Below you will find news and press releases from industry, government, and academia regarding product developments and medical/scientific research news.
Drug May Be New Weapon Against a ‘Superbug’
A newly approved drug may help in the battle against Clostridium difficile — a potentially fatal “superbug” gut infection that has become a scourge in U.S. hospitals. In two clinical trials, researchers found that the drug, called bezlotoxumab (Zinplava), cut the risk of a recurrent C. difficile infection by almost 40 percent. That’s important, because the gut infection commonly comes back after treatment with antibiotics — around 20 percent of the time, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read more.
HealthDay News, January 25, 2017
Trulance Approved for Chronic Constipation
Trulance (plecanatide) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat persistent constipation of unknown (idiopathic) cause in adults. Some 42 million people in the United States are affected by constipation, according to the National Institutes of Health. Once-daily Trulance is designed to stimulate the upper gastrointestinal tract to secrete fluid and “support regular bowel function,” the FDA said in a news release. Read more.
Source: HealthDay News, January 20, 2017
Axonics Sacral Neuromodulation System Receives Marketing Approval
Axonics Modulation Technologies, Inc. announced today that it received a Homologation d’un instrument médical (medical device approval) for the first rechargeable Sacral Neuromodulation (r-SNM™) System® to treat Overactive Bladder (OAB), Fecal Incontinence and Urinary Retention. The Health Canada license confirms that the Axonics® product meets all of the Canadian Medical Devices Regulations, Section 36, for Active Implantable Medical Devices and enables Axonics to market its r-SNM System throughout Canada. Read more.
Source: Yahoo! Finance, January 5, 2017
Strong Muscles Tied to Lower Risk of Incontinence in Older Women
Women who have more lean muscle mass or better grip strength may be less likely to experience a common type of urinary incontinence, a study suggests. That’s because strong muscles may help counter what’s known as stress urinary incontinence, which happens when the pelvic floor muscles supporting the bladder are too weak to prevent urine leaks when people do things like cough, sneeze or exercise. Childbirth is a common reason for weak pelvic muscles, and obesity makes the problem worse. Read more.
Source: WHBL, December 15, 2016
StimGuard Enrolls First Patient in Office-Based Chronic Tibial Nerve OAB Incontinence Stimulation Study Utilizing the World’s Smallest Wireless System
StimGuard, a privately-held, pre-commercial stage medical device company, today announced the initiation and the first patient enrollment in a clinical trial of the world’s first miniature implantable device for the treatment of urgency urinary incontinence resulting from refractory overactive bladder (OAB) syndrome. The StimGuard device utilizes wireless technology and is placed through an introducer device the size of a needle at the tibial nerve to activate the afferent micturition (neural urinary) pathways. The clinical trial of this novel approach will launch this winter. Read more.
Source: Business Wire, December 15, 2016
Cytori Pivotal ADRESU Incontinence Trial Hits 50% Enrollment Milestone
Cytori Therapeutics, Inc. (CYTX) today announced that over half of 45 patients in the ADRESU trial in Japan have been enrolled and treated. ADRESU is a late phase, investigator-initiated Japanese clinical trial to study the efficacy and safety of Cytori Cell TherapyTM in men with stress urinary incontinence after prostatic intervention for prostate cancer or benign prostatic hypertrophy. Read more.
Source: Yahoo! Finance, December 14, 2016
When Bathroom Runs Rule the Day (and Night)
I have only one regret about not having been born a male, and it concerns plumbing, namely how easy it is for men to eliminate liquid waste, whether by avoiding long bathroom lines or being able to relieve themselves discreetly when no facility is available. My male envy grew after I contracted poison ivy on unmentionable parts when nature called during a hike in the woods. Urination has long been a vexing problem for women. Read more.
Source: New York Times, December 12, 2016