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NEJM hails vismodegib as ‘the greatest advance in therapy yet seen’ for advanced BCC

Vismodegib, a new skin cancer drug for patients with advanced basal cell carcinoma tested by TGen, Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare and Mayo Clinic, is hailed as "the greatest advance in therapy yet seen" for advanced basal cell carcinoma in an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine.

14 Jun 2012

High anxiety can turn good dads bad

Normally, male California mice are surprisingly doting fathers, but new research published in the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology suggests that high anxiety can turn these good dads bad.

14 Jun 2012

Enrollment complete in Endosense’s TactiCath catheter clinical study for paroxysmal AF

Endosense,a pioneer and leader in force-sensing technology focused on improving the efficacy and safety of catheter ablation for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, has announced enrollment completion in the TOCCASTAR clinical study.

14 Jun 2012

Siemens receives FDA clearance for SOMATOM Perspective CT system

Siemens Healthcare has announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the SOMATOM Perspective – an advanced 128-slice computed tomography (CT) scanner engineered to drive efficiency and reduce costs.

From Siemens Healthineers 14 Jun 2012

Investigational Insomnia Medicine from Merck improved patients’ ability to fall and stay asleep according to new phase III Data

Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced new data from two pivotal Phase III efficacy trials for suvorexant, the investigational medicine Merck is developing for the treatment of insomnia. In the studies, suvorexant significantly reduced the time it took patients to fall asleep and increased the time that patients stayed asleep as early as the first night and at the three-month time point compared to placebo. The investigational medicine met statistical significance for all primary endpoints except for one measurement at Month 3 in one of the trials. These late-breaking data were presented here today at SLEEP 2012, the 26th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.

13 Jun 2012

ORMC offers bronchial thermoplasty for severe asthma

Doctors at Orlando Regional Medical Center (ORMC) are delivering heat directly to the source to treat patients with severe asthma - a respiratory disease that causes the airways in the lungs to narrow, making it difficult to breathe.

13 Jun 2012

ChromaDex’s pTeroPure safe for human consumption

ChromaDex Corporation, an innovative natural products company that provides proprietary, science-based solutions and ingredients to the dietary supplement, food & beverage, animal health, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries announced today its patented pTeroPure (pterostilbene) was shown to be safe for human consumption according to data from the first clinical trial of the substance.

13 Jun 2012

If health continues to wane on G8 agenda, a serious void will be left

In this post in the Global Health Governance blog, Jenilee Guebert, director of research for the global health diplomacy program and G8 research group at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs, writes that, "for the second year in a row, the amount of attention devoted to global health" at the annual G8 summit, which took place at Camp David in Maryland in May, has declined.

13 Jun 2012

Millions suffer chronic food shortages in North Korea, U.N. report says

"Millions of North Koreans suffer chronic food shortages and dire health care ..., and there are no immediate signs of reforms to spur economic growth, the United Nations says" in a report released Thursday, Agence France-Presse reports.

13 Jun 2012

Relief groups appeal for aid to tackle worsening food crisis in West Africa

"Relief groups are stepping up their appeals for aid to tackle the worsening food crisis in West Africa, where more than 18 million people face hunger," the Guardian reports. "Relief agencies have been sounding the alarm for months about the effects of drought on the Sahel -- a region stretching from the Atlantic to the Red Sea," the newspaper writes.

13 Jun 2012

Investigators identify alcohol prep pads contaminated with Bacillus cereus bacteria

A small cluster of unusual illnesses at a Colorado children's hospital prompted an investigation that swiftly identified alcohol prep pads contaminated with Bacillus cereus bacteria, according to a report in the July issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

13 Jun 2012

Mazor Robotics receives KFDA clearance for Renaissance system

Mazor Robotics Ltd., a developer of innovative surgical robots and complementary products, today announced that its Korean distributor, BR Holdings, received marketing clearance from the Korean Food & Drug Administration (KFDA) to market Mazor's Renaissance system.

13 Jun 2012

Liquid glucagon formulation may be useable in standard diabetes pumps

JDRF-funded researchers at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and Legacy Health have discovered a liquid glucagon formulation that may be useable in standard diabetes pumps.

13 Jun 2012

Acute and chronic elevation of EPO in the brain improve motivation for exercise

As science rushes to develop safe weight loss drugs, a new research report approaches this problem from an entirely new angle: What if there were a pill that would make you want to exercise harder? It may sound strange, but a new research report appearing online in The FASEB Journal suggests that it might be possible.

13 Jun 2012

Billions of specific gut bacteria may play a role in autoimmune diseases

The billions of bugs in our guts have a newfound role: regulating the immune system and related autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, according to researchers at Mayo Clinic and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

13 Jun 2012

FDA clears Immunetics’ BacTx rapid test for bacterial contamination in platelet units

Immunetics, Inc., has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for its BacTx rapid test for bacterial contamination in platelet units, Andrew E. Levin, Ph.D., Immunetics Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director, announced today.

13 Jun 2012

FDA grants Fast Track designation to Edimer’s EDI200 for treatment of XLHED

Edimer Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company focused on developing an innovative therapy for the rare genetic disorder, X-linked Hypohidrotic Ectodermal Dysplasia (XLHED), today announced the receipt of Fast Track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for EDI200, the company's novel, proprietary, recombinant protein.

13 Jun 2012

Vanderbilt first medical center in Nashville to offer bronchial thermoplasty for asthma

Hannah Andrews, 23, who has suffered from severe asthma since she was a child, is breathing easier now thanks to a new procedure offered at Vanderbilt known as bronchial thermoplasty.

12 Jun 2012

Journalists, policy experts, bloggers discuss hunger situation in Africa's Sahel

"Journalists, policy experts, bloggers including myself and World Food Programme staff joined in a robust discussion last week about the current hunger situation in Africa's Sahel region, including its causes and what can be done moving forward," Jennifer James, founder of Mom Bloggers for Social Good, writes in this post in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog.

12 Jun 2012

Genzyme files LEMTRADA sBLA and MAA with FDA, EMA for treatment of RMS

Genzyme, a Sanofi company, today announced that the company has submitted a supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and a marketing authorization application (MAA) to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) seeking approval of LEMTRADA (alemtuzumab) for treatment of relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS).

12 Jun 2012