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New learning collaborative for healthcare organizations

HealthSciences Institute will sponsor a new learning collaborative for health care professionals, teams and organizations who serve individuals at risk of, or affected by, chronic diseases in employer, health plan, medical home and other provider settings.

17 Dec 2009

HFU increases mortality among diabetics, says report

Cardium Therapeutics today reported on recent clinical findings published in the December issue of Diabetes Care showing an increase in mortality in diabetic patients with a history of foot ulcer (HFU) compared with diabetic patients without HFU and with non-diabetic patients.

17 Dec 2009

National medical societies launch multi-state advertising campaign to oppose current health care bill

Today, a group of national medical societies launched a multi-state advertising campaign in opposition to H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, currently under consideration by the U.S. Senate and making its way towards a final vote in the coming days.

17 Dec 2009

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announces $27 million to help older individuals with chronic conditions

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has announced the availability of $27 million to help older individuals with chronic conditions to improve their health and reduce their use of costly medical care.

17 Dec 2009

Survey examines disease R&D investment in 2008

According to an annual survey released Tuesday by the George Institute for International Health that looks at research and development (R&D) funding of diseases that affect the developing world, the U.S. government in 2008 "remained the single biggest contributor as it again provided almost half of the total funding but the report notes developing countries like Brazil [and] India ... were becoming a growing force," AAP/Sydney Morning Herald reports (Rose, 12/15).

17 Dec 2009

Also in global health news: Kenya HIV/AIDS; Uganda bill; water project in Philippines; U.N. appeal for Yemen

U.S. Ambassador Michael Ranneberger on Wednesday announced the U.S. would provide $26.5 million (2.7 billion Kenyan shillings) between 2009 and 2013 to fight HIV/AIDS in Kenya, the Daily Nation reports (Sinundu, 12/16). In related news, the Standard reports the Kenyan government will be begin the gradual phase out of the antiretroviral drug, Stavudine, which is known to cause adverse side effects (Mwai, 12/15).

17 Dec 2009

Opinions: HIV prevention; PEPFAR; H1N1 vaccine donation; developing country R&D; climate change

"For nearly 30 years scientists have been trying to break the back of the AIDS epidemic," but the recent microbicide gel study and an AIDS vaccine trial in Thailand "show just how difficult and how distant that goal is," according to a Washington Post editorial. "While scientists continue searching for a vaccine or a cure, prevention remains paramount," the Washington Post concludes (12/16).

16 Dec 2009

Arizona State University and Mayo Clinic team up to explore metabolic syndrome

Arizona State University and Mayo Clinic in Arizona are joining forces in a partnership to investigate metabolic syndrome - a cluster of high-risk medical factors that include increased blood pressure, elevated insulin levels, excess body fat and abnormal cholesterol levels, which can lead to heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

16 Dec 2009

The White House reject Dean's challenge to Senate health bill

USA Today: A White House spokesman today said President Obama rejects the call by former Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean to defeat the current Senate health care bill. Dean, "a physician who also was Vermont governor, said on national television Wednesday he believed legislation in the Senate would now benefit the insurance industry more than it helps Americans struggling to gain health coverage or pay for it."

16 Dec 2009

Senate stalls amidst GOP delay maneuver

The Associated Press: "Senate Democrats' drive to pass [a] health care overhaul by Christmas sputtered Wednesday as a lone moderate holdout remained undecided and Republican delaying tactics stretched an already protracted debate even further." Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., who met privately with President Obama yesterday -- the third time he met with the President in eight days -- "says he still has concerns about abortion and other issues."

16 Dec 2009

Obama: Government 'will go bankrupt' without health reform

ABC News: "President Obama told ABC News' Charles Gibson in an interview that if Congress does not pass health care legislation that will bring down costs, the federal government 'will go bankrupt.'"

16 Dec 2009

WHO using new bivalent oral polio vaccine in Afghanistan

The WHO on Tuesday launched a vaccination campaign in Afghanistan that will use "a new and more effective polio vaccine" for the first time, Reuters reports (Nebehay, 12/15).

16 Dec 2009

Syntiron grants sanofi pasteur exclusive world-wide license to its human vaccine against MRSA

Syntiron today announced that it has granted sanofi pasteur an exclusive world-wide license to its human vaccine against Staphylococcus aureus. The agreement includes an undisclosed initial licensing fee, milestone payments and royalty payments on future sales of the product. Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA (pronounced Mer-sa) is an important hospital-acquired infection and is a major cause of illness and death resulting in excess of 18,000 US deaths a year and a half million hospitalizations, creating a significant economic burden of approximately $3.4 billion annually to the American health care system.

16 Dec 2009

Medical device makers divided over reduced tax

Medical device makers are still split over a reduced tax in the Senate health bill, Roll Call reports.

16 Dec 2009

Obama 'cautiously optimistic' on reform after meeting with Senate Democrats

President Obama told Senate Democrats Tuesday in an hour-long meeting that they are on the "precipice" of health reform and said that he was "cautiously optimistic" that health reform would get done, the Los Angeles Times reports. "President Obama, acknowledging that he will have to accept serious compromises in the passage of a healthcare overhaul, insisted today that he would not let the public down on an issue that he had made the centerpiece of his first-year domestic agenda."

16 Dec 2009

More details emerge about UNITAID's plan for patent pool for HIV/AIDS drugs

News outlets continued to follow UNITAID's recent announcement to create a patent pool aimed at lowering the cost of HIV/AIDS drugs for low- and middle-income countries. Though UNITAID's board "voted Monday to create a board to run the new patent pool, and set a target of having five AIDS drugs in the pool by mid-2010," the group "punted on the thorny issue of which countries outside of Africa to include in the pool," Forbes reports.

16 Dec 2009

Hospital, physician lobbyists fought Medicare buy-in proposal

The Washington Post offers a look at how hospital and physician lobbyists adamantly fought the Medicare buy-in proposal, which would have allowed people age 55 to 64 to buy Medicare coverage. Such efforts led to the proposal's disappearance within six days.

16 Dec 2009

Major Medicare fraud crackdown in 3 states

The Associated Press: "Federal agents arrested 26 suspects in three states Tuesday, including a doctor and nurses, in a major crackdown on Medicare fraud totaling $61 million in separate scams. Arrests in Miami, Brooklyn and Detroit included a Florida doctor accused of running a $40 million home health care scheme that falsely listed patients as blind diabetics so that he could bill for twice-daily nurse visits.

16 Dec 2009

A selection of today's opinions and editorials

On the campaign trail, Barack Obama vowed to take on the drug industry by allowing Americans to import cheaper prescription medicine. "We'll tell the pharmaceutical companies 'thanks, but no, thanks' for the overpriced drugs. ... On Tuesday, the matter came to the Senate floor -- and President Obama forgot the "no, thanks" part (Dana Milbank, 12/16).

16 Dec 2009

On and off Capitol Hill, politicians are taking positions on health bill

Roll Call: "Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Tuesday said she does not believe that the Senate Democratic health care reform bill will garner her vote, despite significant changes that are likely to be made to rid the bill of a public insurance option and an expansion of Medicare. Democrats have regarded Collins, along with fellow moderate Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe, as potentially persuadable on the bill.

16 Dec 2009