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AOSSM and RTI Biologics award $250,000 grant for ligament and tendon repair and regeneration research

Dr. Robert C. Bray of the University of Calgary was recently selected as the winner of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's (AOSSM) $250,000 Ligament and Tendon Repair and Regeneration Grant for his project, "Biological Augmentation of Ligament and Tendon Healing: Role of Neuropeptides."

25 Feb 2010

FDA approves Pfizer's Prevnar 13 pneumococcal conjugate vaccine

Pfizer Inc. announced today that the United States Food and Drug Administration has granted approval for Prevnar 13™ (Pneumococcal 13-valent Conjugate Vaccine [Diphtheria CRM197 Protein]), the Company’s 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

25 Feb 2010

Doctors work fewer hours, study finds

A new study finds that doctors are working fewer hours even as the shortage of primary care physicians persists.

25 Feb 2010

Researchers develop evaluation tool to help guide asymptomatic pancreatic cyst treatment

As a result of improved imaging technology, pancreatic cysts are increasingly diagnosed in asymptomatic individuals who undergo scans for other reasons. And while most of these cysts follow a benign course, a small but significant number are either malignant at the time of diagnosis or have the potential to develop into pancreatic cancer during a patient's lifetime.

25 Feb 2010

Obama, GOP clash over summit starting point; Voters note partisan divide

The Obama administration says its health overhaul proposal is a starting point, not a final word, Reuters reports. "It is important to understand that this proposal isn't meant to be the final say on the legislation,' Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Reform, said in an email."

25 Feb 2010

Special Issue of Business Horizons addresses issues central to healthcare and life sciences

A recent Special Issue of Business Horizons (www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor), the journal of the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, and published by Elsevier, addresses issues central to healthcare and life sciences. Healthcare reform, for example, has been at the center of U.S. political debate in recent years with renewed attempts to gain bipartisan support from Congress for passage of a national system of health insurance coverage.

25 Feb 2010

Current health reform debate haunted by health bills of the past

Key provisions of the 1993 Republican bill, introduced by Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I., with 19 other Republicans and two Democrats, "may seem familiar, as they bear a strong resemblance to those in the current Democratic Senate bill, and now in President Barack Obama's proposal," Kaiser Health News reports. "A mandate that individuals buy insurance, subsidies for the poor to buy insurance and the requirement that insurers offer a standard benefits package and refrain from discriminating based on pre-existing conditions were all in the 1993 GOP bill."

25 Feb 2010

Study examines range of health issues and trends among older women in California

Older women who are divorced, separated or widowed or who have never married have twice the uninsured rate of their married peers, according to a new policy brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

25 Feb 2010

MedNet Solutions introduces iMedNet eClinical technology platform

MedNet Solutions, a global life sciences technology solutions company specializing in clinical study management systems, is pleased to announce iMedNet™, the company's ground-breaking new electronic data capture (EDC)/eClinical technology platform.

24 Feb 2010

The Democrats' 2010 health reform plan evokes 1993 Republican bill

Kaiser Health News Maggie Mertens spoke to former Sen. Dave Durenberger, R-Minn., about his take on past and present health reform politics. In 1993, at the height of President Bill Clinton's health care reform initiative, Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I., along with 19 other Republicans and two Democrats, put forth a bill which was considered the major GOP proposal.

24 Feb 2010

House to vote on ending insurer antitrust exemption today, White House backs measure

The Obama administration is supporting a House bill that would end the federal antitrust exemption for health insurers.

24 Feb 2010

Democrats revisit reconciliation as means to pass overhaul

Reconciliation, a parliamentary tactic that could allow Congress to pass health reform with a simple Senate majority, was dismissed weeks ago by centrist Democrats, but some of those lawmakers are now warming to the approach, clearing a possible avenue for passage of the overhaul, Politico reports. "Obviously, if the minority is just frustrating the process, that argues for taking steps to get the public's business done," said Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., one of the senators to reverse course on reconciliation (Budoff Brown, 2/23).

24 Feb 2010

Researchers to test Radio-embolisation technique in patients with bowel cancer

Cancer Research UK this week launches a new trial for patients with bowel cancer that has spread to the liver to see whether a new radiotherapy treatment technique is more effective than standard chemotherapy.

24 Feb 2010

Enzon Pharmaceuticals initiates treatment in PEG-SN38 Phase 1 study for pediatric cancer patients

Enzon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the first patient has been treated in the Phase 1 study of PEG-SN38 for pediatric cancer patients. PEG-SN38 or EZN-2208 is Enzon’s PEGylated form of SN38, the active metabolite of the cancer drug Camptosar® (irinotecan HCl injection). The study is designed to find the recommended dose of PEG-SN38 in pediatric patients. The PEG-SN38 compound is currently being evaluated in Phase 2 studies for metastatic colorectal and breast cancer.

24 Feb 2010

Anthem Blue Cross will go forward with rate hikes, execs tell Calif. lawmakers

Anthem Blue Cross executives told California lawmakers Tuesday that they plan to go ahead with a rate hike of up to 39 percent for individual health insurance policies.

24 Feb 2010

Abortion, public option questions remain

The Wall Street Journal: "Abortion was one of the final matters to be resolved in December when the Senate created its version of the health-care bill, with a carefully crafted compromise that left neither side in the debate happy.

24 Feb 2010

Researchers team up to monitor and assess potential infectious disease threats to Vancouver

As the world watches the Vancouver Olympics, researchers at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto and Children's Hospital Boston have teamed up to monitor and assess potential infectious disease threats to Vancouver during the Winter Games by integrating two independently developed intelligence systems that focus on global infectious diseases; bio.DIASPORA and HealthMap.

24 Feb 2010

Centrist Dems have mixed responses to new Obama health plan

"The sweeping health-care package unveiled this week by the White House appears to face big hurdles in the House, with abortion and unease among moderates potential stumbling blocks to winning passage of the legislation," The Wall Street Journal reports. President Obama's proposal Monday has "drawn mixed reviews from moderate Democrats," who face electoral pressures and in some cases dispute specific policy ideas. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., for instance, "criticized a new White House provision that would give the federal government powers to hold down insurance premiums, saying that should be up to the states" (Adamy and Hitt, 2/24).

24 Feb 2010

FDA approves Wyeth Pharmaceuticals' Prevnar 13 pneumococcal disease vaccine

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Prevnar 13, a pneumococcal 13-valent conjugate vaccine for infants and young children ages 6 weeks through 5 years. Prevnar 13 will be the successor to Prevnar, the pneumococcal 7-valent conjugate vaccine licensed by the FDA in 2000 to prevent invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and otitis media. The new vaccine extends the protection to six additional types of the disease causing bacteria.

24 Feb 2010

Reid wants COBRA subsidy extension, eyes Medicaid funds for states

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is trying to extend unemployment benefits, health insurance subsidies for those recently laid-off and help for state Medicaid budgets that would in total cost $100 billion, The Associated Press reports. The measure is separate from the jobs bill. "Facing a Feb. 28 deadline, Reid hopes to pass two measures, one as soon as possible. The first includes a 30-day extension of several of soon-to-expire provisions such as jobless aid, parts of the Patriot Act and prevention of cuts in Medicare payments to doctors."

24 Feb 2010