World important news by Emilee

UPDATE 1-FDA reviewers unconvinced on Teva Parkinson’s drug

By Alina SelyukhOct 13 (Reuters) - Teva Neuroscience Inc’s clinical trials of its Parkinson’s drug Azilect left U.S. drug reviewers unconvinced that the treatment slows the disease’s progression.In documents released on Thursday, Food and Drug Administration researchers raised concerns about the design of the studies, their analysis and results.They added, however, that, “it has not been clear what sort of data would definitively establish” whether a drug modifies the disease.”There is no demonstrated benefit of rasagiline (Azilect’s generic name) for slowing the rate of progression of Parkinson’s Disease,” one reviewer wrote.Azilect, which Teva markets alongside Danish partner Lundbeck in a number of countries, is approved to treat symptoms of the neurological disorder, such as trembling limbs, stiffness, slow movement and impaired balance.The Israel-based drugmaker wants to expand the drug’s indication to show that Azilect slows the clinical progression of Parkinson’s.There is no existing cure or treatment that slows or entirely stops the progression of Parkinson’s.The review was also complicated by the fact that it is hard to draw a line between treating the symptoms of Parkinson’s and treating the disease.Much is unknown about Parkinson’s, including the causes of the neurogenetic disorder. Anywhere from 500,000 to 1.5 million Americans are estimated have the disease, and nearly 60,000 are diagnosed each year, according to Parkinson’s Action Network.Azilect received FDA approval in 2006 for use as a single drug therapy in early Parkinson’s and, in more advanced patients, as addition to levodopa, a standard treatment for the disease that can mask symptoms of the disease, but does not stop its progression.Teva’s drug works by blocking the breakdown of dopamine, a chemical that sends information to the parts of the brain that control muscle movement and coordination.FDA advisers will vote on Oct. 17 on whether Teva has provided the drug regulator with enough evidence of Azilect slowing down Parkinson’s.

Indian village suffers for lack of women

They live, eat and sleep together, sharing mattresses on the bare floor of an empty room the way a married couple usually would. All but a handful are unmarried — a living example of India’s rapidly worsening gender imbalance.Census data released earlier this year revealed there are 914 girls for every 1,000 boys born - a sharp fall since 2001 when the ratio was 933 girls for every 1000 boys.”I have been looking to marry since I was 15,” said Vinodbhai Mehtaliya, a 23-year-old Siyani farmer.A decades-old Indian preference for male children, who are seen as breadwinners, has led to the skewed ratio, aided by cheap ultrasound tests that assist in sex-selective abortions and female infanticide.Siyani, in the western state of Gujarat, shows the decline. Here, some 350 men over the age of 35 are simply unable to get married — out of a total population of roughly 8,000.”I’m lucky I got married 20 years ago” said 42-year-old Laljibhai Makwana, who works as a diamond polisher in one of the village’s small workshops. “If I was young here today I would never get married.”The absence of women is obvious in the village’s bumpy, tiny lanes, where cows wander freely, especially in the evenings.”There is little industrial development or infrastructure here, so people are poor and uneducated,” said Prashant Dave, the 41-year-old owner of a small flour mill who said he was lucky to be married.”There are too few women and they leave for better prospects.”Among the group of men living together, men perform all the tasks which are traditionally the domain of women: sweeping, cooking and cleaning.The situation has also led to another reversal in custom, with some women and their parents asking for a lot of money from men to allow men to marry them, an inversion of the usual dowry system in which the woman’s family has to pay the man’s.At sunset, as the day’s work ends, groups of unmarried men gather around the village tea stalls and tobacco shops, lacking wives and families to go home to.”I’ve given up looking,” said Bharatbhai Khair, who is single at 45 and has been trying to marry for 25 years.”The women want more money for marriage than I can afford.” here-of-eternal-bachelors/

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