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Teva's COPAXONE holds promise for relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: TEVA) today presented data that demonstrated patients treated for 10 and 15 years with COPAXONE® (glatiramer acetate injection) had significant reduction in disease severity. These data, generated from the longest continuous prospective study of any disease modifying therapy in relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), were presented today at the 25th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) in Düsseldorf, Germany.

10 Sep 2009

Some insurers still back Obama after speech

"President Obama had few nice things to say about insurance companies in his speech on health care last night, but leaders of two of this region's largest private insurers -- Independence Blue Cross and Aetna Inc. -- gave him generally high marks anyway," the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. He did draw one line in the sand that insurers hoped for: a mandate for all Americans to have health insurance.

10 Sep 2009

Retail clinics offer more treatments for chronic diseases

Retail health clinics are reevaluating their offerings. The Wall Street Journal reports: "Retail health clinics are adding treatments for chronic diseases such as asthma to their repertoire, hoping to find steadier revenue, but putting the clinics into greater competition with doctors' groups and hospitals."

10 Sep 2009

A non-invasive test for cystic fibrosis is the goal of University Of Arizona researchers

Researchers from The University of Arizona Colleges of Pharmacy and Medicine are teaming up to try to invent a novel non-invasive lung test for cystic fibrosis sufferers.

10 Sep 2009

Number of uninsured may jump to 50 million

"The number of people in the U.S. lacking health insurance may have grown as much as 9 percent to 50 million people last year, adding fuel to President Barack Obama's push for overhauling the system," Bloomberg reports. "The likely increase was driven by a jump in U.S. unemployment, said Ana Gupte, a Sanford Bernstein & Co. Inc. analyst in New York who follows UnitedHealth Group Inc. and WellPoint Inc., the top two U.S. health insurers.

10 Sep 2009

Harkin moves to Health Committee chair after Dodd opts against it

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., wrestled hard with the question of whether to take the Senate Health Committee chair once held by his good friend, the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. But when he passed on it, Sen. Tom Harkin got the job in an arrangement that gives the Iowa Democrat a huge say in government health policy.

10 Sep 2009

Electronic health records: A focus for big tech companies

"On one proposal for health care reform at least, there is a rare bipartisan consensus: the push to computerize patient records," The New York Times reports. The federal recovery package sets aside $19 billion "to encourage doctors and hospitals to install and use electronic health records. So even as the Obama administration and Congress struggle with broad health policy legislation, the technology industry is pursuing the opportunity in digital health records as never before." The money will not be available until next year, but General Electric, I.B.M. and Verizon are all "hoping to get their share."

10 Sep 2009

Baucus readies reform move, with or without Republicans

Sen. Max Baucus is readying his Senate Finance Committee to move a health care reform bill to the full Senate, with or without the support of Republicans negotiating their position.

10 Sep 2009

Half of six million major depressive disorder with comorbid panic attack cases go untreated

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms focusing on pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that in the U.S., out of six million cases of major depressive disorder with comorbid panic attack, three million are untreated. Comorbid mental disorders are influential factors impacting the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.

10 Sep 2009

Human neural stem cells to treat Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease

StemCells, Inc. (NASDAQ:STEM) announced today that it will soon initiate with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Children’s Hospital a Phase I clinical trial to evaluate the therapeutic potential of StemCells’ proprietary HuCNS-SC® product candidate (purified human neural stem cells) to treat Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease (PMD), a myelination disorder that primarily affects infants and young children.

10 Sep 2009

Comparative effectiveness may not produce hoped-for savings, Study finds

One component of Democrats' health reform plan, comparative effectiveness research, would seek to improve quality and lower medical costs by identifying the most clinically and cost-effective treatments available, but a new study by the Rand Corp. finds the impact of the research may be slow to arrive, BusinessWeek reports.

10 Sep 2009

PinnacleCare and Champions Biotechnology collaborate to offer personalized oncology services worldwide

Champions Biotechnology, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: CSBR), a company whose personalized oncology services division assists physicians by providing personalized treatment options for their cancer patients, has entered into a collaboration agreement with PinnacleCare, the pioneer and the leading private health advisory company in the world.

10 Sep 2009

Phase III trial demonstrates rapid efficacy of Zelrix in treating acute migraine

NuPathe Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company developing innovative products for the treatment of neurological and psychiatric diseases, today announced data from the pivotal Phase III trial of Zelrix™, a novel transdermal patch in clinical development for the treatment of acute migraine. Zelrix combines NuPathe’s proprietary SmartRelief™ iontophoretic transdermal technology with sumatriptan, the most prescribed treatment for acute migraine in the United States.

10 Sep 2009

Research on the impact of anti-smoking law in public places reveals that 5% of waiters have stopped smoking

Researchers from the Catalan Institute of Oncology have studied the impact of the law banning smoking in public places such as bars and restaurants on those working in these places. The results are positive - 5% of waiters have stopped smoking, and the number of cigarettes smoked by those who still smoke has fallen by almost 9%.

10 Sep 2009

First edition: September 10, 2009

In response to President Obama's joint address to Congress last night, the headlines are chock full of news, analysis, fact-checkers and inventories of cheers and jeers.

10 Sep 2009

Protox' Phase 2 study of PRX302 for treating BPH provides positive results

Protox Therapeutics Inc. (TSX: PRX), a leader in the development of receptor targeted fusion proteins, today announced positive 12 month data from its open-label Phase 2 study of PRX302 in males with moderate to severe benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The study results indicate that those patients who received an optimal dose of PRX302 continued to demonstrate significant symptomatic relief at 12 months following a single treatment.

10 Sep 2009

Stroke rehabilitation technology to improve patients' quality of life

Stroke rehabilitation technology which patients can operate in their own homes while playing computer games, is being developed by academics at the University of Southampton.

10 Sep 2009

BioTrends Research Group ranked by Philadelphia 100 for the second consecutive time

For the second year in a row, BioTrends Research Group, Inc. has been ranked as one of the fastest-growing, privately-held companies in the Philadelphia region by the Philadelphia 100, a joint project of the Wharton Small Business Development Center, the Entrepreneurs' Forum of Greater Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Business Journal.

10 Sep 2009

Survey reveals that hand-washing behaviors are poor despite H1N1 swine flu

With the White House estimating that 30 to 50 percent of Americans will contract H1N1 flu this season, you’d think more people would be focused on prevention.

10 Sep 2009

North Carolina Biotechnology Center establishes Research Triangle Park headquarters

To continue the state life science industry’s record-setting growth rate, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, with the help of statewide partners, is building an addition to its Research Triangle Park headquarters.

10 Sep 2009