Approximately 21 million visits were made to physicians' offices due to back problems in 2006. While countless adults experience back pain and stiffness, many suffer from serious spine and back conditions including injury, herniated discs and the deterioration of the vertebrae. Three new studies presented at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) detail advances in back care and treatment options for specific back and spine conditions.

BioVex Inc, a private biotechnology company developing new generation biologics for the treatment of cancer and prevention of infectious disease, announced that the first subject had been dosed in the Phase 1 study of its live attenuated genital herpes vaccine, ImmunoVEX^HSV2. The Phase 1 study is an open label ascending dose trial, assessing safety and immune response in healthy volunteers.

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have found that using high-resolution CT-scans to screen for lymphangioleiomyomatosis, or LAM, is cost-effective in non-smoking women between 25 and 54 who come to the emergency room for the first time with a collapsed lung.The findings have been published online ahead of print publication in the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

ATLANTA - Physicians treating patients with shock should consider norepinephrine instead of dopamine as a tool for stabilizing blood pressure, according to an editorial in the March 4, 2010, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).Jerrold Levy, MD, FAHA, professor and deputy chair for research, Department of Anesthesiology, Emory University School of Medicine, and co-director of cardiothoracic anesthesiology, Emory Healthcare, authored the editorial.

BioClinica™, Inc., (NASDAQ: BIOC), a global provider of clinical trial management services, today announced the launch of BioClinica Optimizer, a breakthrough for clinical supply planning and management that it believes has the potential to transform clinical trial supply forecasting and management. BioClinica Optimizer is a new product that combines and enhances the features of tcVisualize and tcOptimizer developed by Tourtellotte Solutions, which was acquired by BioClinica in September 2009. Allowing a customer to move beyond the current environment of spreadsheets and manual tools to plan and analyze clinical supply chains programmatically, BioClinica Optimizer integrates planning and feedback loops with other eClinical technologies.

FDA cleared Shire’s Gaucher disease enzyme replacement therapy (ERT), VPRIV™ (velaglucerase alfa for injection). The drug is a human cell line derived hydrolytic lysosomal glucocerebroside-specific enzyme, indicated for use as long-term ERT in adult and pediatric patients with type 1 Gaucher disease.

Aradigm Corporation (OTCBB:ARDM) (the “Company”) today announced that it dosed the first patient in the U.S. as part of its ORBIT-1 (Once-daily Respiratory Bronchiectasis Inhalation Treatment) trial, an international, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2b study designed to evaluate the Company's inhaled liposomal ciprofloxacin (ARD-3100) in patients with non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis (BE) under a U.S. IND. This orphan disease indication is a chronic, severe respiratory disease and there are currently no approved treatments for this disease in the U.S.

Novelos Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCBB: NVLT), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of therapeutics to treat cancer and hepatitis, today announced that the primary endpoint of improvement in overall survival was not met in Novelos’ pivotal Phase 3 trial in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) studying its lead product, NOV-002, in combination with first-line chemotherapy. Detailed trial results are expected to be presented via appropriate scientific venue later this year.