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Health costs: Employer-sponsored insurance premiums rise 41%

Premiums for employer-sponsored family health insurance increased an average of 41 percent across states from 2003 to 2009, more than three times faster than median incomes, and Maryland's rise was among the highest, at 50%, according to a report to be released Thursday by the Commonwealth Fund.

3 Dec 2010

FDA accepts IND application to initiate human clinical trial to evaluate BNC

QR Pharma, Inc., a developer of novel drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease (AD), announced today that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the Investigational New Drug application (IND) to begin human clinical trials and evaluate the safety and efficacy of the company's second product, bisnorcymserine (BNC).

3 Dec 2010

SAGE launches two new journals in Drug Safety, Hematology

SAGE Expands Therapeutic Advances series by launching two new journals in Drug Safety and Hematology. SAGE has extended its suite of Therapeutic Advances journals with the launch of a further two titles: Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety, and Therapeutic Advances in Hematology.

3 Dec 2010

Xencor, MorphoSys initiate XmAb5574 Phase 1 study in CLL

Xencor, Inc. and MorphoSys AG announced today that they have initiated Phase 1 testing for XmAb®5574 (MOR208), and the first patient has been dosed. XmAb5574 (MOR208) is a potent monoclonal anti-CD19 antibody to which MorphoSys recently gained worldwide access via an exclusive license and collaboration agreement with Xencor.

2 Dec 2010

AstraZeneca announces FDA Advisory Committee meeting outcome for vandetanib NDA

AstraZeneca today announced the outcome of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee meeting to discuss the New Drug Application (NDA) for AstraZeneca's investigational drug, vandetanib, for the treatment of patients with unresectable (non-operable) locally advanced or metastatic medullary thyroid cancer (MTC).

2 Dec 2010

White House marks World AIDS Day

Commemorating World AIDS Day on Wednesday President Barack Obama called for continuing to fight HIV/AIDS domestically and abroad, Agence France-Presse reports (12/1).

2 Dec 2010

FDA panel rejects expansion of drug label

The New York Times: A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee on Tuesday rejected a bid to change the labels of two drugs to say they can reduce the risk of prostate cancer. "If the drugs were approved for that purpose, they would be only the second class of cancer-prevention drugs on the market."

2 Dec 2010

New clue in leukemia mystery

There is new hope for people with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), a fast-growing cancer of the blood and bone marrow. Research led by Weill Cornell Medical College and published today in the online edition of the journal Cancer Cell reveals a surprising and unexpected cancer-causing mechanism. The investigators discovered that newly identified mutant enzymes in AML create a chemical poison to cause leukemia. Their findings should prove useful in treating patients by providing a molecular target against which to develop new drugs against one subset of AML as well as other cancers.

2 Dec 2010

First Edition: December 2, 2010

Today's health policy headlines include news about how the debt panel's plan would boost costs for seniors on Medicare; how parts of the GOP are making clear their positions regarding health reform "repeal and replace" strategy; and how limited health plans faced critics at a Senate hearing.

2 Dec 2010

Advent of HAART leads to decrease in mortality among people living with HIV/AIDS

During the decade since the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), or 1996-2006, mortality among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) sharply decreased in the United States. So, too, did the percentages of PLWHA deaths attributable to AIDS-defining illnesses, just as there was a marked increase in the percentage of deaths attributable to heart, kidney, and liver disease.

2 Dec 2010

NHS to develop new treatment options for patients with lung disease

Scientists and clinicians in Nottingham are to work more closely with industry to develop new ways of diagnosing and treating lung disease.

2 Dec 2010

CSC files IND application to commence Phase I study for Spinal Muscular Atrophy

California Stem Cell, Inc. (CSC) and Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy (FSMA) announced today that CSC has filed an investigational new drug (IND) application with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval to commence a Phase I safety study on a jointly-developed stem cell-derived motor neuron transplantation therapy for Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Type I.

2 Dec 2010

Lipids react and change to bacterial stimulus, trigger cell's immune response

For the first time, scientists have described not only the identities and quantities of fat species in a living mammalian cell in this case, a mouse macrophage or white blood cell but they also report how these lipids react and change over time to a bacterial stimulus triggering the cell's immune response.

2 Dec 2010

Research may lead to new treatment strategies for Graves' disease

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have identified a compound that prevents overproduction of thyroid hormone, a finding that brings scientists one step closer to improving treatment for Graves' disease.

2 Dec 2010

FDA advisory committee votes against Avodart sNDA for prostate cancer risk reduction

GlaxoSmithKline today announced the results of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) meeting to discuss the supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for Avodart® (dutasteride) for reducing the risk of prostate cancer in men at risk for the disease, defined as those who have had a prior negative biopsy due to clinical concern and have an elevated serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA).

2 Dec 2010

More effective treatment for severe form of influenza

Flu season is upon us and while getting the nasty bug is bad news, the good news is it's now possible to treat the severe form of the virus more effectively, according to a Ryerson University researcher. Though Canada is not expecting a pandemic flu season this winter Health Canada reports that about 4,000 to 8,000 Canadians die each year from flu-related pneumonia.

2 Dec 2010

LMO1 gene variation can increase neuroblastoma risk

Pediatric cancer researchers have identified variations in a gene as important contributors to neuroblastoma, the most common solid cancer of early childhood. The study team, led by researchers at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, found that common variants in the LMO1 gene increase the risk of developing an aggressive form of neuroblastoma, and also mark the gene for continuing to drive the cancer's progression once it forms.

2 Dec 2010

International trial confirms long-term benefits of anastrozole to stop breast cancer

A major international trial has confirmed the long-term benefit of anastrozole to help stop breast cancer coming back or developing in the other breast in postmenopausal women with hormone sensitive early breast cancer, according to a study published in Lancet Oncology today (Wednesday).

2 Dec 2010

Collegium completes spin-out of Onset Therapeutics

Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company, announced today that it has completed the spin-out of Onset Therapeutics, LLC, its wholly owned subsidiary focused on the Dermatology market.

2 Dec 2010

Oramed announces publication of GLP-1 analog formulation in Journal of Diabetes

Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc. a developer of oral drug delivery solutions, announces a publication in the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology's November issue describing evaluation of the company's glucagon-like peptide- (GLP-1) analog formulation (ORMD-0901) in regulating glucose excursions in animal models.

2 Dec 2010