Poor animal study design and reporting thwarts the ethical review of proposed human drug trials, according to a study led by researchers at Hannover Medical School, Germany, in cooperation with researchers from McGill University, Canada. The study, publishing 5 April in the open access journal PLOS Biology, analyzed the descriptions of animal studies found in "investigator brochures" -

Making drugs cheaper doesn't always require pricey investments. A joint initiative by researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), the Dutch company Syncom BV and the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek hospital proves just that. What started out as a Bachelor project at TU/e laid the foundation for a much cheaper production of the promising cancer drug Z-endoxifen.

Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) in hospitals play a vital role in managing the threat of antibiotic resistance. To be of maximum effectiveness, essential elements of ASP programs need to be identified and standardized. Previous efforts in identifying the key components of ASPs have been confined to high-income countries. In a study to be published in the journal Clinical Microbiology and Infection, researchers identify essential elements of ASPs that could be applicable to hospitals in both high-income and low-income countries.

Rising drug prices have gotten a lot of attention lately, but the actual cost of prescription medications is more than just the dollars and cents on the bill. Researchers at Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of California San Diego estimate that illness and death resulting from non-optimized medication therapy costs $528.4 billion annually, equivalent to 16 percent of total U.S. health care expenditures in 2016.

An organic chemical compound shows effective antiviral activity against Ebola virus and several other viruses, according to a study led by Georgia State University. The researchers found benzoquinoline inhibited the ability of Ebola virus to multiply and reproduce in cell culture. The findings are published in the journal Antiviral Research.

By taking a high-cost drug with a low-fat meal - instead of on an empty stomach, as prescribed - prostate cancer patients could decrease their daily dose, prevent digestive issues and cut costs by 75 percent, according to a new study in the March 28, 2018, issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO).

A Vancouver-based research team led by Canada's most cited neuroscientist, Dr. Patrick McGeer, has successfully carried out studies suggesting that, if started early enough, a daily regimen of the non-prescription NSAID (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug) ibuprofen can prevent the onset of Alzheimer's disease. This means that by taking an over-the-counter medication, people can ward off a disease that,