Chronic News and Research

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Research Roundup: Financing boomers' care; California's budget cuts; Racial disparities in surgical outcomes

Health Affairs: Chronic Conditions Account For Rise In Medicare Spending From 1987 To 2006 - "Medicare beneficiaries' medical needs, and where beneficiaries undergo treatment, have changed dramatically over the past two decades." For example, the authors write, "heart disease ranked first among the top-ten conditions in terms of attributable share of growth from 1987 to 1997, accounting for nearly 14 percent of the increase in Medicare spending."

20 Feb 2010

Polyphor discovers new class of antibiotics effective against multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria

Today, Polyphor Ltd published the discovery of a new class of antibiotics with a novel mode of action (Science, VOL 327, ISSUE 5968). This proprietary new class of antibiotics is effective against multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria, opening up new treatment options for serious and often life-threatening infections. The most advanced drug candidate in this new class, POL7080, selectively kills the dangerous bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

19 Feb 2010

Guiding Stars storewide nutrition navigation system influences healthier food purchasing decisions

Guiding Stars, the world’s first storewide nutrition navigation system, today announced that new research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows Guiding Stars had a positive influence on food purchasing decisions after the implementation of the zero-to-three star rating system and that these changes continue to be significant in achieving healthier food choices in the supermarket.

19 Feb 2010

New Jersey Superior Court links Roche's Accutane to IBD

In another major courtroom verdict linking powerful acne medication Accutane with long-term inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a nine-person New Jersey jury has found that pharmaceutical maker Hoffman-La Roche Inc. failed to provide an adequate warning of the possible condition to Andrew McCarrell's prescribing physician, which then led to his development of chronic IBD. Mr. McCarrell, who was 23 at the time he took Accutane, developed a severe case of IBD and thereafter had his colon removed. The jury awarded compensatory damages of $25.16 million to Andy, now in his thirties.

19 Feb 2010

Mayo Clinic's first DCD lung transplantation performed in 59-year-old Illinois man

Lung transplantation is a well-known therapy for patients with end-stage lung disease, but, as with other patients waiting for organs for transplantation, there are more recipients waiting than donors available. A potential solution for patients with end-stage lung disease is donation after cardiac death (DCD). Mayo Clinic reports its - and Minnesota's - first lung transplantation from DCD in the February issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

19 Feb 2010

Novartis' Tasigna capsules granted priority review by FDA for treatment of adult patients with Ph+ CML

Novartis announced today that Tasigna® (nilotinib) 200 mg capsules has been granted priority review by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of adult patients with newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia (Ph+ CML) in chronic phase.

19 Feb 2010

NBCH's annual report: How America's health plans are doing to improve care and control costs for diabetes

Today the National Business Coalition on Health issued its annual report on how America's health plans are doing to improve care and control costs for diabetes. The analysis is based on health plan survey data from NBCH's eValue8™ program, the nation's leading Request for Information (RFI) tool used by employers, coalitions and their purchaser members to set expectations and measure health plan performance.

19 Feb 2010

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital gearing up for National Eating Disorders Awareness Week

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford is gearing up for National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, Feb. 21 – 27. The hospital's Comprehensive Eating Disorders Program is reaching out to Bay Area families to enhance knowledge of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and related diagnoses.

19 Feb 2010

GSK decides to remove potentially hazardous zinc from denture adhesive products

GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of popular denture adhesives Poligrip and Super Poligrip, announced today that it will remove zinc from all of its denture adhesive products. The pharmaceutical giant has added the potentially hazardous mineral to its adhesives for decades, despite overwhelming evidence that consuming large quantities of zinc over an extended period of time can cause serious neurological damage.

19 Feb 2010

Study finds nearly a quarter of prescriptions go unfilled

Many people whose doctors start them on medications for conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure may never fill those prescriptions, a new study suggests. Researchers found that among more than 75,000 Massachusetts patients given drug prescriptions over one year, 22 percent of the prescriptions were never filled.

19 Feb 2010

FDA's proposed label changes for LABA asthma medications: GSK reviews

GlaxoSmithKline is reviewing label changes proposed today by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for asthma medications containing long-acting beta-agonists (LABAs), such as GSK's Advair (salmeterol / fluticasone propionate). GSK and makers of the other affected medicines containing LABAs have 30 days to agree with the proposed changes or state why they are not warranted.

19 Feb 2010

University of Missouri to offer health literacy courses for health professionals

The cost of low health literacy - the difference between patients' abilities to understand health information and providers' abilities to effectively communicate complex medical information - is $106 billion to $238 billion annually, according to Pfizer, a leading biopharmaceutical company. To improve the health literacy of professionals and patients, the University of Missouri will offer a health literacy study emphasis beginning this fall.

19 Feb 2010

Asthma: LABAs should not be used alone

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced that drugs in the class of long-acting beta agonists (LABAs) should never be used alone in the treatment of asthma in children or adults. Manufacturers will be required to include this warning in the product labels of these drugs, along with taking other steps to reduce the overall use of these medications.

19 Feb 2010

FDA approves Rituxan-FC combination therapy for CLL

Genentech, Inc., a wholly owned member of the Roche Group, and Biogen Idec announced today the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Rituxan® (rituximab) in combination with fludarabine and cyclophosphamide (FC) for people with previously untreated and previously treated CD20-positive chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

18 Feb 2010

Rituxan, intended for patients with CLL receives FDA approval

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Rituxan (rituximab) to treat certain patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), a slowly progressing blood and bone marrow cancer.

18 Feb 2010

HHS Secretary to address on health disparities at NABJ conference

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius will deliver the keynote address at the National Association of Black Journalists annual conference on Health Disparities, March 4-6, 2010 at the Barbara Jordan Conference Center, Kaiser Family Foundation, 1330 G. Street, NW, Washington, D.C.

18 Feb 2010

Patient-centered medical home concept to benefit pharmaceutical industry

HealthLeaders-InterStudy, a leading provider of managed care market intelligence, reports that the pharmaceutical industry stands to gain from the patient-centered medical home concept that continues to gain traction across the country. According to the recent New England Health Plan Analysis, medical home projects seek to maintain costs and improve health through better treatment compliance, including prescription drug regimens.

18 Feb 2010

Signaling protein has key role in fighting bacterial infection and inflammation in intestinal tract: Study

A signaling protein that is key in orchestrating the body's overall immune response has an important localized role in fighting bacterial infection and inflammation in the intestinal tract, according to a study by UC San Diego School of Medicine investigators, published in the journal Cell Host and Microbe.

18 Feb 2010

Mental illness associated with more lost work days than any other chronic condition: Study

With mental illness associated with more lost work days than any other chronic condition and costing $17.7 billion annually in lost productivity, understanding its underpinnings is increasingly important to the Canadian economy. Now new research from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) indicates that the strongest predictor for work disability leaves is a person's past history of occurrences.

18 Feb 2010

New wound care teleassistance service launched

A new service is being launched today: wound care teleassistance, also known as téléassistance en soins de plaies (TASP). With this service a nurse can use a camera to film her patient's wound, while at the same time an expert nurse in another institution can receive the images. They can then hold an online discussion to evaluate the patient's wound and plan treatment.

18 Feb 2010

Chronic News and Research

Research Roundup: Financing boomers' care; California's budget cuts; Racial disparities in surgical outcomes

Polyphor discovers new class of antibiotics effective against multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria

Guiding Stars storewide nutrition navigation system influences healthier food purchasing decisions

New Jersey Superior Court links Roche's Accutane to IBD

Mayo Clinic's first DCD lung transplantation performed in 59-year-old Illinois man

Novartis' Tasigna capsules granted priority review by FDA for treatment of adult patients with Ph+ CML

NBCH's annual report: How America's health plans are doing to improve care and control costs for diabetes

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital gearing up for National Eating Disorders Awareness Week

GSK decides to remove potentially hazardous zinc from denture adhesive products

Study finds nearly a quarter of prescriptions go unfilled

FDA's proposed label changes for LABA asthma medications: GSK reviews

University of Missouri to offer health literacy courses for health professionals

Asthma: LABAs should not be used alone

FDA approves Rituxan-FC combination therapy for CLL

Rituxan, intended for patients with CLL receives FDA approval

HHS Secretary to address on health disparities at NABJ conference

Patient-centered medical home concept to benefit pharmaceutical industry

Signaling protein has key role in fighting bacterial infection and inflammation in intestinal tract: Study

Mental illness associated with more lost work days than any other chronic condition: Study

New wound care teleassistance service launched

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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