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SIRO Clinpharm and Mediscis team up to expand clinical development plans

SIRO Clinpharm, a global Contract Research Organization (CRO) with bases in India, US, Europe and Israel today announced their alliance with Mediscis, an early drug development company based in Poitiers and La Rochelle, France.

18 Nov 2009

Health, policy experts gather for 3-day conference on family planning

By offering family planning services to people seeking HIV/AIDS information and treatment, Africa's population growth rate could be curbed by 2.5 percent, health experts said Monday during an international family health conference in Kampala, Uganda, Agence France-Presse reports (11/16).

18 Nov 2009

Report calls for refocusing health spending in developing countries to save children's lives

"More than 24,000 infants die daily from preventable diseases in developing countries," and child deaths have fallen in countries where governments "have shown a high level of political leadership on child health," World Vision International said in a new report (.pdf) released on Monday as part of a five-year campaign to reduce child deaths worldwide, the Associated Press/San Francisco Chronicle reports.

17 Nov 2009

Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases announces targets

The Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD) on Monday outlined plans "to invest tens of millions of dollars in heart and lung disease studies in a battle against a global epidemic of chronic disease," over five years, Reuters reports.

17 Nov 2009

Depression is as much of a risk factor for mortality as smoking, says new study

A study by researchers at the University of Bergen, Norway, and the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) at King's College London has found that depression is as much of a risk factor for mortality as smoking.

17 Nov 2009

Senate committee to markup foreign aid reform bill

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is set to "mark up the Kerry-Lugar foreign aid reform bill Tuesday," Foreign Policy's blog, "The Cable" reports. It is one of "several foreign-aid reform bills in play, [and] is seen as a strong but relatively modest attempt to increase the power and stature of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

17 Nov 2009

China, WHO to collaborate on flu research center

Chinese and WHO officials last week agreed to open a flu research center in Beijing, Bloomberg reports. "The new collaborating center for reference and research on influenza will join a network of WHO-affiliated labs in Atlanta, London, Tokyo and Melbourne that monitor flu strains and make recommendations on vaccines to fight the virus," the news service writes

17 Nov 2009

American Heart Association supports ‘Healthy Choices for Healthy Children legislation'

The American Heart Association is joining efforts to decrease and prevent childhood obesity through legislation that is being introduced today in the Ohio Senate and Ohio House of Representatives. The

17 Nov 2009

FAO head 'not satisfied' with omission of hunger eradication deadline from summit declaration

Jacques Diouf, head of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), "is not satisfied" that the World Summit on Food Security's final declaration excludes "exact targets to reduce hunger," the BBC reports.

17 Nov 2009

Also in global health news: Global corruption; HIV vaccine; smoking; DRC aid

A new report from Transparency International says the fight against corruption worldwide is slowing as urgency to address the global economic downturn recedes, Bloomberg reports.

17 Nov 2009

Dem leaders target Dec. 18; Senators offer health reform insights

Politico: "Senate and House leaders are hoping to close up shop for the year by Dec. 18, even though neither chamber has figured out the end game for health care reform and must-pass appropriations bills." House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Tuesday that both he and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., are targeting that day 18 as "a last day for this session of Congress."

17 Nov 2009

ProVation MD software chosen for cardiology procedure documentation at Creighton University Medical Center

Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading global provider of information for healthcare professionals and students, announced today that Creighton University Medical Center has selected ProVation® MD software for Cardiology procedure documentation and coding. The software will be used to document and code catheterization cases at The Cardiac Center of Creighton University.

17 Nov 2009

Abbott and BG Medicine announce a development and commercialization agreement for galectin-3 biomarker

Abbott and BG Medicine, Inc. today announced a development and commercialization agreement for galectin-3, a novel biomarker that may play a role in detecting the development and progression of heart failure. The assay will be developed for Abbott's ARCHITECT immunochemistry instrument platform, specifically the company's i1000SR and i2000SR instruments. The agreement grants Abbott a license to BG Medicine's intellectual property related to galectin-3.

17 Nov 2009

Medicare doctor payment "fix" could slip, jeopardizing AMA support for health reform

The American Medical Association backed the House Democrats' reform bill earlier this month, at a time when it appeared likely lawmakers would move to permanently end looming cuts to doctors' Medicare payments that Congress defers from year to year, Politico reports.

17 Nov 2009

Polls find deep divisions on health care reform, support for taxing rich

As the Senate prepares to take up legislation aimed at overhauling the nation's health-care system, President Obama and the Democrats are still struggling to win the battle for public opinion. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows Americans deeply divided over the proposals under consideration and majorities predicting higher costs ahead. But Republican opponents have done little better in rallying the public opposition to kill the reform effort.

17 Nov 2009

Senate Democrats wait for CBO score, work to hold onto votes

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is planning a "key test vote by the end of the week" on a health reform bill, according to Senate aides, Politico reports. "The vote on a motion to proceed to the bill could come as early as Friday, teeing up the amendment process to begin after the Thanksgiving break." Reid may keep the Senate in session over the weekend (Budoff Brown, 11/17).

17 Nov 2009

Effect of abortion restrictions in health bill may be less than advocates fear

Despite widespread debate, abortion restrictions in the House health reform bill could affect only a small number of women. Meanwhile, Catholic bishops weigh into the debate and abortion rights group plan a rally to contest the restrictions.

17 Nov 2009

Technology to help elderly people stay healthy at home

In a collaboration between Kaiser Health News and The Washington Post, Elizabeth Olson writes about how emerging technology is helping older people stay in their homes and can, in some instances, offer mechanisms to improve patient outcomes and reduce health care costs.

17 Nov 2009

KHN column: Is fear of flu shifting the goal posts?

"If any public health message has alarmed Americans in recent weeks, it is the repeated claim in the media that healthy young people are dying of 2009 H1N1, or swine flu. ... The response has been predictable: frantic parents clogging waiting rooms in pediatricians' offices, lining up for hours to get their kids vaccinated, and rushing to fill prescriptions for anti-viral drugs before the local pharmacy runs out" (11/17).

17 Nov 2009

Genzyme and Isis Pharmaceuticals announce phase 3 study data of mipomersen

Genzyme Corp. and Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced that data from the phase 3 study of mipomersen in patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (hoFH) were presented today at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions.

17 Nov 2009