Drugs News and Research

RSS

Future of Medicare at stake in Presidential election, opinion piece states

"At stake in the presidential election is whether we will all need to consult lobbyists to have our medical issues heard by a remote, bureaucratic Medicare program," Scott Gottlieb, a former CMS official and an American Enterprise Institute fellow, writes in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece.

24 Jun 2008

House to vote on modified version of Senate Democrats' Medicare physician pay patch bill

The House on Tuesday is scheduled to vote on a modified version of Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus' (D-Mont.) legislation (S 3101) that would eliminate a 10.6% reduction to Medicare physician fees scheduled for July 1, CQ Today reports. According to CQ Today, "If the House moves a bill, it will put pressure on Senate Democrats and Republicans to reach an accord."

24 Jun 2008

Children, adolescents living with HIV have higher rates of risk factors for cardiovascular issues

Children and adolescents living with HIV have higher rates of risk factors for cardiovascular issues than HIV-negative children and adolescents, according to a study published in the June issue of the Journal of Pediatrics, the Miami Herald reports. In addition, many antiretroviral drugs can increase cardiovascular risk factors, the Herald reports.

24 Jun 2008

India's patent office rejects Boehringer's application for pediatric antiretroviral

India's Patent Office in New Delhi earlier this month rejected German drug maker Boehringer Ingelheim's application for a pediatric version of the antiretroviral drug nevirapine, consequently allowing local generic pharmaceutical companies such as Aurobindo and Cipla to continue marketing low-cost versions of the medicine in the domestic market, the Business Standard reports.

24 Jun 2008

Controversial diet drug Rimonabant now available on the NHS in Britain

A controversial diet drug has been approved for use on the National Health Service (NHS) in Britain.

24 Jun 2008

Drug assistance programs help the medicine go down

A new study of state-subsidized pharmacy assistance programs showed that providing prescription drug coverage for low-income seniors reduces Medicaid and Medicare costs. Moreover, needy seniors enrolled in the programs were able to cut their dose skimping and nursing home admissions in half, according to the Brandeis University research.

24 Jun 2008

Study uncovers how Ritalin works in brain to boost cognition, focus attention

Stimulant medications such as Ritalin have been prescribed for decades to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and their popularity as "cognition enhancers" has recently surged among the healthy, as well.

24 Jun 2008

Cells have an appetite for micro-doughnuts

Just like humans, liver cells can't resist eating just one or two small doughnuts, say chemists from Scotland in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Chemical Communications.

24 Jun 2008

Alzheimer's and Parkinson's under the microscope

A detailed discussion by top researches in the field into current Alzheimer's and Parkinson's research features as article of the month in the prestigious journal, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

24 Jun 2008

Oral cannabis ineffective in treating acute pain

A study published in the July issue of the Journal Anesthesiology discovered that oral cannabis (a form of medical marijuana) not only failed to alleviate certain types of pain in human volunteers but, surprisingly, it instead caused increased sensitivity to some forms of pain.

24 Jun 2008

General anesthesia can increase post-surgical pain

The general anesthesia that puts patients into unconscious sleep so they do not feel surgical pain can increase the discomfort they feel once they wake up, say researchers from Georgetown University Medical Center.

24 Jun 2008

Neglected infections of poverty in the U.S. are disabling hundreds of thousands of Americans every year

An analysis published June 25th in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases highlights that diseases very similar to those plaguing Africa, Asia, and Latin America are also occurring frequently among the poorest people in the United States, especially women and children. These diseases - the "neglected infections of poverty" - are caused by chronic and debilitating parasitic, bacterial, and congenital infections.

24 Jun 2008

More government in health care is not a prescription for reform

The Center for Medicine in the Public Interest (CMPI) today launched BigGovHealth.org, a new initiative to expose the consequences of greater government control in health care.

24 Jun 2008

New details on how low blood flow promotes vascular disease

Researchers have found the first direct proof that a key protein drives the clogging of arteries in two ways, and that lowering levels of it opens them up, according to study results published in the June edition of the journal Circulation.

24 Jun 2008

Researchers create molecule that nudges nerve stem cells to mature

Inspired by a chance discovery during another experiment, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have created a small molecule that stimulates nerve stem cells to begin maturing into nerve cells in culture.

24 Jun 2008

Hedgehog signaling is critical for maintenance of the adult coronary vasculature

A set of promising new anticancer agents could have unforeseen risks in individuals with heart disease, suggests research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

23 Jun 2008

Evidence for an increased cancer risk following the use of radioactive Radium-224 in the therapy for Ankylosing Spondylitis

In the course of an epidemiological study, scientists of the Institute of Radiation Biology of the Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health - have established an unfavourable benefit-risk-ratio for ankylosing spondylitis patients treated with Radium-224 therapy (Rheumatology 2008; 47: 855-59).

23 Jun 2008