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Policy Innovation Memorandum examines safety of world drug, vaccine supply

"The world is facing two immediate health crises concerning drugs and vaccines: affordable and reliable access to life-sparing medicines and the safety and reliability of those medicines," Laurie Garrett, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), writes in the council's Policy Innovation Memorandum No. 21, titled, "Ensuring the Safety and Integrity of the World's Drug, Vaccine, and Medicines Supply."

16 May 2012

Women's rights to family planning should not be controversial

"There should be #NoControversy about a woman's right to plan when and how many children to have, to have the opportunity to improve her own health and that of her children, to educate her children and to grow her family's economic productivity," Gary Darmstadt, head of the family health division of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Wendy Prosser, a research analyst with the family health division, write in this post in the foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog.

16 May 2012

Heritage: Stop subsidies for 'multimillionaire seniors' to shore up Medicare program

A report by the conservative Heritage Foundation recommends making wealthier Medicare beneficiaries pay more to help get the program's "fiscal house in order." Also in the news, The Wall Street Journal reports that a judge who considers cases related to the Social Security Disability Insurance Program -- one of the federal governments most rapidly growing entitlement programs -- was placed on paid leave while complaints about his demeanor are probed.

16 May 2012

Newspapers examine concerns surrounding possible FDA approval of Truvada for PrEP

The New York Times and the Financial Times examine concerns expressed by AIDS activists and members of an FDA panel that last week recommended Gilead Sciences' antiretroviral drug Truvada be approved for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV among healthy people at risk of contracting the virus.

16 May 2012

Minn. hospital workers weigh strike

Unionized workers at eight Twin Cities hospitals -- including nursing assistants, food service employees and other support staff -- are taking a vote on whether to strike over management's contract offer.

16 May 2012

Agreement on voluntary land guidelines shows collaboration on food security is possible

"The endorsement of voluntary guidelines to improve the way countries govern access rights to land, fisheries and forest resources by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) on Friday marks a historic milestone not only for the way in which land tenure is managed, but also for international consensus-building," Jose Graziano da Silva, director-general of the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), writes in this post in the Guardian's "Poverty Matters" blog.

16 May 2012

U.N. Office on Drugs, Interpol better equipped than WHO to combat counterfeit drug trade

"The worldwide counterfeit drug market is huge and growing," Tim Mackey and Brian Liang of the Institute of Health Law Studies at the California Western School of Law and Thomas Kubic of the Pharmaceutical Security Institute write in a Foreign Policy opinion piece, noting such "drugs occupy a wide spectrum of medications, and their quality is suspect; they can be mislabeled, tainted, adulterated, ineffective, or, in the worst cases, all of the above."

16 May 2012

With limited budget, prioritizing investments in projects to advance human welfare is critical

"If you had $75 billion to spend over the next four years and your goal was to advance human welfare, especially in the developing world, how could you get the most value for your money?" Bjorn Lomborg, an author and director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, asks in this opinion piece in Slate Magazine's "Copenhagen Consensus 2012" section.

16 May 2012

NPR's 'All Things Considered' examines HIV among India's gay community

NPR's "Shots" blog includes an "All Things Considered" story that examines how "a 2009 benchmark ruling in Delhi's High Court," which "struck down a 148-year-old law known as Section 377, a holdover from British colonial rule that made homosexual acts illegal," has led to a wider level of HIV outreach to Mumbai's gay community.

16 May 2012

Trend among businesses to offer health benefits to same-sex couples leaves federal policy behind

Although President Barack Obama's pronouncement last week in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage does not reverse current federal policy which denies health benefits to domestic partners, some advocates hope it will be a "morale boost." And many employers already offer such benefits to attract and retain top workers.

16 May 2012

HHS announcing finalized Alzheimer's plan

The plan, which includes an emphasis on research, sets 2025 as the target date for finding effective treatments for this disease.

16 May 2012

Viewpoints: Calif. health, welfare programs struggle under budget cuts; Protecting children from diabetes threat

Gov. Jerry Brown and the Democratic-controlled Legislature passed a budget last year that was built on a rickety foundation of false hopes. If that wasn't apparent at the time, it is now that the budget deficit has ballooned to $15.7 billion, up from Brown's $9.2 billion estimate from only four months ago. ... Brown offered several solutions on Monday. Health and welfare programs for the poor would bear 30 percent of the cuts, including $880 million from the main welfare program, CalWORKs, through a variety of reductions.

16 May 2012

VA releases task force draft plan to address women Veterans' issues

The Department of Veterans Affairs is releasing for public comment a draft of its strategic report to address key issues facing women Veterans. The plan outlines steps for improvements to care and services for women Veterans that are sustainable, accountable and a part of the department's culture and operations.

16 May 2012

Thermo Fisher signs asset purchase agreement with Nephromics for PlGF assay

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, today announced it has signed an asset purchase agreement with Nephromics LLC, which includes a patent license for exclusive rights to use PlGF for the diagnosis of pre-eclampsia or eclampsia. Clinical trials have shown that PlGF supports the diagnosis and risk prediction for preeclampsia.

From Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. 16 May 2012

AUXILIO first quarter net revenue increases 40% to $6.5 million

AUXILIO, Inc., the nation's pioneer and leading Managed Print Services (MPS) company for health care, announced its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2012.

16 May 2012

InVivo Therapeutics reports net income of $3,150,000 for first quarter 2012

InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp., a developer of groundbreaking technologies for the treatment of spinal cord injuries (SCI), today reported the financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2012 and provided a business update.

15 May 2012

Health care system should provide proactive interventions to prevent depression

Major depressive episodes can be prevented, and to help ensure that they are, the health care system should provide routine access to depression-prevention interventions, just as patients receive standard vaccines, according to a new article co-authored by UCSF researcher Ricardo F. Mu-oz, PhD.

15 May 2012

First study to track movement of individuals with dementia until death

A new study from the Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University has found that, at time of death, individuals with dementia are more likely to be living at home than in a nursing home. This contradicts the commonly held view that most individuals with dementia in the United States eventually move to nursing homes and die there.

15 May 2012

Governors seek allies for Medicaid, health program budget cuts, changes

In response to struggling state budgets, governors in California, Illinois, Kansas and Louisiana are looking for allies to support cuts and changes to their Medicaid and other health care programs.

15 May 2012

New guidelines require insurers to credit health law when issuing consumer rebates

The rule, which was finalized Friday, will result in an estimated $1.3 billion in rebates for nearly 16 million Americans.

15 May 2012

Health Care News and Research

Policy Innovation Memorandum examines safety of world drug, vaccine supply

Women's rights to family planning should not be controversial

Heritage: Stop subsidies for 'multimillionaire seniors' to shore up Medicare program

Newspapers examine concerns surrounding possible FDA approval of Truvada for PrEP

Minn. hospital workers weigh strike

Agreement on voluntary land guidelines shows collaboration on food security is possible

U.N. Office on Drugs, Interpol better equipped than WHO to combat counterfeit drug trade

With limited budget, prioritizing investments in projects to advance human welfare is critical

NPR's 'All Things Considered' examines HIV among India's gay community

Trend among businesses to offer health benefits to same-sex couples leaves federal policy behind

HHS announcing finalized Alzheimer's plan

Viewpoints: Calif. health, welfare programs struggle under budget cuts; Protecting children from diabetes threat

VA releases task force draft plan to address women Veterans' issues

Thermo Fisher signs asset purchase agreement with Nephromics for PlGF assay

AUXILIO first quarter net revenue increases 40% to $6.5 million

InVivo Therapeutics reports net income of $3,150,000 for first quarter 2012

Health care system should provide proactive interventions to prevent depression

First study to track movement of individuals with dementia until death

Governors seek allies for Medicaid, health program budget cuts, changes

New guidelines require insurers to credit health law when issuing consumer rebates

Event guide: 3rd Measuring Patient Engagement Summit eBook

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

Advancing Intracellular Delivery with LumiPore®

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