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Pacira announces data from EXPAREL clinical study presented at ASPS 2011 meeting

Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the company's lead investigational product for postsurgical pain management, EXPAREL, was highlighted in the "Hot Topics in Plastic Surgery" panel at the annual scientific assembly of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) in Denver, Colo.

26 Sep 2011

Viewpoints: Concerns that AIDS fight is losing steam; Pharmacy choice bill is praised; Texas sex-ed policies questioned

The considerable progress in recent years - including the 22-fold increase in the number of people receiving anti-retroviral drugs between 2001-2010 - has been due to scientific breakthroughs and to civil society's efforts to keep AIDS on the political agenda. This is now changing.

23 Sep 2011

Humana to acquire California-based Medicare Advantage HMO

Humana Inc. announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire MD Care, a California-based Medicare Advantage HMO with approximately 15,000 members in Southern California.

23 Sep 2011

Six ways to prevent coronary artery disease

In honor of National Cholesterol Education Month, Hotze Health & Wellness Center (HHWC) is encouraging both men and women to take a proactive role in healthy aging, specifically heart disease prevention. HHWC is advocating effective measures to prevent heart attacks and is shedding new light on cholesterol myths and the dangers of cholesterol-lowering (statin) drugs.

23 Sep 2011

BlueCross report examines national health care reform's impact on Tennessee

A research based report from the newly-established BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Health Institute takes an in-depth look at national health care reform's possible positive and negative effects on Tennessee.

23 Sep 2011

Rite Aid reports $6.3 billion revenues for second quarter ended August, 2011

Rite Aid Corporation today reported financial results for its fiscal second quarter ended August 27, 2011.

22 Sep 2011

HealthWell Foundation introduces new lupus fund

The HealthWell Foundation, a nonprofit organization providing financial assistance to insured patients facing a variety of chronic and life-altering illnesses, announces the launch of a new fund supporting treatment for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), the most common form of lupus.

22 Sep 2011

Big monthly premium hikes likely next year for Medicare Rx plans

Although monthly premiums will go down next year for Medicare prescription drug coverage on average, seniors in the most popular plans will see sizable jumps - notably a 14 percent hike for the 4.7 million in United Healthcare's plans, a new study says.

21 Sep 2011

Obama budget plan includes $320 billion in Medicare, Medicaid cuts over 10 years

The squeeze will be felt by future Medicare recipients, in reduced payments to drug companies and hospitals, and with higher costs to states. And, though many parts of the health sector are grumbling about the proposal, some advocates say the president's vision is less painful than some of the ideas that have recently been on the table.

21 Sep 2011

Too many kids poisoned with prescription drugs: Study

Figures show that each year half a million kids age 5 and younger get into household medications and are poisoned. Though parents tend to believe that these tragic accidents will never happen to their kids, Dr. Randall Bond, a leading advocate for better prescription drug safety in the home, believes it can happen to anyone.

19 Sep 2011

Drug overdose deaths surpass road traffic accident deaths in U.S.

According to newly released figures, drug-related deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in the U.S., with the rise driven by an increase in prescription narcotic overdoses.

19 Sep 2011

Research roundup: Personalized info helps consumer decision-making; Racial disparities in knee replacement

Comparison Friction: Experimental Evidence From Medicare Drug Plans – Defining comparison friction as "the wedge between the availability of comparative information and consumers' use of it," the authors determined that providing prescription drug pricing information, even though it was free and accessible in other ways, increased the amount of "plan-switching" in the group to 28 percent compared to 17 percent in another that did not get the individual information.

17 Sep 2011

DestinationRx is now DRX

DestinationRx, Inc., a leading provider of healthcare comparison tools, technology and data, today announced a strategic decision to rename the company DRX. The change in branding is a response to the company's significant growth in the healthcare industry—from its origins in prescription drug pricing and purchasing technology to its expansion into broader drug and health plan comparison technology and data services.

17 Sep 2011

Medicare Advantage premiums to go down next year: HHS

On average, Medicare Advantage premiums will be 4 percent lower in 2012 than in 2011, and plans project enrollment to increase by 10 percent, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today.

16 Sep 2011

ODAC recommends ApoPharma's Ferriprox for FDA approval to treat transfusional iron overload

ApoPharma Inc. today announced that the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) voted 10 - 2 to recommend that the FDA grant accelerated approval of Ferriprox (deferiprone), an oral iron chelator, for the treatment of patients with transfusional iron overload when current chelation therapy is inadequate.

15 Sep 2011

Candidates in Monday's GOP debate clash on health reform, Medicare, vaccines

One of the questions emerging in this primary contest is whether entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security will continue to be a political "third rail," or if public concerns about government spending have overcome this conventional wisdom.

14 Sep 2011

Prescription drugs expensive in Australia and likely to increase

According to experts Australians are facing some of the highest ‘out-of-pocket’ costs in the industrialized world for prescription medicines and the problem is likely to worsen

14 Sep 2011

Roundup: N.J. Governor opts not to cut Medicaid rolls; Seattle council mandates sick leave

Thousands of New Jersey's working poor will keep their health insurance under a new administration proposal to restructure Medicaid, abandoning a controversial plan that would have drastically reduced the number of eligible recipients.

14 Sep 2011

Older drugs may be better than newly approved ones

It is a common belief that drugs given the okay by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are safer and more effective than they have to be to win approval, according to a new study. Especially in the first few years after a drug becomes available, researchers note, there are still questions about how well it will work and whether it will have any serious side effects warn experts. For example FDA-approved painkiller Vioxx was pulled off the market in 2004 after longer-term evidence showed that it may increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.

13 Sep 2011

Drug use among young adults on the rise in U.S.

Nearly one in 10 Americans report regularly using illegal drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, inhalants or prescription drugs used recreationally, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health made public today. The survey, sponsored by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), collects the data from interviews with 67,500 randomly selected people 12 years or older.

12 Sep 2011