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How will the health overhaul affect you?

Nonprofit and advocacy Web sites, online "chats" with government officials, and hotlines for lawmakers are getting barraged with questions about how the health law will affect Americans, Kaiser Health News reports. "No matter which source they turn to, consumers are asking about every element of the bill. People who don't have health care coverage want to know how they can enroll in the high-risk pools that are scheduled to be up and running within 90 days.

12 Apr 2010

Transgenic mouse model study confirms passage of maternal thyroid hormones to fetus

Until now there were only indirect evidence of the transfer of thyroid hormones from mother to fetus through the placenta during pregnancy. That event is very important because the maternal thyroid hormones appear to play a key role in the development of the nervous system and other organs of the fetus; so it's true that in case of maternal thyroid disease, such hypothyroidism, have a direct bearing on the unborn child with reduction, also significant, to its Q.I..

12 Apr 2010

Aptium Oncology Myeloma Consortium launched

Aptium Oncology, Inc. today announced the launch of Aptium Oncology Myeloma Consortium (AMyC), a broad-based collaboration that brings together renowned investigators to work with pharmaceutical sponsors to advance clinical and translational research in myeloma and related cancers.

12 Apr 2010

Complicating doctors' work: Prescription drug scams and excessive paper work

News outlets examine two issues affecting doctors' work: patients fraudulently seeking prescriptions and overwhelming paper work.

12 Apr 2010

High OOP costs discouraging many cancer patients from filling prescriptions

A new study presented today at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy's 22nd Annual Meeting finds that one in six cancer patients with high out-of-pocket (OOP) costs abandons their medication. The study by Prime Therapeutics (Prime), a thought leader in pharmacy benefit management, found patients with an OOP cost greater than $200 were at least three times more likely to not fill their prescription than those with OOP costs of $100 or less.

12 Apr 2010

Medical clinic for the sole purpose of committing Medicare fraud

Miami residents Jose and Denisse Martinez were each sentenced today to three years in prison for their role in running a Canton, Mich.,-based drug infusion clinic designed to defraud Medicare, announced the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS). U.S. District Court Judge Victoria Roberts also ordered Jose and Denisse Martinez to pay $649,000 in restitution, jointly with co-defendants, and to each serve three years of supervised release following their prison terms.

12 Apr 2010

Worsening suicidality thoughts while on antidepressants linked to specific changes in brain function

While antidepressant medications have proven to be beneficial in helping people overcome major depression, it has long been known that a small subset of individuals taking these drugs can actually experience a worsening of mood, and even thoughts of suicide. No clinical test currently exists to make this determination, and only time - usually weeks - can tell before a psychiatrist knows whether a patient is getting better or worse.

12 Apr 2010

FDA issues complete response letter regarding the NDA for OMAPRO

ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals announces that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Office of Oncology Drug Products has issued a complete response letter regarding the new drug application for OMAPRO for the treatment of adults with chronic myeloid leukemia who have failed prior therapy with imatinib and have the Bcr-Abl T315I mutation.

12 Apr 2010

Study finds overall increase in developing country domestic health spending, some countries have reduced health budgets as donor funding increases

Researchers on Friday released a study in the Lancet that found while "[m]ost countries in Latin America, Asia and the Middle East doubled their health budgets," countries in sub-Saharan Africa appear to have trimmed their health spending as donors have boosted their health aid, the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.

12 Apr 2010

Pfizer discloses payments to doctors

In Pennsylvania, the payments suggested that "[p]harmaceutical company money continued flowing to University of Pittsburgh Medical Center doctors last year, despite a restrictive two-year-old policy designed to limit drug company influence, and reflecting the struggle academic medical centers face in distancing doctors from drug companies," the Pittsburgh Business Times reports

12 Apr 2010

Study suggests new ways to improve anti-cancer chemotherapies

A study released this week suggests that anti-cancer chemotherapies which use nanoparticles to deliver drugs deep inside tumor tissue will be more effective if the particles are positively electrically charged because they are taken up to a greater extent by proliferating cells, according to a team of chemists and chemical engineers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

12 Apr 2010

Cempra to make poster presentations on CEM-101 and CEM-102 at ECCMID 2010

Cempra Pharmaceuticals today announced poster presentations on its novel antibiotic CEM-101, a next-generation macrolide, and CEM-102, the company's proprietary front-loading oral dosing regimen of sodium fusidate, at the 20th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease, April 10 to 13, 2010, in Vienna Austria.

12 Apr 2010

Scientists discover and block pathway responsible for link between stress, anxiety and depression

Scientists at The University of Western Ontario have discovered the biological link between stress, anxiety and depression. By identifying the connecting mechanism in the brain, this high impact research led by Stephen Ferguson of Robarts Research Institute shows exactly how stress and anxiety could lead to depression.

12 Apr 2010

Aetna faces Medicare sanctions

Health insurer Aetna announced Friday it will suspend "marketing to and enrollment of new members to its Medicare plans for the elderly because of sanctions imposed by the U.S. government," Reuters reports.

12 Apr 2010

AED Vimpat to be the subject of numerous studies and analyses at AAN meeting

The antiepileptic drug Vimpat- (lacosamide) (C-V) will be the subject of numerous studies and analyses-both UCB-sponsored and independent-at the 62nd annual American Academy of Neurology meeting, taking place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto from April 10-17.

9 Apr 2010

Massachusetts dentist pleads not guilty in Medicaid fraud case

"A former Massachusetts dentist accused of Medicaid fraud for using paper clips instead of stainless steel posts in patients' root canals has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him." The dentist, Michael Clair, was released on personal recognizance.

9 Apr 2010

Penwest Pharmaceuticals signs drug development and commercialization agreement with Alvogen

Penwest Pharmaceuticals Co. today announced that it has signed a drug development and commercialization agreement with Alvogen, Inc. under which Penwest and Alvogen have agreed to identify and select up to five compounds for generic development. Penwest's TIMERx technology may be used for each compound selected.

9 Apr 2010

More public-private partnerships crucial for success of Italian pharmaceutical industry

The newly retired Chief Executive Officer of Roche Pharmaceuticals Bill Burns today led calls for more public-private partnerships in the pharmaceutical industry at the launch of the Italian Institute of Technology's Drug Discovery and Development Unit (D3).

9 Apr 2010

A*STAR announces fifth major collaboration with Italian research centres and universities

Two research units under Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), the Experimental Therapeutics Centre (ETC) and Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), are collaborating with Italy's Siena Biotech S.p.A. to develop new drugs and targeted antibodies respectively, which will potentially help millions of cancer and bone loss patients across the world. This is the fifth major collaboration A*STAR has with research centres and universities in Italy .

9 Apr 2010

ONA supports government's concern about rising costs of pharmaceuticals

Noting that Ontario already spends 10.7 per cent more on drugs per capita than other provinces, the Ontario Nurses' Association is pleased that the government is turning its attention to reducing provincial drug costs.

9 Apr 2010