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Estrogen therapy improves low bone density in teenage girls with anorexia nervosa

Estrogen therapy improves low bone density due to anorexia nervosa in teenage girls with the disease when given as a patch or as a low oral dose that is physiological.

6 Jun 2011

Genentech's Avastin, chemotherapy Phase III combination study data on ovarian cancer presented at ASCO

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, today announced results from OCEANS, a Phase III study evaluating Avastin (bevacizumab) in combination with chemotherapy followed by the continued use of Avastin alone in women with previously treated (recurrent) platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer.

6 Jun 2011

Safety of birth control pills under scrutiny

Bayer’s oral contraceptive pills are being reviewed by regulators after some studies suggested they may cause more blood clots than competing medicines.

5 Jun 2011

Indiana officials say they will defy federal order on Planned Parenthood

State lawyers say they must obey a law signed by the governor last month that bars funding to clinics offering abortions. Medicaid officials warned this week that denying payments for covered health services was illegal and could endanger all federal Medicaid payments to the state.

4 Jun 2011

First Edition: June 3, 2011

Reporting for Kaiser Health News, Marilyn Chase writes: "Memorial, a 278-bed hospital in this city 55 miles north of San Francisco, sued California to try to stop the payment reductions. Now it is part of a case before the U.S. Supreme Court that could redefine states' responsibilities on Medicaid services and ultimately determine whether Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown can go forward with cuts he says are vital to closing the state's budget gap.

3 Jun 2011

Birth control pill safety issues raised

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that it is looking at results from two studies that showed there is a higher risk of blood clots in women taking new birth control pills containing the compound drospirenone. Some brand names include Yaz, Yasmin, Beyaz, Ocella, Loryna, Gianvi, Safyral, Syeda and Zarah.

1 Jun 2011

Senate Democrats pressure states to maintain funding for Planned Parenthood

Some Democratic senators are asking a top government health official to warn states that if they try to exclude family planning clinics like Planned Parenthood from Medicaid and Title X funding, they'll face penalties from the federal government (5/27).

27 May 2011

Vertex receives FDA approval for INCIVEK to treat hepatitis C

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved INCIVEK™ (telaprevir) tablets for a broad group of people with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C with compensated liver disease (some level of damage to the liver but the liver still functions), including cirrhosis (scarring of the liver).

23 May 2011

Merck's VICTRELIS receives European CHMP positive opinion for treatment of chronic HCV genotype 1 infection

Merck, today announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency has adopted a positive opinion under accelerated assessment recommending approval of the investigational medicine VICTRELIS (boceprevir) for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus genotype 1 infection, in combination with peginterferon alfa and ribavirin, in adult patients with compensated liver disease who are previously untreated or who have failed previous therapy.

20 May 2011

Bill to expand reproductive health services in the Philippines introduced in country's Congress

A reproductive health bill introduced Tuesday in the House of Representatives in the Philippines "would require the government to provide information on family planning methods, make contraceptives available free of charge and introduce reproductive health and sexuality classes in schools," the Associated Press/Seattle Times reports, noting the scope of controversy surrounding this issue.

20 May 2011

New data on personalized approaches for skin, ovarian and lung cancer to be presented at ASCO meeting

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, today announced that data showing new personalized approaches for people with skin and lung cancer, plus new data with Avastin in ovarian cancer, will be presented at the 47th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

18 May 2011

Researchers uncover unexpected role of estrogen receptors in brain inflammation

Researchers have uncovered an unexpected role for estrogen receptors in the brain in keeping inflammation under control. The findings reported in the May 13 issue of the Cell Press journal Cell may have important implications for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) and many other neurodegenerative diseases.

13 May 2011

Women who naturally bear twins live longer

Compared with other mothers, women who deliver twins live longer, have more children than expected, bear babies at shorter intervals over a longer time, and are older at their last birth, according to a University of Utah study.

11 May 2011

Bills to tighten abortion regulations advance in Texas, La.

As Texas senators gave final approval Tuesday to a bill requiring doctors to conduct sonograms before performing abortions, moving it closer to the governor's desk, a new fight is ramping up over another abortion-related bill.

6 May 2011

FDA approves Novartis' Afinitor tablets for pancreatic NET treatment

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration approved Afinitor tablets for the treatment of progressive neuroendocrine tumors of pancreatic origin in patients with unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic disease.

6 May 2011

States are battlegrounds for Planned Parenthood funding, abortion issues

Speaker John Boehner has thus far refused to make social issues central in his agenda, focusing instead on spending and the debt. But the House today will briefly wade into the social wars of the 1990s, bringing up a controversial anti-abortion bill. The measure, which is expected to pass, would prohibit federal funding for abortions and create new controls on private companies that offer insurance plans that cover abortions.

5 May 2011

Nation's emergency physicians warn about dangers linked with deep vein thrombosis

As temperatures warm and travel picks up around the country, the nation's emergency physicians issue a warning about the serious dangers associated with deep vein thrombosis.

5 May 2011

More women using ‘morning after’ pill

Figures have revealed that the rate of women using emergency contraception in 2006-08 more than doubled, compared with the rate in the previous four to six years, before the pills were approved for use without a prescription. This comes from a study from the Guttmacher Institute.

29 Apr 2011

Newer birth control pill raises risk of blood clots

Two human trials in the US and the UK including women from both populations showed that women taking newer forms of oral contraceptives, which include drosperinone, a synthetic version of the hormone progesterone, increased their risk of developing a blood clots by two or three times over those taking older birth control pills that rely on a different form of the hormone known as levonorgestrel.

26 Apr 2011

GSK receives FDA approval for Lamictal XR to treat partial seizures

GlaxoSmithKline announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Lamictal XR Extended-Release Tablets for conversion to monotherapy in patients 13 years and older with partial seizures taking one anti-epileptic drug.

26 Apr 2011