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Bayer receives priority review designation from FDA for regorafenib NDA

Bayer HealthCare and Onyx Pharmaceuticals announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted priority review designation to Bayer HealthCare's New Drug Application (NDA) filed end of April 2012 for the oral multi-kinase inhibitor regorafenib, for the treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) whose disease has progressed after approved standard therapies.

29 Jun 2012

Harmonizing prescription drug plans can help save millions of dollars

Taxpayers could save millions of dollars if hospitals and provincial governments harmonized their prescription drug plans, new research suggests.

28 Jun 2012

Cigna enters agreement with Humana to purchase Medicare Advantage plans in Texas, Arkansas

Cigna today announced that it has come to an agreement with Humana to purchase select Medicare Advantage plans in Texas and Arkansas. The plans in the three markets - Amarillo, Longview-Marshall and Texarkana - are part of a previously announced government-stipulated divestiture for Humana to complete its acquisition of Arcadian Health.

28 Jun 2012

State roundup: Rules would ban collections in nonprofit ERs

The U.S. Department of Treasury released proposed regulations Monday that would ban debt collection activities in the emergency rooms of non-profit hospitals. The proposed restriction comes in the wake of a lawsuit by Minnesota's attorney general alleging Fairview Health Systems former contractor, Accretive Health hit up patients in emergency rooms for payment before treatment. The Treasury Department has proposed adding regulations to a part of the federal health care law to protect patients from abusive collection practices.

27 Jun 2012

Alexza resubmits ADASUVE NDA to U.S. FDA

Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has resubmitted its ADASUVE New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in response to a Complete Response Letter (CRL) received in May 2012.

22 Jun 2012

Congress considers Medicare, FDA proposals

The Senate Finance Committee is once again talking deficit reduction and Medicare as both houses are "poised" to pass an FDA bill.

21 Jun 2012

Viewpoints: Health law can be intensely personal; Insurers' promises miss the mark

Whenever I read or hear objections to "Obamacare," I think about my friend's son. The son had cancer when he was a teenager. Thankfully, his dad had health insurance -- through his job. A job that he lost. He has a new job now, but like so many new jobs, it doesn't pay as much -- and it doesn't come with benefits. Fortunately, his son seems to have beaten the cancer. And the family now has health insurance from the mom's job. So the son, thanks to "Obamacare," can be insured through his parents.

21 Jun 2012

FDA ODAC votes in favor of Onyx’s Kyprolis

Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) determined by a vote of 11-0 with 1 abstention that, in patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma who have received at least two prior lines of therapy that included a proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulatory agent (IMiD), the benefit-risk assessment is favorable for the use of Kyprolis.

21 Jun 2012

Mylan's new online resource seeks to dispel common misconceptions about generic drugs

Mylan Pharmaceuticals ULC, the Canadian subsidiary of Mylan Inc., announced today the introduction of a new online resource, ChoosingGenerics.ca, to help Canadians learn more about the value, reliability and quality of generic pharmaceuticals. The website is a public awareness tool that seeks to dispel common misconceptions and help Canadians learn more about the benefits of generic drugs.

18 Jun 2012

Illinois to cut $1.6B in health costs; Medicaid advocates protest

The cuts include eliminating some popular programs, raising some co-pays and creates a system for hospital exemptions from taxes.

16 Jun 2012

Roundup: Calpers rate hike approved; Painkiller databases slow abuse in Mass., Minn.; Health workers authorize strike in Philly

The California Public Employees' Retirement System, the third-largest purchaser of health benefits in the country, approved a 9.6 percent increase in health premiums next year for its nearly 1.3 million members.

15 Jun 2012

EvaluatePharma releases World Preview 2018 report

EvaluatePharma, the premier provider of pharmaceutical and biotech analysis including consensus forecasts, today released its World Preview 2018 report, providing an in-depth look at how the patent cliff will reshape the drug industry over the next six years — with valuable insight into which companies and products will come out as winners.

14 Jun 2012

Obama administration warns about what's at stake in health law decision

Federal officials and health policy experts forecast what the future might hold if the Supreme Court overturns, or upholds the health law. Also, surveys highlight how employers plan to react to the decision, and how the law might help stabilize certain aspects of the insurance market.

13 Jun 2012

House passes repeal of tax on medical devices

The bill, which is likely to hit tough opposition in the Senate, would roll back a tax in the 2010 health law designed to help pay for the expansion of coverage to people who do not have insurance.

8 Jun 2012

Young adults, adolescents with mental health disorders more likely to become long-term opioid users

Long-term use and abuse of opioid painkillers, such as OxyContin and Vicodin, has markedly increased in the United States in the last two decades. Of note, prescription opioids constitute 86.9 percent of prescription drug misuse among high school students. And last week in a two-day U.S. Food and Drug Administration public meeting, officials questioned the use of long-term opioids for chronic pain due to a lack of evidence for the effectiveness and concerns about the potential risk for addiction.

7 Jun 2012

Life expectancy gap narrows between blacks and whites

The life expectancy gap between blacks and whites has narrowed thanks to fewer black deaths due to AIDS and heart disease, a new study finds.

7 Jun 2012

Viewpoints: Wis. vote cements walker plan to raise state workers' health costs; Treating addiction; Obama's silence on insurance mandate

Many of those voters also expect that, going forward, the dividends for Wisconsin residents, their school districts and other governments will continue to grow. As old labor contracts expire, public officials will write into the new contracts the other Walker-inspired personnel provisions - such as higher (but still relatively inexpensive) employees' contributions to their pension and health plans - that have lowered government expenses. New labor pacts, that is, should keep reducing government costs across Wisconsin.

7 Jun 2012

Pisgah receives USPTO Notice of Allowance for drug abuse solution

Pisgah Laboratories, Inc. received Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for its patent application entitled "Opioid Salts and Formulations Exhibiting Anti-Abuse and Anti-Dose Dumping Properties."

2 Jun 2012

State roundup: Federal judge rejects Calif. request to end oversight of prison health care; States push prescription drug databases; Medicare drug benefit at issue in Utah Senate race

A federal judge rejected a request by California prison officials Wednesday to regain control of inmate health care, which has been under court-supervised receivership for six years, and said the state must first show it can provide adequate medical treatment. ... The current receiver, Clark Kelso, has reported improvements in the prisons' medical staff and facilities, and said a "turnaround plan" he proposed for the system in 2008 is about 80 percent complete.

1 Jun 2012

First Edition: May 31, 2012

Today's headlines include reports about various health-related measures currently on the move in Congress.

31 May 2012

Prescription Drug News and Research

Bayer receives priority review designation from FDA for regorafenib NDA

Harmonizing prescription drug plans can help save millions of dollars

Cigna enters agreement with Humana to purchase Medicare Advantage plans in Texas, Arkansas

State roundup: Rules would ban collections in nonprofit ERs

Alexza resubmits ADASUVE NDA to U.S. FDA

Congress considers Medicare, FDA proposals

Viewpoints: Health law can be intensely personal; Insurers' promises miss the mark

FDA ODAC votes in favor of Onyx’s Kyprolis

Mylan's new online resource seeks to dispel common misconceptions about generic drugs

Illinois to cut $1.6B in health costs; Medicaid advocates protest

Roundup: Calpers rate hike approved; Painkiller databases slow abuse in Mass., Minn.; Health workers authorize strike in Philly

EvaluatePharma releases World Preview 2018 report

Obama administration warns about what's at stake in health law decision

House passes repeal of tax on medical devices

Young adults, adolescents with mental health disorders more likely to become long-term opioid users

Life expectancy gap narrows between blacks and whites

Viewpoints: Wis. vote cements walker plan to raise state workers' health costs; Treating addiction; Obama's silence on insurance mandate

Pisgah receives USPTO Notice of Allowance for drug abuse solution

State roundup: Federal judge rejects Calif. request to end oversight of prison health care; States push prescription drug databases; Medicare drug benefit at issue in Utah Senate race

First Edition: May 31, 2012

Industry Focus eBook - Cell biology (5th edition) eBook

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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