Tiny origami-like packages, called voxels, may make drug delivery safer, researchers say. Voxels are hollow, 3-D, programmable-volume, artificial, non-biological volume cells. These submicroscopic containers can deliver potent medications to a targeted location in the body without side effects.

Two novel drug delivery methods—one involving a Trojan horse approach and the other utilizing nanotechnology—offer potential cancer treatment and prevention options, according to research presented at the recent American Association for Cancer Research 2008 Annual Meeting in San Diego.

A new compound takes a different approach to controlling an enzyme that plays a key role in causing hypertension: It activates a recently discovered enzyme known as ACE2. “They’ve found a screening procedure that’s based on a rational [drug discovery] approach that’s potentially going to make it easier to find new drugs that activate targets,” says Kathryn Sandberg, PhD, professor in the Department of Medicine at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., who was not involved in the research.

Method can save months in production of human antibody A new method for human antibody production may make it possible to fight influenza and other infectious diseases in a few weeks compared to the usual two to three months.

Ezetimibe prevents entry into cell The drug ezetimibe (Zetia) lowers cholesterol in some people by blocking a cholesterol-carrying protein from entering cells, a new study reports. Although the Food and Drug Administration approved ezetimibe in 2002, it was unclear how the drug lowers cholesterol concentrations in the blood—until now.