules from cone snail venom and African plants are being used by Queensland researchers as a blueprint to develop an oral drug to treat chronic pain.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have shown that increasing the brain level of receptors for dopamine, a pleasure-related chemical, can reduce use of cocaine by 75 percent in rats trained to self-administer it.

As stronger and deadlier strains of tuberculosis emerge, current drugs used to treat the disease are becoming ineffective. But it may take many years to develop new medications that can tackle multi-drug and extremely drug resistant TB.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: TEVA), an international pharmaceutical company, has gained exclusive rights to sell copies of Johnson & Johnson’s drug Risperdal.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is going to conduct some tests in order to find out if two transplant drugs have anything to do with a rare central nervous system disorder.

Although behavioral studies clearly indicate that exposure to drugs, alcohol and tobacco in utero is bad for a baby's developing brain, specific anatomic brain effects have been hard to tease out in humans. Often users don't limit themselves to one substance, and demographic factors like poverty can also influence brain development.

Policies requiring authorization before physicians can prescribe newer medications to schizophrenic patients may be counter-productive. According to a new study, patients in Maine’s Medicaid program who found themselves in this situation were 29% more likely to stop or disrupt medication use than patients not subject to the policy.

A large community-based registry of patients treated with drug-eluting stents is providing important insight into how long patients with complex coronary artery disease typically stick to their doctors’ orders to take clopidogrel, a drug that prevents unwanted blood clots; why they stop taking the drug; and the long-term consequences of that decision.

Determining the structure of unknown natural compounds is a slow and expensive part of drug screening and development – but this may now change thanks to a new combination of experimental and computational protocols developed at the University of California, San Diego and presented at RECOMB 2008 (Research in Computational Molecular Biology) on March 31 in Singapore.

Dr. Mohler will present results of a trial that may herald a new class of medications to prevent heart attack and stroke.

Following free drug sample receipt, patients who receive these samples have significantly higher out-of-pocket prescription costs than those who don't, according to the first study to look at the out-of-pocket cost associated with free-sample use, published in the March 24, 2008, issue of Medical Care.