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TCA Cellular Therapy enrolls first patient for adult stem cell clinical trial

TCA Cellular Therapy, LLC has enrolled its first patient to participate in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first adult stem cell clinical trial to treat spinal cord injuries. Enrollee and Marine Veteran, Matt Cole was paralyzed from the chest down in a 2005 insurgent attack in Iraq.

5 Aug 2010

Merck's two pivotal boceprevir Phase III registration studies for chronic HCV meet primary endpoint

Merck reported that two pivotal Phase III registration studies for boceprevir, its investigational oral hepatitis C protease inhibitor, have been completed and met the primary endpoints: in both studies in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1 infection, the addition of boceprevir to treatment with PEGINTRON® and REBETOL® significantly increased the number of patients who achieved sustained virologic response, compared to control groups that received Peg/riba plus placebo.

5 Aug 2010

Western Dental Services opens new office in Porterville to provide dentistry services

Western Dental Services, Inc., California's neighborhood dentist and one of the nation's leading dental health maintenance organizations, is opening a combined family dentistry, specialty, cosmetic, and orthodontics office in Porterville, Calif., on August 13, 2010. The office will provide a full range of family dentistry services, specialty care, and cosmetic dentistry, including white fillings, veneers, crowns, dental implants, ZOOM! whitening, oral surgery, periodontics, pedodontics, and complete orthodontic services by certified specialists and experienced providers.

5 Aug 2010

CTI second-quarter total net operating expenses decrease to $20.0 million

Cell Therapeutics, Inc. today reported recent accomplishments and financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010.

5 Aug 2010

President Obama, Sec. of State discuss U.S. commitment to development, fighting disease in Africa with young African leaders

During a gathering of over 100 young African business and civil leaders at the White House on Tuesday, President Barack Obama "urged [them] to help spur economic development and fight corruption, disease and extremism on the continent," MSNBC's "First Read" blog reports.

5 Aug 2010

Kaiser Permanente funds 700 grants targeting critical health issues in communities

Kaiser Permanente, one of the country's largest not-for-profit health care organizations, funded 700 grants nationwide totaling approximately $13 million in the second quarter of 2010. The grants this quarter focused on expanding access to healthy food, reducing childhood obesity, and increasing care for the underinsured.

5 Aug 2010

Elusys awarded second contract to develop Anthim for treatment of anthrax infection

Elusys Therapeutics, Inc., a privately-held biopharmaceutical company, announced today that it has been awarded a second contract year of funding valued at $40.6 million for the advanced development of Anthim for the prevention and treatment of anthrax infection following a biowarfare attack. This funding is in addition to $16.8 million already received under this contract and is part of a potential five year contract award totaling up to $143 million if all options are exercised by the Government.

5 Aug 2010

Senate Democrats hang hopes for state Medicaid money on Maine Republican votes

On Wednesday morning, the Senate took up a state aid package, which includes Medicaid assistance. What follows are summaries of the news coverage in advance of a vote scheduled to begin at 10:40 a.m.

5 Aug 2010

Pakistan floods prompt food shortages, devastate farmland

Pakistanis in the northwest part of the country face "life-threatening shortages" of food after flooding has killed 1,400 and "devastated the lives of more than three million people," Reuters reports. World Food Programme spokesman Amjad Jamal said, "People have lost their food stocks. The markets are not up and running. Shops have collapsed. People are definitely in the greatest need of food" (Ali, 8/4).

5 Aug 2010

Lux Biosciences receives CRL for Voclosporin

Isotechnika Pharma Inc. today announced that their partner, Lux Biosciences, Inc., has received a Complete Response letter (CRL) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding their New Drug Application (NDA) for voclosporin. Lux's NDA, filed in February 2010, seeks approval for voclosporin in the treatment of non-infectious uveitis involving the intermediate or posterior segments of the eye.

5 Aug 2010

FDA to crack down on devices; Big pharma places riskier bets on biologics

The Associated Press: "Makers of X-ray machines, drug pumps and other medical devices would have to submit more safety information to win federal approval under a proposal designed to tighten regulation of thousands of products reviewed each year. The Food and Drug Administration released recommendations Tuesday night designed to improve oversight of the U.S. device industry, including the government's ability to revoke approval for products that prove unsafe or ineffective" (Perrone, 8/3).

5 Aug 2010

FDA issues Lux Biosciences Complete Response letter for Luveniq NDA

Lux Biosciences, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center of Drug Evaluation and Research has issued a Complete Response letter regarding the New Drug Application (NDA) for Luveniq™ (oral voclosporin) for the treatment of non-infectious uveitis.

5 Aug 2010

FDA clears iCAD's VeraLook computer-aided detection product for virtual colonoscopy

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given clearance to VeraLook™, iCAD's computer-aided detection product used in the interpretation of virtual colonoscopy exams. iCAD is an industry-leading provider of advanced image analysis solutions for the early detection of cancer.

5 Aug 2010

FDA designates XOMA 052 orphan drug for Behcet's disease

XOMA Ltd., a leader in the discovery and development of therapeutic antibodies, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has designated XOMA 052, an antibody to interleukin-1 beta, an orphan drug for the treatment of Behcet's disease. As previously announced, the Committee for Orphan Medical Products of the European Medicines Agency has recommended the granting of orphan medicinal product designation for XOMA 052 for the same indication in the European Union.

5 Aug 2010

Tips for healthy eating at college

For college students, the campus dining hall offers a tantalizing feast: ice-cream sundaes every night, thirty varieties of cereal and a limitless supply of french fries."It's like a smorgasborg on a cruise ship," said Cynthia Bulik, PhD, director of the Eating Disorders Program at the UNC School of Medicine. All-you-can-eat dining halls, along with changes in exercise habits, have been blamed for the "freshman 15," in which first-year students gain weight.

5 Aug 2010

Pregnancy weight gain liked to childhood obesity: Study

Women who gain excessive weight during pregnancy have a greater chance their babies will be born too big. Scientists are trying to find whether this relationship of gaining too much weight by mother and baby is genetic and can predispose the child to be obese later in life.

4 Aug 2010

Nuokang's product pipeline candidates advance through SFDA review process

China Nuokang Bio-Pharmaceutical Inc., a leading China-based biopharmaceutical company focused on the research, development, manufacture, marketing and sales of hospital-based medical products, today announced that two of its product pipeline candidates recently advanced through the next respective stages of the State Food and Drug Administration review process.

4 Aug 2010

Influence of culture on brain structure and function

Where you grow up can have a big impact on the food you eat, the clothes you wear, and even how your brain works. In a report in a special section on Culture and Psychology in Perspectives on Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, psychological scientists Denise C. Park from the University of Texas at Dallas and Chih-Mao Huang from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign discuss ways in which brain structure and function may be influenced by culture.

4 Aug 2010

Pew Prescription Project announces support for new safety legislation

The Pew Prescription Project, joined by major consumer, physician and chemical manufacturer groups, today announced support for a new bill that would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration much-needed authorities to better protect pharmaceutical supply chains. The organizations made the announcement in a joint letter to Congress and during an audio news conference with Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), who will introduce this drug safety legislation.

4 Aug 2010

PCV-7 vaccine introduction leads to changing patterns of hemolytic uremic syndrome

Introduction of the PCV-7 vaccine to prevent invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) has led to a shift in the types of bacteria causing hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS)—an important cause of acute kidney failure in children, reports a study in the August issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.

4 Aug 2010