Pregnant mothers are tied up with their babies, even with illnesses found in the body. Pregnancy-related diabetes, also known as gestational diabetes, is prevalent among mothers that have elevated blood sugar, high blood pressure, and experiencing obesity. The odds of experiencing the complication are higher for overweight and obese women, which is three times higher than those with normal weight are, and 2.5 times higher for those with high blood sugar levels. With proper diabetic diet plan and medical treatment, pregnant women with gestational diabetes can also have healthy babies and their condition improve after delivery.

While it is no longer a surprise to realize that diabetes is associated with weight problems and soaring blood sugar, it can be alarming that the signs of gestational diabetes can be predicted seven years before pregnancy happens.

Monique Hedderson, PhD, a research scientist with the Kaiser Permanente health-care organization, in Oakland, California has mentioned women under the pregnancy age need to undergo certain programs to manage their weight effectively such as eating more food within the diabetes food pyramid and practicing basic exercise, preparing for the right weight by the time they get pregnant.

It is also stated that undergoing such measures are necessary before, during, and after pregnancy since women get to be pregnant more than once, and maintenance initiated immediately after the first birth will prepare the mother for the subsequent ones to follow. A few of the problems involved in gestational diabetes is the larger risk of delivering a large baby that results to a Cesarean delivery, who has contracted a higher risk of heart disease and Type 2 Diabetes.

Known risk factors in Alzheimer’s disease, obesity and Type 2 diabetes affect more and more elderly people in the United States. New study conducted by a team of researchers under the lead of professor Paresh Dandona of State University of New York shows weight loss after bariatric surgery reduces the manifestation of the expression in genes responsible for Alzheimer’s disease.

After conducting the study on fifteen Type 2 diabetes patients also suffering from obesity, the researchers found amyloid precursor protein (APP) expression reduced in their white blood cells after gastric bypass surgery and significant weight loss. The APP is linked to the proteins that form part of Alzheimer’s symptoms namely plaques in the patient’s brain.

The study shows a significant reduction in APP, more than 20% reduction, in patients that go through bariatric surgery and lose significant amounts of weight. The RNA messenger that is responsible for carrying APP information to the brain was also reduced more than 30% in these patients. These results led the researchers to the conclusion that bariatric surgery followed by a reduction in weight is a preventing factor for Alzheimer’s disease.

Other data from the study, such as the reduction in the presenilin-2 gene which is also related to an increased Alzheimer’s risk, also support these conclusions. However the data from this study is not enough to prove all these changes are occurring in the brain at same levels but if that is the case this is going to be very useful in treating common dementia.

The liver cancer therapeutics market was valued at $382.2m in 2009, indicating a growth rate of 27.1% between 2001 and 2009. Until the market entry of Nexavar (sorafenib) in 2007, the liver cancer therapeutics market was growing at a rate of only 9%. Up until now, Nexavar has been the only approved drug for the treatment of liver cancer. Even though Nexavar extends overall survival by only three months, the drug is widely prescribed in the US and in some countries in Europe. The late-stage clinical development pipeline consists of many first-in-class and me-too drugs that are effective and safe for liver cancer patients. Once these drugs enter the market, the market will grow further at a significant rate. GlobalData estimates that the liver cancer therapeutics market in 2017 will be $1.2bn.

High Unmet Needs Exist in the Liver Cancer Therapeutics Market in Terms of Efficacy and Safety

The liver cancer market has high unmet needs in terms of both efficacy and safety. More than 90% of patients diagnosed with liver cancer are between 45 years and 85 years of age. Nexavar is the only available Food and Drug Association (FDA) approved treatment for advanced liver cancer patients. However, the median survival time in patients treated with Nexavar is only three months more than for patients treated with a placebo. Moreover, Nexavar has a low safety profile. About 39% and 6% of Nexavar-treated patients reported grade 3 and grade 4 adverse reactions respectively.

The Liver Cancer Pipeline is Very Strong with Many New First-In-Class Drugs in Late-Stage Clinical Development

The liver cancer pipeline is very strong, with approximately 54 molecules in the various stages of development. The majority of these molecules are first-in-class molecules that act on new receptors with new mechanisms of action. The late-stage pipeline is inundated with many first-in-class molecules, such as Miripla (miripaltin), and S-1. Miripla was approved in Japan for the treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) in January 2010. The drug is undergoing clinical trials in the US and Europe and is expected to receive regulatory approval by 2011. The first-in-class molecules are primarily Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha (TNF-alpha) inhibitors, selective estrogen receptor modulators and light activated therapies.