Archive
-
December 2007 (25)
-
November 2007 (25)
-
October 2007 (28)
-
September 2007 (25)
-
August 2007 (18)
Subscribe
Health News RSS feed
Health News
'Nose' to sniff out drug side-effects
An artificial 'nose' will be able to sniff out the side-effects of new drugs, its Scottish developers hope.
The device, under development by teams from the universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde, will contain 1,000 sensors able to detect the chemical signatures given off by cells.
The team says that drug side-effects such as dizziness and nausea produce a distinct chemical signature. By testing cells for known signatures in response to a new drug, the researchers hope that scientists will be able to eliminate unsuitable drug candidates at an earlier stage of research.
Currently, only one in 30 drugs that enter trials is approved for use. The team hopes that, if successful, the device could save the pharmaceutical industry the expense and risk of trialling unsafe drugs, as well as reducing the need for animal testing.
Meanwhile, official figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats have shown that almost 1,000 patients die each year after suffering an adverse reaction to their medicines. BBC News reports that almost 3,000 people have died from drug reactions in the last three years, with more than 13,000 hospitalised over the same period.
Category: 
Latest News Stories