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PAREXEL, Bristol-Myers Squibb establish strategic partnership in clinical development

PAREXEL International Corporation, a leading global biopharmaceutical services provider, today announced that Bristol-Myers Squibb, a global biopharmaceutical company, has established a strategic partnership with PAREXEL to enable greater effectiveness in clinical development.

From Parexel 14 Jun 2010

Feds to issue rules on 'grandfathered' health plans and new law

The Wall Street Journal reports that draft regulations "being developed by the Obama administration say more than half of employer health care plans may lose their grandfathered status and be required to comply with the health overhaul bill approved March 23. The guidelines are likely to touch off fresh disputes between President Obama and opponents of the health care bill.

14 Jun 2010

Health overhaul skirmishes simmer over government fliers, drug benefits

Republicans are complaining that, while the IRS sent out 4 million fliers to publicize $40 billion in tax credits for small businesses, the agency did not make a similar effort to inform tanning salons and their customers about a new 10 percent tax on their services, Politico reports.

14 Jun 2010

Health reform continue to dominate campaigns

After voting "no" on the health reform bill earlier this year, Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga., has gotten significantly less support from colleagues than he did in previous re-election bids, The Hill reports. "Only five lawmakers ... have given money from their personal campaign funds to Barrow in the 2010 cycle. Five other elected Dems gave money to Barrow through their leadership political action committees."

14 Jun 2010

AMA's support for health law sparks infighting

A fissure has developed in the American Medical Association, the powerful physicians' lobby that backed the health reform bill earlier this year, about support for the sweeping measure, according to news reports.

14 Jun 2010

Asterand subsidiary BioSeek signs agreement with Amylin

Asterand plc, a leading provider of human tissue and human tissue-based research services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies engaged in drug discovery, today announces that its subsidiary BioSeek, LLC, a pioneer in the application of predictive human biology to drug discovery, has signed a one-year collaboration agreement with Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

14 Jun 2010

New path involving "innocent spectators" to defeat systemic sclerosis

There is a new path to defeat systemic sclerosis, also called scleroderma because of the hardening of the skin of the patients (from Greek skleros, "hard", and derma, "skin"). This path involves the B-cell of the immune system, so far only considered "innocent spectators," as Catholic University rheumatologist Gianfranco Ferraccioli, among the authors of the important research, puts it.

14 Jun 2010

Today's Opinions: Medicare advantage to shrink; Insurers anti-trust protection; Health law regulations; The need for maternity leave

In the long run, there's no getting around the fact that Advantage plans will shrink in generosity and availability (Austin Frakt, 6/14).

14 Jun 2010

UCB announces availability of Vimpat oral solution formulation

UCB today announced the availability of an oral solution formulation of Vimpat- (lacosamide) C-V, an antiepileptic drug (AED) for add-on treatment of partial-onset seizures in people with epilepsy age 17 years and older. Vimpat 10 mg/mL solution is now available in U.S. pharmacies.

14 Jun 2010

Ingen Technologies' new SMART Nasal Cannula unveiled at Alpha-1 19th National Education Conference

Ingen Technologies, Inc., a medical device manufacturer with an emerging new medical product line for the respiratory market worth an estimated $4 billion in the U.S. and $8 billion globally, unveiled their new SMART Nasal Cannula in Orlando-Florida last week at the Alpha-1 19th Annual National Education Conference.

14 Jun 2010

Programs try cash incentives to get forgetful patients to take meds

The New York Times reports on a new approach to getting patients to take their medications consistently: financial incentives. "One-third to one-half of all patients do not take medication as prescribed, and up to one-quarter never fill prescriptions at all, experts say. Such lapses fuel more than $100 billion dollars in health costs annually because those patients often get sicker. Now, a controversial, and seemingly counterintuitive, effort to tackle the problem is gaining ground: paying people money to take medicine or to comply with prescribed treatment."

14 Jun 2010

MP Biomedicals to acquire ICPbio International

MP Biomedicals LLC announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of ICPbio International LTD., an Auckland, New Zealand based protein biologics manufacturing company, subject to normal closing adjustments. This acquisition places MP Biomedicals in a strong position to pursue sales and distribution of serum protein products used in research and manufacturing in the Biopharmaceutical, In vitro diagnostic and Biotech sectors.

From MP Biomedicals, LLC 14 Jun 2010

Esperion, Cleveland Clinic collaborate to research new HDL therapies for cardiovascular disease

Esperion Therapeutics, a privately held biopharmaceutical company working to discover, develop and commercialize treatments for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, today announced the establishment of a collaborative research agreement with Cleveland Clinic, one of the world's leading academic medical centers. The collaboration will work to advance research targeting new HDL therapies to treat cardiovascular disease.

14 Jun 2010

Medical marijuana advocates bypassing traditional approval, effectiveness regulations

NPR continues its examination of medical marijuana: "Fourteen states and the District of Columbia have launched a medical experiment that doesn't follow any of the rules of science. By approving the use of marijuana as a medicine — with varying kinds of restrictions — these jurisdictions are bypassing the federal government's elaborate processes for approving medicines."

14 Jun 2010

BioAMD establishes headquarters at Daresbury SIC

Flex Fuels Energy, Inc. announced today that its subsidiary, BioAMD Holdings Ltd., has established its headquarters at the prestigious Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus in the United Kingdom. BioAMD is in the $12.6 billion Point-of-Care medical diagnostics industry.

14 Jun 2010

Agile Therapeutics completes $45 million Series B Preferred Stock financing round

Agile Therapeutics, Inc., a late-stage pharmaceutical company specializing in women's healthcare products, today announced that it completed a $45 million Series B Preferred Stock financing. The financing round was co-led by Investor Growth Capital and Care Capital, with strong participation from ProQuest Investments. Kaiser Permanente Ventures and Novitas Capital also joined the financing round. Investor Growth Capital, Care Capital, and Kaiser Permanente Ventures are new investors to Agile.

14 Jun 2010

DV Biologics executes agreement with System Biosciences to develop iPSC lines

DV Biologics LLC announced today that it has executed an agreement with System Biosciences LLC for the development of human-derived disease-specific induced pluripotent stem cell lines.

14 Jun 2010

FDA clears U.Va.'s SpermCheck Fertility at-home test

Couples will soon have a new tool in diagnosing male infertility - without the expense and inconvenience associated with a trip to a specialist's office.

14 Jun 2010

'Micro-ear' to screen for malaria, sleeping sickness

A team of researchers from the Universities of Glasgow and Oxford, and the UK's National Institute of Medical Research at Mill Hill, are developing a 'micro-ear' which may help develop medicines and screening for diseases such as malaria and sleeping sickness in Africa. The project is in two parts, explains Professor Jon Cooper, a bio-engineer at University of Glasgow.

14 Jun 2010

UBC earns high ratings in 2010 late phase market dynamics survey

United BioSource Corporation (UBC) today announced results from an independent survey that examined late phase product development services delivered by 34 contract research organizations and other scientific and medical affairs companies serving the biopharmaceutical industry. The report, titled 2010 Late Phase Market Dynamics and published by Industry Standard Research (ISR), provided data and analysis from a survey that captured information from 149 respondents, representing 95 companies.

14 Jun 2010