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HTDS announces closure of Regulation D 504 offering

Hard to Treat Diseases (the "Company") (HTDS.PK) announced today that it has closed its Regulation D, Rule 504 offering and is no longer selling shares of its common stock to accredited investors.

4 Sep 2009

Medicare advantage rates could go up, while Part D 'exceeding expectations'

"Despite near-zero inflation and recessionary conditions, health insurers in 2010 face another year of double-digit increases in the charges they pay for hospital services, physicians, drugs, and other healthcare costs," U.S. News and World Report writes in a news column.

4 Sep 2009

Pzifer to pay $2.3 billion in medicare/medicaid fraud settlement

The Obama administration announced a landmark $2.3 billion health care fraud settlement with Pfizer, Inc. Wednesday, which is expected to change drug companies' promotion of off-label use of medicines.

4 Sep 2009

ERT celebrates a significant milestone: Completes 150Th QT clinical Trial

ERT (Nasdaq: ERES) has celebrated a significant milestone by completing its 150th thorough QT clinical Trial (TET). ERT provides full TET support to the biopharmaceutical industry, including consultation, study design, and provision of ECG equipment to ECG analysis, data processing, management, reconciliation, reporting, quality control and regulatory support.

4 Sep 2009

IND for Cytopia's CYT387 clears the FDA review

Cytopia Limited's Investigational New Drug Application (IND) for CYT387 has passed US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review. CYT387 is a small-molecule oral JAK1/JAK2 kinase inhibitor designed to treat various haematological disorders.

4 Sep 2009

Brown University neuroscience professor awarded EUREKA grant

Brown University neuroscience professor Gilad Barnea will receive a nearly $1.3 million, four-year federal grant toward development of a method to selectively monitor the activation of each of the five receptors for the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain.

4 Sep 2009

Also in global health news: Africa measles eradication; water, food security in South Asia; MDR-TB in Mumbai; SADC summit; U.S. Cuba embargo

WHO Regional Director for Africa Luis Gomes Sambo said Tuesday during the 59th Session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa in Kigali, Rwanda, that measles could be eradicated from the continent by 2020, citing an 89 percent reduction in the number of deaths caused by measles between 2000 and 2007, Angencia AngolaPress reports.

4 Sep 2009

NCI renews SPORE grant for the diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer

National Cancer Institute (NCI) has renewed a $11.5 million Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer, which supports multidisciplinary research at Fox Chase Cancer Center and the University of Pennsylvania. First approved in 1999, this marks the third five-year term for the Fox Chase-Penn Ovarian SPORE.

4 Sep 2009

RanBP9 protein targeted for developing new Alzheimer's drugs

"N60" might not be the first thing that comes to mind when people think of Alzheimer's disease, but thanks to researchers from the United States, South Korea and France, this might change. That's because these researchers have found that the N60 section of a protein called "RanBP9" might be the key that unlocks an entirely new class of Alzheimer's drugs, and with them, hope. In a research report published online in The FASEB Journal, these scientists describe how the N60 fragment of the RanBP9 protein increases the production of the amyloid beta protein, which is present in excessive amounts in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease.

3 Sep 2009

H1N1 vaccine to cost countries $2.50 - $20 per dose

The H1N1 (swine) flu vaccine will cost countries between $2.50 and $20 per dose, based on their ability to pay, according to the director of the Initiative for Vaccine Research at the WHO, Marie-Paule Kieny, Agence France-Presse/Khaleej Times reports. During an interview published in the September issue of the WHO Bulletin, Kieny "also warned that there would not be enough vaccines for the world's population and that people should not rely entirely on the vaccine," the news service writes (9/2).

3 Sep 2009

Optimized turmeric extracts may prevent memory loss

scientists with HerbalScience Group LLC, working with researchers from other organizations and medical institutions, conducted an in-depth study of optimized turmeric extracts, demonstrating that key bioactives in the botanical extracts inhibit aggregation and release of amyloid, a protein fragment considered a prime causal suspect in Alzheimer's disease.

3 Sep 2009

China Aoxing submits an NDA to the China SFDA for its Codeine Phosphate

China Aoxing Pharmaceutical Company, Inc. (OTCBB: CAXG) ("China Aoxing"), a pharmaceutical company specializing in research, development, manufacturing and marketing of narcotic and pain-management products, today announced that it has submitted a new drug application (NDA) to the China State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) for its Codeine Phosphate, a compound oral solution for the treatment of acute moderate to severe cough.

3 Sep 2009

China Sky One Medical submits application to perform clinical trials for two new generic drugs

China Sky One Medical, Inc. ("China Sky One Medical" or "the Company") (Nasdaq: CSKI), a leading fully integrated pharmaceutical company producing over-the-counter drugs in the People's Republic of China ("PRC"), today announced that the Company has finished the required research for two new generic drugs for eye treatment and submitted application to the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) in China to perform clinical trials.

3 Sep 2009

Criminal pricing of Merck’s HIV/AIDS drug Isentress challenged by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation

As part of its ongoing campaign to lower drug prices and increase access, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today unveiled its latest advocacy campaign challenging Merck and Co. Pharmaceuticals over the steep price of its key HIV/AIDS drug, Isentress (raltegravir). The first phase of the public awareness campaign includes a postcard mailer, scheduled to arrive this week in the mailboxes of residents of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, where Merck is headquartered.

3 Sep 2009

Medtronic's COPE-HCV clinical study commences

Medtronic, Inc., today reported the initiation and first enrollments of patients in COPE-HCV (COntinuous Interferon Delivery via the Medtronic Paradigm Pump Infusion System Clinical Evaluation for Chronic HCV), the company’s first-ever clinical study using an external pump infusion system to treat patients with the hepatitis C virus (HCV).

3 Sep 2009

Uroplasty highlights the result of OrBIT trial of its Urgent PC System

Uroplasty, Inc. (Amex: UPI), a medical device company that develops, manufactures and markets innovative proprietary products to treat voiding dysfunctions, today highlighted results published in the September, 2009 edition of THE JOURNAL OF UROLOGY(R) from the OrBIT trial of its Urgent PC System.

3 Sep 2009

Delcath Systems begins operations facility in Queensbury, New York

Delcath Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: DCTH), a Manhattan headquartered medical technology company testing its proprietary treatment method for primary and metastatic cancers to the liver, announced that it has signed a three-year lease with the option to buy on a 10,000 square foot facility in Queensbury, New York in which it plans to locate manufacturing of its Percutaneous Hepatic Perfusion (PHP(TM)) System.

3 Sep 2009

Pfizer pleads guilty of defrauding Medicare, Medicaid and other government-funded health care programs

Pfizer, Inc. announced today it has agreed to plead guilty to criminal conduct and to pay more than $2 billion in criminal and civil fines, penalties and damages to settle allegations made in multiple whistleblower lawsuits that the pharmaceutical giant defrauded Medicare, Medicaid and other government-funded health care programs in connection with its market practices for four of its drugs. The settlement is the largest qui tam settlement in U.S. history.

3 Sep 2009

Study reports a potential new investigational therapy for skin cancer

A study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine reports a potential new investigational therapy for advanced and metastatic basal cell skin cancer tested at the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare and other sites appears to demonstrate tumor shrinkage and limited side effects in patients.

3 Sep 2009

IsoFlow Infusion catheter allows physicians to increase drug concentrations at targeted sites

Vascular Designs, a medical device company, today announced that its IsoFlow(TM) infusion catheter has secured 510(k) marketing clearance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the direct delivery of medications into highly targeted areas. An important application of IsoFlow may be in the treatment of cancer.

3 Sep 2009