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Bill to expand reproductive health services in the Philippines introduced in country's Congress

A reproductive health bill introduced Tuesday in the House of Representatives in the Philippines "would require the government to provide information on family planning methods, make contraceptives available free of charge and introduce reproductive health and sexuality classes in schools," the Associated Press/Seattle Times reports, noting the scope of controversy surrounding this issue.

20 May 2011

New data on personalized approaches for skin, ovarian and lung cancer to be presented at ASCO meeting

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, today announced that data showing new personalized approaches for people with skin and lung cancer, plus new data with Avastin in ovarian cancer, will be presented at the 47th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

18 May 2011

Researchers uncover unexpected role of estrogen receptors in brain inflammation

Researchers have uncovered an unexpected role for estrogen receptors in the brain in keeping inflammation under control. The findings reported in the May 13 issue of the Cell Press journal Cell may have important implications for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) and many other neurodegenerative diseases.

13 May 2011

Women who naturally bear twins live longer

Compared with other mothers, women who deliver twins live longer, have more children than expected, bear babies at shorter intervals over a longer time, and are older at their last birth, according to a University of Utah study.

11 May 2011

Bills to tighten abortion regulations advance in Texas, La.

As Texas senators gave final approval Tuesday to a bill requiring doctors to conduct sonograms before performing abortions, moving it closer to the governor's desk, a new fight is ramping up over another abortion-related bill.

6 May 2011

FDA approves Novartis' Afinitor tablets for pancreatic NET treatment

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration approved Afinitor tablets for the treatment of progressive neuroendocrine tumors of pancreatic origin in patients with unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic disease.

6 May 2011

States are battlegrounds for Planned Parenthood funding, abortion issues

Speaker John Boehner has thus far refused to make social issues central in his agenda, focusing instead on spending and the debt. But the House today will briefly wade into the social wars of the 1990s, bringing up a controversial anti-abortion bill. The measure, which is expected to pass, would prohibit federal funding for abortions and create new controls on private companies that offer insurance plans that cover abortions.

5 May 2011

Nation's emergency physicians warn about dangers linked with deep vein thrombosis

As temperatures warm and travel picks up around the country, the nation's emergency physicians issue a warning about the serious dangers associated with deep vein thrombosis.

5 May 2011

More women using ‘morning after’ pill

Figures have revealed that the rate of women using emergency contraception in 2006-08 more than doubled, compared with the rate in the previous four to six years, before the pills were approved for use without a prescription. This comes from a study from the Guttmacher Institute.

29 Apr 2011

Newer birth control pill raises risk of blood clots

Two human trials in the US and the UK including women from both populations showed that women taking newer forms of oral contraceptives, which include drosperinone, a synthetic version of the hormone progesterone, increased their risk of developing a blood clots by two or three times over those taking older birth control pills that rely on a different form of the hormone known as levonorgestrel.

26 Apr 2011

GSK receives FDA approval for Lamictal XR to treat partial seizures

GlaxoSmithKline announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Lamictal XR Extended-Release Tablets for conversion to monotherapy in patients 13 years and older with partial seizures taking one anti-epileptic drug.

26 Apr 2011

Bayer's oral contraceptives may increase risk of blood clots, stroke or heart attack

Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is aware of two studies published today in The British Medical Journal, ONLINE FIRST.

25 Apr 2011

Bayer's birth control pills may increase risk of venous thromboembolism

The following release is being issued by law firms RodaNast, P.C.; Levin, Fishbein, Sedran & Berman and Feldman & Pinto: According to two new studies published in the online edition of the British Medical Journal, Bayer's birth control pills Yaz and Yasmin, containing a new progestin drospirenone, carry up to triple the risk of serious blood clots over traditional pills containing the progestin levonorgestrel.

25 Apr 2011

African AIDS drug trial stopped prematurely

One of the studies in three African countries where women were given an AIDS drug to prevent HIV infection is being stopped because the project is not working, researchers said Monday. These women on the trial were taking a daily dose of the drug Truvada or a look-alike placebo pill and had an equal chance of becoming infected. The ones taking Truvada were expected to have had a much lower infection rate.

19 Apr 2011

Drospirenone doesn't carry any risk of gall bladder disease

Drospirenone, the top-selling oral contraceptive marketed as Yaz or Yasmin in the U.S. and Canada, doesn't carry any more risk of gall bladder disease than the older generation of birth control pills, despite claims by some consumers and lawyers in both countries, according to a new study by University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute researcher Mahyar Etminan.

19 Apr 2011

Ortho-McNeil Neurologics announces voluntary recall of TOPAMAX 100mg Tablets

Ortho-McNeil Neurologics Division of Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., today announced it is voluntarily recalling two lots of TOPAMAX® (topiramate) 100mg Tablets. These two lots were shipped between 10/19/2010 and 12/28/2010 and distributed in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

15 Apr 2011

Gilenya can reduce risk of disability progression in patients with RRMS

A new analysis demonstrated that Gilenya reduced the risk of disability progression in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, regardless of treatment history. This analysis of the phase III two-year FREEDOMS study is one of 11 abstracts on Gilenya being presented at the 63rd annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology.

11 Apr 2011

Supplements are less well regulated than drugs and may have side effects, drug interactions and toxicities

Vitamins, herbs and other dietary supplements are sold as natural alternatives to pharmaceuticals and many people turn to them in an attempt to improve their health. Others seek supplements to lose weight or after hearing that they can help with serious medical conditions.

7 Apr 2011

Teenage birth rate in the U.S. falls

Encouraging new data shows the teenage birth rate in the U.S. fell to the lowest level on record in 2009 - but is still one of the highest in developed countries. Numbers dropped to 39.1 births per 1,000 females from 61.8 births in 1991, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The latest figures record that 410,000 teenage girls aged 15 to 19 years old gave birth in the United States in 2009. The rate is especially high among black and Hispanic teens. Geography plays a key role too with young mothers more common in some states than others.

5 Apr 2011

Ectopic pregnancies on the rise

Ectopic - or tubal - pregnancies can be dangerous for mothers, leading to rupture of the fallopian tube and possible hemorrhage, and they appear to be on the rise, according to a new study.

5 Apr 2011