elnathan Blog

GlaxoSmithKline's experimental once-weekly diabetes drug albiglutide was effective in late-stage clinical trials, but the medicine may struggle to differentiate itself in an increasingly competitive market. Albiglutide belongs to the same class of injectable GLP-1 drugs as Victoza, from Novo Nordisk, and Byetta and Bydureon, from Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca. GSK said in a statement on Monday that its treatment had lowered glycated hemoglobin, an indicator of blood glucose levels, more than placebo and some other treatments in the series of trials. Albiglutide, which has been submitted for U.S. and European regulatory approval, met its main goal in five studies, although it did not demonstrate that it was equally as good as pioglitazone in one group of patients. The most commonly reported adverse effects in the studies were gastrointestinal, mainly nausea and diarrhea, and injection site reactions, the company said. Given its clinical p...

The Guardian newspaper published an interview with Michael Douglas on Sunday, in which the 68-year-old actor said his throat cancer hadn’t been caused by drinking or smoking – but by having oral sex. “Without wanting to get too specific, this particular cancer is caused by HPV, which actually comes about from cunnilingus,” Douglas told the British newspaper.  Douglas also went on to speculate that the stress of his son Cameron’s incarceration might have helped trigger the cancer as well. While a representative for Douglas maintains the actor did not specifically say oral sex was the cause of his cancer, the conversation still begs the question: Does having oral sex play a role in the development of oral cancer? While a connection between the two may seem bizarre, it is very possible that some oral cancers are the end result of intimate sexual contact. Rates of oral cancer – sometimes referred to as head and neck cancers – have been on the rise over the past ...