Food News and Research

RSS

Sen. Appropriations Committee approves $54.1B FY2011 foreign ops spending bill, including $8.2B for global health programs

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved a $54.1 billion FY 2011 spending bill for the State Department and related agencies "that includes potentially controversial abortion language," CQ reports.

31 Jul 2010

FDA announces approval of vaccines for 2010-2011 US influenza season

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that it has approved vaccines for the 2010-2011 influenza season in the United States.

31 Jul 2010

Nature series examines role science can play in securing food for the future

As part of a series of stories and editorials on the role science can play in securing food for the future, Nature News examines the challenges associated with feeding the world's hungry.

31 Jul 2010

Active ingredients continue to attract new, loyal investors

Active ingredients ranging from weight-loss herbals to cancer-killing cytotoxics attract billions in venture investment dollars every year. But technologies designed to selectively deliver active ingredients to targeted locations are beginning to gain momentum, as their application in drugs, medical devices, food, personal care, and agricultural chemicals rapidly grows and corporate venture investors take notice, according to a new report from Lux Research.

31 Jul 2010

Feeding Our Future program serves 12,400 summer lunches to Denver children at risk of hunger

Leveraging a $20,000 "Feeding Our Future" grant from the Sodexo Foundation, St. Anthony Central Hospital, along with volunteers from Sodexo and the Food Bank of the Rockies, serves 12,400 summer lunches to Denver children at risk of hunger. Sodexo's Feeding Our Future program provides school children who rely on free and reduced-price meals during the academic year with nutritious lunches during the summer break.

31 Jul 2010

Need for shelter in Haiti; Avoiding disease outbreaks; Presidential election

USAID Director Rajiv Shah "says shelter and rubble removal are immediate priorities in the reconstruction efforts in earthquake-devastated Haiti," VOA News reports. Shah briefed the House Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere Thursday, and also "said between 300,000 and 400,000 units of shelter are needed. He said aid workers are trying to provide about 135,000 transitional structures right now."

31 Jul 2010

Sanofi Pasteur announces shipping of Fluzone Influenza Virus Vaccine in the U.S.

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of the sanofi-aventis Group, announced today that shipping of the 2010-2011 formulation of its seasonal influenza vaccine Fluzone Influenza Virus Vaccine is underway in the U.S.

31 Jul 2010

Angiotech reports $61.9 million total revenue for second-quarter 2010

Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010.

31 Jul 2010

Sodium Working Group recommends reducing sodium intake among Canadians

The federally-mandated Sodium Working Group has released the Sodium Reduction Strategy for Canada. The three-pronged strategy contains six over-arching and 27 specific recommendations for a population health strategy for reducing sodium intake among Canadians.

31 Jul 2010

Consumers who have MMS should stop using it immediately, FDA warns

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to take Miracle Mineral Solution, an oral liquid solution also known as "Miracle Mineral Supplement" or "MMS." The product, when used as directed, produces an industrial bleach that can cause serious harm to health.

31 Jul 2010

Patients with malignant gastrointestinal disease show high prevalence of malnutrition

Malnutrition is an important factor, influencing both morbidity and recovery after surgery. The early detection of nutritional risk would allow early intervention, which may prevent later complications. A traditional nutritional assessment often includes dietary and medical evaluations to identify significant weight loss over time, significantly low or high body weight(BW), skinfold thickness, serum nutritional factor levels and functional measurements of muscle strength.

31 Jul 2010

Lundbeck voluntarily recalls two lots of NeoProfen Injection

Lundbeck Inc. has voluntarily recalled two lots of NeoProfen® (ibuprofen lysine) Injection that failed to meet a visible particulate quality requirement. These two lots are the only lots currently available to prescribers and therefore the recall will result in a temporary drug shortage. This voluntary recall is the result of the company's inspections of the two product lots of NeoProfen.

31 Jul 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

A Center for Global Development memo offers suggestions for the U.S. to improve its commitment to policies that benefit poor countries after it ranked 17th out of 22 wealthy in the 2009 Commitment to Development Index. Among a set of 20 recommendations, the authors suggest the U.S. "[i]ncrease foreign aid, especially through such vehicles as the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which gives to relatively well-governed countries, or a global 'Cash on Delivery' fund that would pay countries after making confirmed progress toward agreed-upon outcomes, thereby reducing the proliferation of aid projects," the authors write(Prieto/Roodman).

31 Jul 2010

GSK anticipates to supply over 30 million doses of FLULAVAL, FLUARIX for 2010-2011 flu season

GlaxoSmithKline announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) has released the first lots of FluLaval® [Influenza Virus Vaccine] allowing distribution in the U.S. to begin for the 2010-2011 flu season. GSK anticipates distribution of Fluarix® [Influenza Virus Vaccine] to follow in the next several weeks.

30 Jul 2010

Ten steps to successful breastfeeding from WHO and UNICEF

During World Breastfeeding Week, celebrated from 1 to 7 August in more than 170 countries, WHO reiterates its call on health facilities and health workers to implement ten steps to help mothers breastfeed successfully and improve their babies' health and chances of survival.

30 Jul 2010

FDA clears ZOLL's new Propaq MD Monitor/Defibrillator

ZOLL Medical Corporation, a manufacturer of medical devices and related software solutions, announced today that it has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market and begin distribution of the new Propaq® MD Monitor/Defibrillator that was developed specifically to meet the special needs of military customers and air medical operations worldwide. Development of this product was a joint undertaking between the Department of Defense and a cooperative arrangement between Welch Allyn and ZOLL.

30 Jul 2010

Endo Pharmaceuticals total revenues for second-quarter 2010 increase 6% to $396.5 million

Endo Pharmaceuticals today reported financial results for the second quarter 2010. Total revenues during the second quarter of 2010 increased 6 percent to $396.5 million, compared with $373.1 million in the same quarter of 2009. Net income for the three months ended June 30, 2010 was $51.5 million, compared with $30.0 million in the comparable 2009 period.

30 Jul 2010

FDA lifts hold, allows Geron to proceed with Phase I clinical trial of GRNOPC1 in spinal cord injury

Geron Corporation announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has notified the company that the clinical hold placed on Geron's Investigational New Drug (IND) application has been lifted and the company's Phase I clinical trial of GRNOPC1 in patients with acute spinal cord injury may proceed.

30 Jul 2010

Pancreas surgery specialist performs 1,000th Whipple procedure

Pancreas surgery specialist Charles J. Yeo, M.D., Samuel D. Gross Professor and Chair, Department of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, and Co-Director of the Pancreatic, Biliary Tract and Related Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, recently performed his 1,000th Whipple procedure (pancreaticoduodenectomy). Only one other surgeon in the United States has reached this milestone for this procedure. That surgeon is John Cameron, M.D., Professor, Department of Surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

30 Jul 2010