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NeoPharm submits IL13-PE38QQR IND for the treatment of IPF

NeoPharm, Inc., announced today that it has filed an investigational new drug application (IND) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for IL13-PE38QQR (IL13-PE) for the treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). IPF is the most deadly disease of the lungs in humans with very high morbidity. There is currently no proven effective treatment for the cure of this disease.

5 Jan 2010

Health reform opponents mobilize against individual mandate

Some opponents of the congressional health bills "think their last, best hope to halt the legislation lies not in the U.S. Capitol but in the court across the street," The Washington Post reports.

5 Jan 2010

A 'cocktail' to kill cancerous tumors

A team of researchers in California and Massachusetts has developed a "cocktail" of different nanometer-sized particles that work in concert within the bloodstream to locate, adhere to and kill cancerous tumors.

5 Jan 2010

Health debate puts Nelson under scrutiny, brings attention to Dean

Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson's crucial 60th vote allowed his Senate colleagues to block a likely Republican filibuster and pass their version of the health overhaul legislation last month, but it also brought him unwelcome attention at home, The Wall Street Journal reports.

4 Jan 2010

Shah confirmed by Senate to head USAID

The Senate has "confirmed Rajiv Shah as head of USAID, putting the 36-year-old doctor in charge of the sprawling $20 billion aid agency which stands poised for a major funding boost," Reuters reports.

4 Jan 2010

Boston Scientific commences enrollment in its TAXUS Liberte Stent System study

Boston Scientific Corporation today announced that it has enrolled the first patient in its TAXUS Liberte post-approval study. The study is designed to evaluate real-world clinical outcomes data for the TAXUS® Liberte® Paclitaxel-Eluting Coronary Stent System in combination with a dual antiplatelet therapy drug regimen that includes aspirin and Effient®, a new antiplatelet medication. Co-sponsors of the study include Eli Lilly and Company and Daiichi Sankyo, Inc., manufacturers of Effient, which was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

4 Jan 2010

SPIN launches Spine Pain Treatment Centers in U.S. metropolitan areas

Spine Pain Management, Inc. (OTCBB: SPIN) is pleased to provide a corporate overview, as well as its strategic vision, through 2011. Based in Houston, Texas, the company delivers solutions to Spinal Health Care Providers for necessary and appropriate treatment for musculo-skeletal / spinal injury (SI) injuries resulting from traumatic accidents, in an order to maximize patient recovery.

4 Jan 2010

Health care and nursing jobs continue to be in demand

The new year promises new health care industry jobs around the country, but in some places, such as Indiana, a shortage of nursing instructors could lead to fewer trained nurses to fill those jobs.

4 Jan 2010

U.S. encounter with swine flu highlights health system weaknesses

As the number of H1N1 (swine flu) cases in the U.S. continues to wane, the New York Times reflects on how federal officials handled the pandemic and other factors that helped the situation. "The outbreak highlighted many national weaknesses: old, slow vaccine technology; too much reliance on foreign vaccine factories; some major hospitals pushed to their limits by a relatively mild epidemic," the newspaper writes.

4 Jan 2010

Congressional negotiators returning to start conference talks on health reform bill

Democratic lawmakers will begin this week to try to hammer out a compromise between the House and Senate versions of a health care reform bill as they keep an eye on votes for the measures.

4 Jan 2010

Delays and denials of disability claims at VA frustrate veterans

CBS News' 60 Minutes reports on delays and wrongful denials of disability claims by the Department of Veterans Affairs. "There is a sacred tradition in the military: leave no one behind on the battlefield. But many veterans are beginning to believe their country has left them behind at home, once they're out of uniform and in need of help."

4 Jan 2010

Despite huge expansion of coverage, millions of people would remain uninsured under Senate bill

The Senate health care reform bill would leave as many as 23 million people without insurance by 2018, providing a problem for Democrats who ultimately want universal health care, The Washington Post reports.

4 Jan 2010

Discovery of key process in bacterial infection could lead to new drug targets to prevent infection

Bacteria can swim, propelling themselves through fluids using a whip-like extension called a flaggella. They can also walk, strolling along solid surfaces using little fibrous legs called pili. It is this motility that enable some pathogenic bacteria to establish the infections - such as meningitis - that cause their human hosts to get sick or even die.

4 Jan 2010

Physicians raise concerns about proposed Medicare changes

The health care legislation being considered by Congress seeks to reform Medicare and look for alternatives to the fee-for-service payment system, which critics say discourages care coordination and quality. American Medical News reports on one alternative called bundling, in which "doctors and hospitals are paid for all services to a patient in an episode of care for a particular condition.

4 Jan 2010

Cardiogenesis submits an IDE for its PHOENIX System

Cardiogenesis Corporation, today announced that it has submitted an IDE (Investigational Device Exemption) to the Food and Drug Administration to initiate a safety and feasibility trial for its PHOENIX System in patients with refractory angina. The PHOENIX handpiece is the first device specifically designed to allow physician-directed tissue stimulation and injections of biologic or pharmacologic agents to pre-determined areas of myocardium.

4 Jan 2010

CDC aims for improved efficiency, increased support of science

Changes "aimed at increasing the agency's efficiency and making it more user-friendly" include combining "the work of the malaria branch, the epidemiology program and HIV/AIDS efforts" under the newly formed Center for Global Health, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (Poole, 1/1).

4 Jan 2010

CBI signs definitive share purchase agreement to acquire GL Biochem

Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. (“CBI”) is pleased to announced it has entered into a revised and binding definitive share purchase agreement to acquire the parent of Shanghai-based GL

4 Jan 2010

Obama administration focuses on data-driven results in health care

NPR reports the budget office's use of pedometers to encourage employees to do more physical activity exemplifies "the Obama administration [reliance] on intensive data-gathering to help mold behavior." Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget, says "'[w]hen you measure something and have a competition surrounding it, it creates a strong incentive to do more of it.' … Whether it's health care, education or even the war in Afghanistan, the president and his team are big believers in the power of information."

4 Jan 2010

Dicerna Pharmaceuticals and Kyowa Hakko Kirin sign research collaboration and license agreement

Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (Dicerna) a second generation RNA interference (RNAi) company developing novel therapeutics utilizing its proprietary Dicer Substrate Technology™ and Dicer Substrate siRNA (DsiRNA) molecules, and Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd. (Kyowa Hakko Kirin), one of Japan's leading biopharmaceutical companies, announced today that the two companies have entered into a research collaboration and license agreement for the research, development and commercialization of drug delivery systems and DsiRNA pharmaceuticals for therapeutic targets in oncology.

4 Jan 2010

Parents and physicians should lookout for common GI symptoms in ASD patients, says landmark report

A causal relationship between gastrointestinal disorders and the behavioral features of children with autism spectrum disorder has been acknowledged for years by parents caring for those affected, yet dismissed by mainstream medicine.

4 Jan 2010