Category: Research
Kashuba Awarded $1.7 Million to Study Drug-Interaction Potential of New HIV Protease Inhibitor
June 19, 2006Angela D. M. Kashuba, PharmD, has been awarded a $1.7 million contract from Boehringer Ingelheim to study the drug-interaction potential of tipranavir, a new HIV protease inhibitor. Protease is an enzyme that HIV needs in order to make new viruses. When protease is blocked, HIV makes copies of itself that can’t infect new cells. According to Kashuba, many individual drug-drug interaction studies have demonstrated tipranavir’s high interaction potential. Kashuba’s novel phenotyping approach will help in understanding the basis for these interactions and will form the groundwork for further exploration of potentially important drug interactions. The title of Kashuba’s project is “Evaluating the Effects of Tipranavir (with Ritonavir) … Read more
Hansen Receives NIH Career Development Award
June 14, 2006Richard Hansen, PhD, was named a Clinical Research Scholar under the UNC Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Career Development Program. This award is part of the National Institutes of Health Roadmap Initiative and will provide salary and research funding over five years to support Hansen’s work in the multidisciplinary management of depression in primary care. Hansen’s project “The Quality of Antidepressant Use in Primary Care” focuses on understanding and improving adherence to antidepressants in non-psychiatric settings. The UNC MCRCDP is designed to re-engineer the clinical research enterprise by training new clinical research leaders, which is a key component of the NIH Roadmap. Eugene … Read more
Kohn Awarded $1.3 Million to Study Treatment of Neurological Disorders
June 14, 2006Harold Kohn, PhD, Kenan Professor in the UNC School of Pharmacy’s Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products, has been awarded a $1.3 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. The title of Kohn’s project is “Novel Methods to Identify Targets of the Neurological Agent (R)-Lacosamide.” The NIH-funded study is a joint project between the Kohn and Rihe Liu Laboratories. Liu is an assistant professor at the School. According to Kohn’s proposal, epilepsy and neuropathic pain are major neurological disorders that can be treated with a number of different seizure medications. “Even with the use of these medications, many … Read more
Sleath Awarded Travel Grant to Help Glaucoma Patients in India
May 25, 2006Betsy Sleath, PhD, associate professor in the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy, has been awarded a travel grant from the UNC Partnership in Global Health to support her proposal “Improving Treatment Adherence of Glaucoma Patients in Southern India.” In 2004 Sleath and Alan Robin, MD, associate professor of ophthalmology at Johns Hopkins University, developed a a survey to examine problems that patients were having using glaucoma medications. Sleath and Robin recently modified the survey for use at the Aravind Eye Care System in southern rural India. The Aravind Eye Care System offers essentially free eye care to individuals at five eye clinics and hospitals in southern India. Despite the free … Read more
Researchers Link Gene Variation to Coronary Heart Disease
May 24, 2006Research led by Craig Lee, PharmD, a graduate student in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics, shows that a common genetic variation makes some people more susceptible to coronary heart disease. About 15 percent of all Caucasians have the genetic variation, which is also known as a polymorphism. Those who carry the polymorphism are approximately 1.5 times more likely to have a CHD event, such as a heart attack, than those who do not. “We found that Caucasians who carry this polymorphism, named K55R, were at significantly higher risk of coronary heart disease, independent of other risk factors, like cigarette smoking, diabetes, and hypertension,” said … Read more
DPET News Briefs
April 28, 2006Angela Kashuba, associate professor, has been awarded $1.8 million to evaluate the drug interaction potential of a new HIV protease inhibitor. Bruce Canaday, clinical professor, was installed on March 20 as the 2006-2007 APhA president. Jo Ellen Rodgers, clinical assistant professor, is president-elect, Cardiology PRN. Tim Ives, associate professor, was elected secretary of the AACP Pharmacy Practice Section. Ralph Raasch, associate professor, and Christine Walko, academic fellow, received the PY3 Instructor of the Year Award. Dee Melnyk, clinical assistant professor, was named AHEC Instructor of the Year. Angela Kashuba, associate professor, and Julie Dumond, academic fellow, have received the ACCP Infectious Disease Fellowship Award.
Roth Receives Defriese Award
April 17, 2006Mary Roth, PharmD, MHS, has received the 2006 Gordon H. Defriese Career Development in Aging Research Award. The award, given by the UNC Institute on Aging, is presented each year to one UNC faculty or staff member and one doctoral student who demonstrates outstanding promise in aging research. Roth is an assistant professor in the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy in the School of Pharmacy and a research assistant professor in the Division of Geriatric Medicine in the School of Medicine. She has served as co-investigator on numerous aging research projects that focus particular attention to optimizing medication use in older adults with chronic diseases. Roth … Read more
Pharmacy Researchers Find New Way to Produce Popular Anticoagulant
February 7, 2006Scientists at the UNC School of Pharmacy and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered an alternative way to produce heparin, a drug commonly used to stop or prevent blood from forming dangerous clots. Heparin is most often used during and after such procedures as kidney dialysis, heart-bypass surgery, stent implantation, indwelling catheters, and knee and hip replacement to prevent clots from forming and blocking or restricting the flow of blood. The annual worldwide sales of heparin are estimated at $3 billion. “Synthesizing heparin chemically is extremely difficult, but by doing so, we eliminate the risk of viruses and other forms of … Read more
Kashuba Awarded “Paper of the Year” by SIDP
December 14, 2005A manuscript by associate professor Angela Kashuba has been selected by the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists as “Paper of the Year.” The manuscript is entitled “Combining fosamprenavir with lopinavir/ritonavir substantially reduces amprenavir and lopinavir exposure: ACTG protocol A5143 results”. The Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists is an association of health professionals dedicated to promoting the appropriate use of antimicrobials. SIDP provides education, advocacy and leadership in all aspects of the treatment of infectious diseases.
Study: Second-Generation Antidepressants Very Similar
December 14, 2005Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have found evidence that many second-generation antidepressants, despite differences in drug classification and cost, offer patients very similar benefits and only minimal differences in risks. Second-generation antidepressants include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and other drugs that selectively affect the activity of neurotransmitters. A paper published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, led by Richard A. Hansen, PhD, assistant professor in the School of Pharmacy , examined the effects of ten commonly prescribed second-generation antidepressants, including Prozac, Zoloft, Wellbutrin , and Paxil . The study examined the role of these … Read more