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HHS launches childhood obesity prevention initiative

First Lady Laura Bush saluted the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' new Childhood Overweight and Obesity Prevention Initiative, announced today at the National Prevention Summit, which targets obesity prevention and the promotion of healthy weight for children.

27 Nov 2007

Industry has a key responsibility in fighting obesity

... by improving food products and helping consumers to identify the healthy choice. Credibility and measuring effectiveness are crucial

27 Nov 2007

BioMarin files investigational NDA for PEG-PAL for the treatment of phenylketonuria

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. has announced that it has filed an investigational new drug application (IND) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for PEG-PAL (Poly Ethylene Glycol-Phenylalanine Ammonia Lyase), formerly known as Phenylase, for the treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU).

27 Nov 2007

FDA extends comment period for proposed sunscreen regulation

The Food and Drug Administration has announced that it will be extending the comment period on the agency's proposed sunscreen regulation to Dec. 26, 2007.

27 Nov 2007

Cholera can be controlled with oral vaccines

Endemic cholera, a potentially fatal diarrheal disease found in the world's most impoverished countries, could be effectively controlled by orally vaccinating half of the affected populations once every two years for only pennies per dose, according to new findings by an international team of researchers led by Ira M. Longini Jr., Ph.D., a biostatistician in the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Longini and colleagues will report their findings online Nov. 27 in PLoS Medicine.

27 Nov 2007

FDA takes on board the salt issue

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States has announced a public hearing on its policies regarding salt and sodium in food.

27 Nov 2007

Experimental gene therapy trial for arthritis allowed to resume

Trials in the U.S. of a controversial and experimental gene therapy have been given the green light to resume following the tragic death of a volunteer in July.

27 Nov 2007

Scientists examine eons-old water for microorganisms

Researchers from the University of Delaware and the University of California at Riverside have thawed ice estimated to be at least a million years old from above Lake Vostok, an ancient lake that lies hidden more than two miles beneath the frozen surface of Antarctica.

27 Nov 2007

High-glycemic index carbs linked to greater type 2 diabetes risk in Chinese and African-American women

Eating foods high on the glycemic index, which measures the effect of carbohydrates on blood glucose levels, may be associated with the risk for developing type 2 diabetes in Chinese women and in African-American women, according to two studies in the November 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

27 Nov 2007

GlaxoSmithKline obtains U.S. OTC marketing rights to MEVACOR (lovastatin) from Merck

GlaxoSmithKline, Philadelphia, PA, USA (GSK) and Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA (Merck), announced today that they have entered into an agreement for over-the-counter (OTC) marketing rights for MEVACOR (lovastatin).

27 Nov 2007

FDA accepts Schering-Plough's new drug application for Asenapine

Schering-Plough Corporation has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently accepted the filing for review of the New Drug Application (NDA) for asenapine, a fast-dissolving, sublingual tablet.

26 Nov 2007

Antidepressant drugs MAY make you live longer

American researchers are suggesting that antidepressant drugs may possibly lengthen a person's lifespan.

26 Nov 2007

Brits gear up for pandemic while FDA warns about flu jabs side-effects

The British government says it plans to double its stockpile of antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu to cope with the possibility of a flu pandemic.

26 Nov 2007

Working mums and overweight kids: is there a link?

New research from the University of Bristol shows that children aged between 5 and 7, whose mothers work full time, are more likely to be overweight at age 16.

22 Nov 2007

Brits battle to contain bird flu as another 68,000 birds are culled

Another 68,000 birds have been culled in England in efforts to contain an outbreak of the deadly bird flu, 56,000 ducks, 9,000 turkeys and 3,000 geese.

22 Nov 2007

Lung transplants do more harm than good to children with cystic fibrosis

Lung transplantation, the therapy almost every cystic fibrosis patient (CF) considers at some point to prolong survival, rarely helps children with the disease live longer and, in fact, often increases their risk of dying, University of Utah researchers conclude in the most extensive study of the issue to date.

21 Nov 2007

GlaxoSmithKline to acquire Reliant Pharmaceuticals

GlaxoSmithKline and Reliant Pharmaceuticals Inc. have announced that they had reached an agreement under which Reliant will be acquired by GSK for $1.65 billion (800 million pounds Sterling) in cash.

21 Nov 2007

FDA approves formulations of Zyrtec (cetirizine HCl) for nonprescription use

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved tablet, chewable tablet, and syrup formulations of Zyrtec (cetirizine HCl) for nonprescription use.

21 Nov 2007

Lenalidomide - dexamethasone combination effective against multiple myeloma

Pairing a new thalidomide derivative with a steroid slows progress of multiple myeloma, an incurable bone marrow cancer, and prolongs the lives of patients who have relapsed from previous treatment, researchers report in the Nov. 22 New England Journal of Medicine.

21 Nov 2007

Measures that are needed to curb humanity's most fatal diseases

Several of the world's most eminent health scientists and organizations today publish a landmark global consensus on the 20 foremost measures needed to curb humanity's most fatal diseases, their study featured in Nature magazine.

21 Nov 2007