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Coalition pushes to replace Conn. Insurance Commissioner; Ind. lawmakers raise questions about Medicaid program

State Sen. Edith Prague and a coalition of labor unions and citizen groups are asking Gov. M. Jodi Rell to replace Insurance Commissioner Thomas Sullivan.

27 Oct 2010

Endocrine disrupting chemicals may affect human reproductive system: Research

New research has provided the first evidence that 'gender bending' chemicals which find their way from human products into rivers and oceans can have a significant impact on the ability of fish to breed in UK Rivers.

27 Oct 2010

Pharmaceutical industry pays billions in fraud settlements; Walgreen selling PBM Co.

Bloomberg: "Walgreen Co., the largest U.S. drug-store chain, is looking to sell its pharmacy-benefits management business and has hired an adviser to run an auction, said three people with knowledge of the matter. The sale of the PBM unit, which Walgreen started in 1995, may fetch $500 million to $1 billion. … Medco Health Solutions Inc., Express Scripts Inc. and CVS Caremark Corp., the three largest PBMs in the U.S., are among the companies that have expressed interest, the people said.

27 Oct 2010

Study finds anti-obesity drug reduces brain’s response to appetizing foods

Scientists have revealed that an anti-obesity drug changes the way the brain responds to appetising, high-calorie foods in obese individuals. This insight may aid the development of new anti-obesity drugs which reduce the activity in the regions of the brain stimulated by the sight of tasty foods.

27 Oct 2010

Boston Scientific announces completion of Asthmatx acquisition

Boston Scientific Corporation today announced the completion of its acquisition of Asthmatx, Inc. of Sunnyvale, California. The transaction follows the definitive agreement announced on September 20. Under the terms of the agreement, Boston Scientific purchased all outstanding Asthmatx shares for a total of $193.5 million. Additional payments of up to $250 million are contingent upon achievement of specified revenue-based criteria through 2019. Asthmatx is now an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Boston Scientific.

27 Oct 2010

Sirius receives U.S. patent for using SNP in Protein C gene

Sirius Genomics, a developer of companion diagnostics, announced today that U.S. Patent 7,820,376 entitled "Protein C Polymorphisms" has been issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The patent relates to a novel use of a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) located in the Protein C gene.

27 Oct 2010

Pledge to reduce antipsychotic use in dementia sufferers

A new coalition of 44 organizations called the Dementia Action Alliance, has called for a cut in the use of anti-psychotic drugs for patients with dementia. The coalition includes Alzheimer's Research Trust, Alzheimer's Society, BUPA, Dementia UK, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Royal College of General Practitioners and Stroke Association.

26 Oct 2010

Rising alcohol prices driving the young towards illicit drug use

A latest study that spanned over two years revealed a link between alcohol prices and consumption of illicit drugs such as ecstasy. The study says that as alcohol prices have risen young people have ‘switched’ to the party drug ecstasy as an alternative.

26 Oct 2010

Glaxo to pay $750 million in defective drug settlement

GlaxoSmithKline Plc, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, has agreed to pay $750 million to settle a U.S. government false-claims lawsuit over the sale of defective drugs. The lawsuit first filed in 2004 by Cheryl D. Eckard, a former global quality assurance manager for the London-based company came to a settlement finally. Eckard, 51, said, “This is not something I wanted to do, but because of patient safety it was necessary.” Being the one to bring this to notice she would receive $96 million from the settlement money. She had warned the company earlier but was fired because of her efforts.

26 Oct 2010

PinPointe FootLaser receives FDA clearance for treatment of nail fungus

The podiatry practice of Mark E. Spier, DPM, announced today that the PinPointe™ FootLaser™ has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of nail fungus (onychomycosis). Dr. Spier is the first certified provider of the treatment in the Baltimore area.

26 Oct 2010

New findings could deliver low-cost method to extract anticancer compound

A popular cancer drug could be produced cheaply and sustainably using stem cells derived from trees, a study suggests. Researchers have isolated and grown stem cells from a yew tree whose bark is a natural source of the anticancer compound paclitaxel. The development could enable the compound to be produced on a commercial scale at low cost, with no harmful by-products.

26 Oct 2010

India's Trade Minister says EU will take steps to prevent seizure of generic medicines

"India believes a row with the European Union over seizures of generic drugs will be settled without litigation, Trade Minister Anand Sharma said on Wednesday," Reuters reports (Lynn, 10/20).

26 Oct 2010

Research indicates stroma tissue provides new drug target for treating pancreatic cancer

A project focusing on the scar tissue surrounding cancer tumours aims to provide new targets for drugs for treating pancreatic cancer, the fifth highest cause of cancer deaths in the UK.

26 Oct 2010

Lumiphore signs global cooperation with Algeta to integrate Lumi4 complexes

Lumiphore Inc., a portfolio company of Nanostart AG, has signed a global cooperation with Algeta ASA a leading company specializing in innovative radiopharmaceutical therapies to treat cancer patients. The agreement enables the integration of Lumiphore's Lumi4 complexes into the targeted radiotherapeutics and companion diagnostics from Algeta.

From Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. 26 Oct 2010

PAREXEL's white paper provides data on biopharmaceutical, medical device product development

PAREXEL Consulting, a business unit of PAREXEL International and a leading global life sciences consultancy serving the biopharmaceutical and medical device industries, today released a new white paper entitled Drug Innovation, Approval, Market Access, and the New Normal Emerging FDA Review Outcome Trends for New Drugs.

From Parexel 26 Oct 2010

Admissions for medication, drug-related conditions increase by 117% among Americans aged 45 and older

The number of hospital admissions among Americans ages 45 and older for medication and drug-related conditions doubled between 1997 and 2008, according to a new report released today by HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Medication and drug-related conditions include effects of both prescription and over-the-counter medications as well as illicit drugs.

26 Oct 2010

Omeros to develop new drugs for major diseases

The Life Sciences Discovery Fund (LSDF) today announced a $5 million grant to Seattle-based Omeros Corporation (NASDAQ: OMER) to discover, develop, and commercialize new drugs to treat a variety of major diseases. With successful generation of proceeds through partnering and the sales of drugs in the marketplace, an additional outcome of the grant would be establishment of a new non-profit initiative to advance the life sciences sector and improve health and economic growth in Washington state.

26 Oct 2010

Pharmacopeias of US and Kazakhstan sign accord

With the mutual goal of improving the quality of pharmaceuticals worldwide, the United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) and the Republican State Enterprise (RSE) National Centre for Expertise of Drugs, Medical Products and Equipment ("the Centre") of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan have entered into an agreement to share standards for the quality, purity, strength and identity of medicines.

26 Oct 2010

Innovative program for new graduate doctors to ensure safety prescription

A new software based program has recently been created for new graduate doctors to ensure they prescribe safely from day one on the wards.

26 Oct 2010

Pfizer's Sutent stands as first-line setting for treating renal cell carcinoma: Survey

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that, for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), the majority of surveyed European oncologists who favor Pfizer's Sutent indicate that they would switch to an emerging therapy only if it extended progression-free survival (PFS) by at least an additional two to three months, assuming the agent's safety and tolerability profile was comparable to that of Sutent.

26 Oct 2010