Health - Hepatitis latest news

Six children are sick following a hepatitis A outbreak at a Palmerston North early childcare centre.

Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc., a leader in diagnostic imaging, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved EOVIST(R) (Gadoxetate Disodium) Injection, a gadolinium-based contrast agent, for intravenous use in T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the liver to detect and characterize lesions in adults with known or suspected focal liver disease.

The French National Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis (ANRS), with the support of Pharmasset, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRUS) and Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD), has initiated the first head-to-head study of clevudine and Viread(R) (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) administered separately, versus their combination, for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in non-cirrhotic patients.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Bayer Schering Pharma's magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent Primovist® (gadoxetate disodium) for the detection and characterization of liver lesions in adults with known or suspected focal liver disease. The product will be marketed in the United States under the name EOVIST®; it is currently marketed as Primovist outside the U.S. and as EOB Primovist in Japan.

LifeCycle Pharma A/S (OMX:LCP) announced positive top-line results from a completed Phase II clinical study of LCP-Tacro tablets in stable liver transplant patients which are in line with earlier data announced for stable kidney transplant patients.

A key enzyme may explain how hepatitis C infection causes fatty liver - a buildup of excess fat in the liver, which can lead to life-threatening diseases such as cirrhosis and liver cancer, report University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public health and School of medicine researchers.

Currently, around 15,000 patients are receiving free treatment in 70 hospitals throughout the country including FATA, FANA and Azad Jammu and Kashmir , Daily Times has learnt.

The French National Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis , with the support of Pharmasset, Inc.