Tag Archives: clinical trial

EU Patients as Partners in Medicines Development conference to be held virtually on Jan 24-25, 2022

(PRESS RELEASE) New York, NY, United States, 5-Jan-2021 — /EPR HEALTHCARE NEWS/ — The Conference Forum announced the launch of the 6th annual EU Patients as Partners in Medicines Development conference to take place virtually on January 24-25th, 2022 GMT time.

​​This annual event, the first of its kind in Europe, will feature successful collaborations between patients and pharma where patient input directly impacted aspects of how a pharmaceutical company either designed or conducted a clinical trial.

Of the 20 sessions, half include a patient or patient advocate. This two-day program will demonstrate how patient-led research can improve the way pharma conducts clinical trials.

Examples include UCB developing new assessment tools to measure the effectiveness of novel treatments for Parkinson’s disease, changes in the design and implementation of an MS trial for greater patient engagement, and the development of a new toolkit to change the way patients are compensated for their contributions in clinical research.

“Patients have become more empowered,” says co-chair Michaela Dinboeck, Head, Center of Excellence for Patient Engagement at Novartis. “So patient engagement must be integrated into the DNA of how medicines are developed, approved, and used. Patients as Partners Europe will provide Pharma with valuable insights on how to achieve this.”

Participating pharma companies include Novartis, Pfizer, Merck KGaA, EMD Serono, Janssen, Johnson & Johnson, GSK, Ipsen, UCB, Takeda, AbbVie, Noema Pharma, Gilead Sciences, Regeneron, and Pierre Fabre.

Other topics to be addressed include: Scaling patient engagement activities company-wide, engaging patients in early clinical development, leveraging social media to gain patient insights, diversity and inclusion in research and updates on patient engagement activities in Eastern Europe.

To learn more, please visit Patients as Partners Europe.

SOURCE: EuropaWire

URSAPHARM and CEBINA collaborating to repurpose the antihistamine drug azelastine hydrochloride as a potential anti-SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic

SAARBRÜCKEN / VIENNA, 17-Feb-2021 — /EPR HEALTHCARE NEWS/ — In the fight against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, a large number of pharmaceutical companies are looking for new approaches to combat the pandemic. In addition to vaccines, intensive research and development efforts around the world are focusing on identifying new anti-COVID therapeutics that includes re-evaluation of existing product portfolios with a view to re-purpose drugs that have antiviral properties.

With this goal in mind, URSAPHARM Arzneimittel GmbH, based in Saarbrücken, and the Vienna-based biotech company CEBINA GmbH (Central European Biotech Incubator and Accelerator) are collaborating to repurpose the antihistamine drug azelastine hydrochloride as a potential anti-SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic. Azelastine has been successfully used for many years in anti-allergic therapy.

Starting with a novel computational drug repurposing prediction method, developed and performed by Prof Dr Robert Konrat (University of Vienna), CEBINA selected already approved active substances for experimental testing in collaboration with Prof Dr. Ferenc Jakab (Virology National Laboratory, Szentágothai-Research-Center, University of Pécs, Hungary). This collaborative effort led to the identification of azelastine as a potent antiviral compound effective against SARS-CoV-2, a finding confirmed by now by several independent research groups. The potent anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of azelastine was demonstrated in a reconstituted human nasal tissue model and was evident at a lower dose than present in commercially available nasal sprays [1].

A clinical trial has started on February 16th 2021 to verify whether the use of a nasal spray preparation containing azelastine can achieve a reduction in viral load in the the nasal cavity. The aim of the study is to show whether the anti-allergic medication Pollival® Nasal Spray, or a diluted version, can achieve a reduction in the viral load, therefore reducing transmission and positively influencing the course of the disease.

If positive results of the running clinical studies are demonstrated, URSAPHARM Arzneimittel GmbH and CEBINA GmbH believe this will be an important new approach to control viral spread and contain the current pandemic.

SOURCE: EuropaWire