An experimental test that identifies extra DNA from dying breast cells proved effective and accurate in detecting and ruling out breast cancer, according to researchers at California-based Chronix Biomedical. "This study supports the potential of an entirely new approach to identifying cancer at its earliest stages when therapies may be most effective," said one of the researchers. (3/9)

U.S. researchers said they were able to fix a serious bone defect in a wheelchair-bound patient after performing a surgical technique that uses periosteum, a thin bone-lining tissue containing stem cells that repair injuries by turning into bone. They also developed an artificial periosteum membrane and found that it promoted bone development in sheep two to three weeks after the procedure. (3/10)

Injecting reovirus, a respiratory virus that causes no serious disease in humans, into the tumors of six patients with early-stage prostate cancer resulted in the death of cancer cells without causing harm to nearby tissue, Canadian scientists found. "Our results are a stepping stone into future prostate cancer clinical trials with another category of cancer therapeutics," the lead researcher said. (3/9)

Humanetics has received a U.S. patent for BIO 300, a radiation protection drug. The company considers the patent a milestone, adding to the drug's patents in Europe and Australia. (3/8)

The FDA's Office of Orphan Products Development is hosting workshops to encourage research into treatments for rare diseases among drug and biotech companies, academic institutes as well as patient advocates. The first seminar was held last month and resulted in 14 submissions for orphan-drug status out of 29 potential sponsors, but Timothy Coté, director of the division, said he hopes to gather more applications during the second workshop in August. (3/10)

Many comparative-effectiveness studies do not address fundamental issues, such as how a medicine can be used more effectively, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The data "suggest government and noncommercial support should be increased for studies involving nonpharmacologic therapies, for studies comparing different therapeutic strategies, and for studies focusing on the comparative safety and cost of different therapies," researchers said. (3/9)

GlaxoSmithKline reached an agreement with Cellzome to develop tablet medicines for inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. The deal, worth as much as $690 million, builds on a 2008 collaboration that also involved Cellzome's epigenetics technology. (3/9)