Speaker: Massimo D’Amato, MD, Senior Investigator, Clinical Pharmacology, Rotta Research Laboratories, Monza, Italy
The cholecystokinin (CCK) receptor antagonist dexloxiglu-mide (Rotta Research Laboratories/Forest Laboratories) might be a novel therapeutic agent for the treatment of constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (C-IBS) in female patients, having demonstrated its effectiveness in relieving IBS symptoms, and because it is well-tolerated.

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Novel Proton Pump Inhibitor for GERD with EE
Speaker: Donald O. Castell, MD, Professor of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina
Esomeprazole (Nexium generic, AstraZeneca), the S-isomer of generic omeprazole, when taken in doses of 40 mg daily, is more effective in rapidly achieving sustained resolution of daily and nocturnal heartburn in patients with [...]

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Speaker: Paul Reading, PhD, Clinical Neurologist, Department of Neurology, Newcastle General Hospital, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, United Kingdom.
Results from an open-exploratory study point out that the cholinesterase inhibitor rivastigmine (Exelon, Novartis) has a positive effect on the neuropsychiatric complications of Parkinson’s disease (PD), particularly hallucinations and sleep disturbances, and significantly enhances cognitive performance without worsening motor control.

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Speaker: Jose Ferreira, MD, Pediatric Epilepsy Neurologist, Pediatric Epilepsy and Neurology Specialists, Tampa, Florida.
Topiramate (Topamax medication, Ortho-McNeil), a broad-spectrum antiepileptic, appears to be efficacious and generally well­tolerated in pediatric and adolescent migraine prophylaxis, substantially reducing migraine headache frequency and severity and improving the disability associated with migraine.

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Combination Therapy for Relapsing-Remitting MS Speaker: Silva Markovic-Plese, MD, Clinical Fellow, Neuroimmunology Branch, the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
Interferon beta-1b (INF-beta-1b) (Betaseron, Berlex) and azathioprine (Imuran drug, Prometheus) combination therapy appears to offer an effective treatment approach in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) who are refractory [...]

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Currently, the only varicella vaccine product available in the U.S. is the live virus sold as Varivax® (Merck). The vaccine is administered as a single injection to children between 12 months and 13 years of age and as a two- injection series to at-risk adults (see Figure 1).

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The two different formulations of pneumococcal vaccines currently available in the U.S. are pneumococcal conjugate vaccine 7-valent, also called PCV7 and sold as Prevnar® (Wyeth-Lederle), and pneumococcal 23-valent vaccine (Pneumovax 23® [Merck] and Pnu-Immune-23® [Wyeth-Lederle]). The pneumococcal conjugate vaccine 7-valent is a conjugated vaccine, rendering it more immunogenic in infants and children younger than 2 [...]

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