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FDA continues review of Takeda's NDA for Alogliptin

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited has announced that Takeda Global Research and Development Center, Inc., a wholly owned United States (U.S.) subsidiary, received notification that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will not be able to complete its review of the alogliptin New Drug Application (NDA) by the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) date of October 27, 2008.

12 Oct 2008

Private health plan spending growth slows in Minnesota, report finds

Spending by private health plans in Minnesota increased by 4.3% from 2006 to 2007, the lowest growth rate since 1997, according to a report released Tuesday by the Minnesota Department of Health, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.

5 Oct 2008

MedPAC hearing panelists call for residency programs to move away from hospital-centered care, toward treatment of chronic illnesses

Residency programs should place greater emphasis on the treatment of chronic diseases and on incorporating health information technology because current graduate medical education focuses too heavily on hospital-centered care, panelists told the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission on Thursday, CQ HealthBeat reports.

5 Oct 2008

Average monthly premium for stand-alone Medicare prescription drug coverage will increase by 24% in 2009 to $37, according to report

The average monthly premium for stand-alone Medicare prescription drug coverage will increase by 24% to $37 next year, according to an analysis of the plans by Avalere Health, the Wall Street Journal reports.

29 Sep 2008

Study finds Medicare's benefits are less generous than large-employer plans

Medicare on average provides less generous benefits to seniors than they would receive under a typical large-employer health plan or the most popular plan available to federal employees – even with the program’s new drug benefit, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis.

22 Sep 2008

U.S. citizens cutting back on health care

U.S. spending on health care services is "under pressure" as Americans are "cutting back on health care," an area of the economy "once thought to be invulnerable to recession," the Wall Street Journal reports.

22 Sep 2008

Medicare Part B premiums in 2009 will not increase for most beneficiaries

CMS on Friday announced that monthly outpatient care premiums for about 95% of Medicare recipients will remain at $96.40 in 2009, the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, 9/20).

22 Sep 2008

Utah preferred prescription drug list savings less than projected

Utah's Medicaid preferred prescription drug list in its first year has reduced spending by nearly $546,000, but the savings fell about $2.75 million short of original estimates by the Utah Department of Health, according to Michael Hales, the director of the state Division of Health Care Financing, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

22 Sep 2008

Advisers to Presidential candidates discuss positions on reimportation, generics, biotechnology medications

Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) have begun "reviewing their support" for prescription drug reimportation in response to recent cases of contaminated medications and other products from other nations, advisers to the candidates said on Thursday during the annual conference of the Generic Pharmaceutical Association in Washington, D.C., Reuters/Boston Globe reports.

22 Sep 2008

Congress approves legislation that would expand Americans with Disabilities Act

The House on Wednesday gave final approval to Senate legislation (S 3406) expanding the definition of disability for people claiming discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the New York Times reports.

22 Sep 2008

Senate hearing discusses recommendations for increased regulations on direct-to-consumer ads for medical devices

Lawmakers and witnesses on Wednesday at a Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing discussed recommendations for increased regulations on direct-to-consumer advertisements for medical devices, Dow Jones reports (Corbett Dooren, Dow Jones, 9/17).

22 Sep 2008

Lawmakers warn federal officials to fix problems with Medicare information phone line

CMS has improved 1-800-Medicare, a toll-free telephone line that beneficiaries can call for information on the prescription drug benefit, but the agency needs to address some serious problems that remain before the next annual enrollment period begins on Nov. 15, advocates for seniors and lawmakers said on Thursday during a hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, CQ HealthBeat reports. CMS has five call centers nationwide for the telephone line, which served about 30 million callers in 2007.

15 Sep 2008

The Hill examines Presidential candidates' positions on prescription drug issues

The Hill on Tuesday examined how Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) are perceived by the drug and biotech industries.

10 Sep 2008

Presidential candidates discuss proposals for health care, other issues at AARP convention

Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) on Saturday appeared via satellite at an AARP convention in Washington, D.C., and spoke about health care and other issues that affect seniors, the Washington Post reports.

9 Sep 2008

About 85% of insurers' marketing materials for prescription drug plans do not meet Medicare guidelines, audit finds

Nearly 85% of the marketing materials used by private prescription drug plans to reach Medicare beneficiaries do not fully meet CMS guidelines, according to a report released Thursday by the HHS Office of Inspector General, CQ HealthBeat reports.

7 Sep 2008

60% of women use herbal products during pregnancy

Almost 60% of women use at least one herbal product during pregnancy, research launched at the British Pharmaceutical Conference (BPC) in Manchester has revealed.

7 Sep 2008

Survey reveals confusion of pregnant women

A survey in Britain of mothers and pregnant women has revealed an astonishing level of confusion and perplexity about being pregnant.

2 Sep 2008

California health officials seek suspension of injunction against Medi-Cal reimbursement rate reduction

California health officials have asked U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder to suspend an injunction that she issued against a 10% reduction in Medi-Cal reimbursement rates for health care providers, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program (Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle, 8/27).

28 Aug 2008

Democratic National Committee approves platform with health care language; Obama campaigns in Iowa

The Democratic National Committee on Monday during the Democratic National Convention voted to adopt a non-binding party platform that includes language about health care, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports. According to the AP/Newsday, the platform in large part follows recommendations from presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) but moves "beyond his proposals in calling for guaranteed health care for all" (Woodward, AP/Long Island Newsday, 8/26).

26 Aug 2008

Lack of oversight by CMS to ensure private Medicare drug plans have anti-fraud programs in place 'risks significant use of funds,' according to GAO

CMS has not conducted audits to ensure that Medicare prescription drug plans have implemented programs to prevent fraud as required by law, a lack of oversight that "risks significant misuse of funds in this $39 billion program," according to a Government Accountability Office report scheduled for release on Monday, the AP/Orlando Sentinel reports. For the report, GAO examined five unnamed plans to determine whether they met requirements to participate in the Medicare prescription benefit.

26 Aug 2008

Prescription Drug News and Research

FDA continues review of Takeda's NDA for Alogliptin

Private health plan spending growth slows in Minnesota, report finds

MedPAC hearing panelists call for residency programs to move away from hospital-centered care, toward treatment of chronic illnesses

Average monthly premium for stand-alone Medicare prescription drug coverage will increase by 24% in 2009 to $37, according to report

Study finds Medicare's benefits are less generous than large-employer plans

U.S. citizens cutting back on health care

Medicare Part B premiums in 2009 will not increase for most beneficiaries

Utah preferred prescription drug list savings less than projected

Advisers to Presidential candidates discuss positions on reimportation, generics, biotechnology medications

Congress approves legislation that would expand Americans with Disabilities Act

Senate hearing discusses recommendations for increased regulations on direct-to-consumer ads for medical devices

Lawmakers warn federal officials to fix problems with Medicare information phone line

The Hill examines Presidential candidates' positions on prescription drug issues

Presidential candidates discuss proposals for health care, other issues at AARP convention

About 85% of insurers' marketing materials for prescription drug plans do not meet Medicare guidelines, audit finds

60% of women use herbal products during pregnancy

Survey reveals confusion of pregnant women

California health officials seek suspension of injunction against Medi-Cal reimbursement rate reduction

Democratic National Committee approves platform with health care language; Obama campaigns in Iowa

Lack of oversight by CMS to ensure private Medicare drug plans have anti-fraud programs in place 'risks significant use of funds,' according to GAO

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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