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New Yorker examines global TB diagnostic challenges

The New Yorker examines the challenges associated with treating tuberculosis across the world and looks at whether a rapid diagnostic test could prevent millions of deaths from the disease.

8 Nov 2010

Pres. Obama, Indian PM Singh announce partnership to improve global food security

During a joint press conference with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday, President Barack Obama announced a new partnership between U.S. and Indian agriculture sectors to help improve food security globally, Press Trust International/Livemint.com reports.

8 Nov 2010

Scientist sheds new light on cellular basis of neural impulse transmission

Neural impulse transmission and its effects on the functioning of the central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS) have always been in the forefront of discussion and studies, in the field of memory and behavioural changes.

8 Nov 2010

Water purification woes

According to an expert desalination plants that are built close to sewage outflows risk contaminating drinking water. An Australian National University professor of infectious diseases and microbiology Peter Collignon said that membrane technology is not fool proof when it comes to screening bugs. This comes coincidentally just after a “reporting error” by Sydney Water that showed E.coli had been found in processed drinking water at its $1.9 billion Kurnell desalination plant in Sydney's south. The plant's intake, which collects water to supply 1.5 million Sydney homes, is about 2.5km north of the Cronulla near-shore sewage outflow.

8 Nov 2010

Eli Lilly to acquire Avid Radiopharmaceuticals

Safeguard Scientifics, Inc., a holding company that builds value in growth-stage life sciences and technology companies, today announced that partner company Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Inc. has signed a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by Eli Lilly and Company.

8 Nov 2010

CardioNet to acquire Biotel

CardioNet, Inc., a leading wireless medical technology company with an initial focus on the diagnosis and monitoring of cardiac arrhythmias, announced today that the Company entered into a definitive merger agreement with Biotel, Inc. to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Biotel for $11 million, or $3.84 per share, before adjustments for working capital. In connection with the merger agreement, the parties entered into a settlement agreement to dismiss the outstanding litigation between them, which will be effective as of the close of the merger.

8 Nov 2010

Parascript receives $244,479.25 federal grant under Affordable Care Act

Parascript, LLC, the image analysis and pattern recognition technology provider, today announced that it was awarded a cash grant of $244,479.25 under the U.S. Government's Affordable Care Act. Under this act, the therapeutic discovery project program targets projects that show significant potential to produce new therapies, address unmet medical needs, reduce the long-term growth of health care costs or advance the goal of curing cancer within the next 30 years.

8 Nov 2010

Guided Therapeutics receives $244,479 federal grant to advance LightTouch Cervical Scanner

Guided Therapeutics, Inc. announced that it received a $244,479 Federal grant to advance its LightTouch™ Cervical Scanner, currently under FDA review for market approval.

8 Nov 2010

Gentium third quarter total revenues increase to EUR 5.91 million

Gentium S.p.A. today reported financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2010. The Company reports its financial condition and operating results using U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The Company's financial statements are prepared using the Euro as its functional currency.

8 Nov 2010

HHS gives states technical guidance for Medicaid system while some video game companies start to focus on medical field

Modern Healthcare: "HHS will give states financial aid and technical guidance to help them set up information technology systems to streamline enrollment in Medicaid or health insurance exchanges under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, according to a news release from the department. HHS proposes that states will be able to receive federal dollars to cover 90% of design and development costs and 75% of operating and maintenance costs of Medicaid eligibility systems.

8 Nov 2010

Study suggests bacterial products contribute to autoimmune diseases

Researchers are using 21st century technologies to investigate the century old hypothesis that certain autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, are caused by bacteria living in the human body and will present their initial data this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

8 Nov 2010

Angioblast Systems receives $1.2 million in grants under QTDP program

Regenerative medicine company, Mesoblast Limited, today announced that its United States associate company, Angioblast Systems, has been awarded $1.2 million in grants under the United States Government's Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project (QTDP) program.

8 Nov 2010

CARMAT signs agreement with Edwards Lifesciences for total artificial heart

CARMAT, the designer and developer of the world's most advanced artificial heart, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Edwards Lifesciences, the global leader in the science of heart valves and hemodynamic monitoring. According to this agreement, CARMAT will be using the Carpentier-Edwards' biological heart valves in its artificial heart.

8 Nov 2010

FDA announces reclassification for Full Field Digital Mammography Systems

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced that it is easing the pathway to market for mammography systems that produce computerized X-ray images of the entire breast.

8 Nov 2010

Screening heavy smokers for lung cancer reduces chance of death, federal study finds

The Boston Globe: "Screening heavy smokers with sophisticated medical scanners modestly reduced their chance of dying from lung cancer, according to a federal study released yesterday that provides the first convincing evidence that testing could reduce the toll from the leading cause of cancer deaths. The preliminary findings from the National Cancer Institute were based on a gold-standard study that randomly assigned 53,000 current or former smokers without symptoms to be screened with a CT scanner or standard chest X-ray.

8 Nov 2010

Industry experts speculate, strategize on what election means for business and reform

The Wall Street Journal: "Health-care companies see the Republican win as a chance to chip away at aspects of Mr. Obama's health overhaul least favorable to the industry. Insurance companies, drug manufacturers and hospitals say they will press to peel away the law's new taxes on health-care companies, pass tougher medical malpractice curbs and knock down a new board that recommends Medicare spending cuts" (Adamy, 11/3).

8 Nov 2010

bitop includes first patient in Ectoin inhalation solution clinical trial for inflammation and airway obstruction

bitop AG, a biotech company specializing in the development of Ectoin®-containing medical devices, announced the inclusion of the first patient into a clinical trial on the Ectoin inhalation solution in patients with inflammation and airway obstruction.

8 Nov 2010

ContextVision and Neusoft Medical enter strategic collaboration

ContextVision, the software imaging partner for the most recognized medical imaging manufacturers worldwide, today is pleased to announce that it has entered into a strategic collaboration with Neusoft Medical Systems Co., Ltd (Neusoft Medical, hereafter "NMS"), a leading provider of a broad range of medical equipment & IT solutions and healthcare services in China. NMS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Neusoft Corporation, which is a leading IT solutions and services provider in China with revenue in excess of $600 million in 2009.

8 Nov 2010

New findings could help scientists devise optimal therapies for Friedreich's ataxia

Scripps Research Institute scientists have taken a step closer to understanding the cause of Friedreich's ataxia, a debilitating neurological condition that affects tens of thousands of people worldwide, and so far has no cure.

8 Nov 2010

Risk pools, drug prices and other issues in health law implementation

A health law program that directs $5 billion for coverage of otherwise uninsurable people through state-run high-risk insurance pools has attracted only 8,011 people according to health department enrollment figures, The New York Times reports. That's a paucity compared to the hundreds of thousands of people government actuaries predicted would flock to the program causing it to run out of money too early.

8 Nov 2010