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PAHO says ministerial summit on HIV shows high level of commitment

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) welcomes the initiative of ministers of health and education of Latin America and the Caribbean to discuss strategies to strengthen HIV prevention among young people.

23 Jun 2008

Looking into our bodies with state-of-the-art equipment

The University of Bristol is already world-famous for its biomedical research, but following a £2.3 million investment in newly refurbished labs, it will be able to advance techniques that look in even greater detail at what's going on in our bodies.

23 Jun 2008

Ranbaxy and Pfizer settle on Lipitor patent litigation

Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited (Ranbaxy), announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Pfizer Inc. to settle most of the patent litigation worldwide involving Atorvastatin (Lipitor), the world's most-prescribed cholesterol-lowering medicine.

19 Jun 2008

Discovery of potential key to better drugs to fight Toxoplasmosis parasite

Discoveries by IU School of Medicine scientists have opened a promising door to new drugs for toxoplasmosis and other parasites that now can evade treatments by turning dormant in the body.

19 Jun 2008

British teens top the league in alcohol and drug abuse

According to a report from the World Health Organisation (WHO), when it comes to abusing alcohol and drugs, British teenagers are right up there, with Wales at the top of the league, ahead of Scotland, Estonia, England and Lithuania.

19 Jun 2008

Early detection of Alzheimer's in the pipeline

A boost of $1.6 million for new research into Alzheimer's Disease for Australian scientists means that the early detection of the disease could well be in the pipeline.

19 Jun 2008

Experts say spend more on dementia or expect a crisis

Scientists in both Australia and Britain are calling for more funding for dementia in order to avert a health care crisis in the future.

18 Jun 2008

Furore over brochure on taking illegal drugs

A controversial brochure from a New South Wales Department of Health which offers advice to young people on the use of drugs such as cannabis, has caused a major furore.

17 Jun 2008

Pharmaceutical companies lobbying States to restrict use of lower-cost generic alternatives

Pharmaceutical companies, which "have been waging war against inexpensive generic drugs for years at the national level," are now "taking their fights to the states, promoting proposals that would" bar pharmacists from automatically replacing prescriptions for brand-name drugs with generics, the Baltimore Sun reports.

17 Jun 2008

Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report rounds up health news from the campaign trail

Fifty-three percent of U.S. adults trust presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) more than presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) to address the issue of health care, compared with 33% who trust McCain more than Obama to address the issue, according to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, the Post reports.

17 Jun 2008

FDA targets cancer cure 'scammers' online

Warning Letters have been sent to 23 U.S. companies and two foreign individuals marketing a wide range of products fraudulently claiming to prevent and cure cancer, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration today.

17 Jun 2008

HIV/AIDS advocates petition Sen. Reid to override Sen. Coburn's block on PEPFAR reauthorization bills

In a petition generated by MoveOn.org recently presented to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), advocates asked him to override seven Republican senators, led by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who are blocking a vote on measures (HR 5501, S 2731) aimed at reauthorizing the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, CQ Today reports. More than 15,000 people have signed the petition, according to CQ Today (Graham-Silverman, CQ Today, 6/13).

17 Jun 2008

HIV/AIDS hinders children's access to education, UNDP official says

Children who lose one or both parents to HIV/AIDS are unlikely to remain in school and finish their education, Robert Greener, senior economic adviser at the United Nations Development Programme, said at the World Bank's Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics in South Africa recently, the Inter Press Service reports.

17 Jun 2008

Coalition calls for end of redesigned Medicaid program in West Virginia

A coalition of religious, labor and health care activists, on Wednesday said West Virginia should suspend its redesigned Medicaid program because it penalizes low-income children and adults, the Charleston Gazette reports

17 Jun 2008

Pennsylvania Senate Republicans unveil health care plans

Pennsylvania Senate Republicans on Tuesday unveiled a health care proposal that would enhance care provided at community health centers and create a high-risk pool for state residents who are unable to obtain health coverage elsewhere, the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports (Raffaele, AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, 6/10).

17 Jun 2008

Warning about use of psychiatric drugs with the elderly

Health officials in the U.S. are warning doctors that prescribing certain psychiatric drugs to elderly people suffering from dementia can increase their risk of death.

17 Jun 2008

New hope for patients with breast cancers resistant to tamoxifen

Researchers have found a new family of therapeutic agents that interferes with the ability of estrogen to stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells. The results of the new study will be presented by Nicole Patterson at The Endocrine Society's 90th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

16 Jun 2008

Novel agents found to inhibit growth of estrogen-dependent breast cancer cells

Researchers have discovered a new family of agents that inhibit the growth of estrogen-dependent breast cancer cells. The finding, described at a meeting of the Endocrine Society, has opened an avenue of research into new drugs to combat estrogen-dependent breast cancers.

16 Jun 2008

ExpIND process speeds Alzheimer's drug research

Researchers are actively cutting the time and cost it normally takes to develop radiopharmaceuticals by taking advantage of "Exploratory Investigational New Drug" (ExpIND), an FDA-sanctioned procedure that enhances post-discovery drug development while observing scientific and patient safety standards.

16 Jun 2008

Medicines derived from cannabis: A review of adverse events

Researchers at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), McGill University and the University of British Columbia (UBC) determined that medical use of cannabinoids do not cause an increase in serious adverse events, but are associated with an increase in some non-serious adverse events.

16 Jun 2008