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NIAID awards $6.25M to Profectus to optimize portfolio of genetic adjuvants

Profectus BioSciences, Inc., a technology based vaccine company devoted to the treatment and prevention of chronic viral diseases, today announced that it has received $6.25M in National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) grants and contracts.

8 Oct 2010

Insurer funds business PAC supporting Calif. GOP insurance commissioner candidate, other health politics

A California Chamber of Commerce political action committee bankrolled in part by insurance companies is funding TV ads supporting Republican Mike Villines in his quest to become state insurance commissioner, the Los Angeles Times reports.

8 Oct 2010

Genzyme board of directors vote to reject tender offer from Sanofi-Aventis

Genzyme Corp. announced today that its board of directors has voted unanimously to reject the unsolicited $69.00 per share tender offer from Sanofi-Aventis, and the board recommends that Genzyme shareholders not tender their shares to Sanofi-Aventis pursuant to the offer.

8 Oct 2010

AHRQ awards $1.2M grant to evaluate effectiveness of primary care transformation efforts

The Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has awarded a $1.2 million grant to Michigan State University to evaluate the effectiveness of primary care transformation efforts at Priority Health and Independent Health, a New York plan.

8 Oct 2010

Bruker closes acquisition of instruments businesses with Veeco

Bruker Corporation today announced the closing of its acquisition of the Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and the Optical Industrial Metrology (OIM) instruments businesses from Veeco Instruments, Inc. for $229.4 million in cash.

8 Oct 2010

Physicians should check fatty deposits around heart when evaluating heart problems: Researchers

Cardiac imaging researchers at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute are recommending that physicians not overlook fatty deposits around the heart when evaluating patients for risk of major heart problems.

8 Oct 2010

Speech impaired after stroke but can sing

A British professional singer and music and drama teacher, Ann Arscott who was left unable to speak after suffering a devastating stroke has discovered she can still sing. She is from Birmingham, central England and suffered a sudden stroke in April last year which left her speechless – a condition known as aphasia.

8 Oct 2010

HHS offers waivers as firms, insurers threaten to abandon markets

The Obama administration has granted "dozens" of waivers that will allow insurers and companies - most notably McDonald's - to continue offering health benefits that do not meet new health law requirements in an effort "to stave off threats by some health insurers to abandon markets, drop out of the business altogether or refuse to sell certain policies," The New York Times reports.

8 Oct 2010

Researchers develop new technique to detect lung cancer

Early detection is critical for improving cancer survival rates. Yet, one of the deadliest cancers in the United States, lung cancer, is notoriously difficult to detect in its early stages.

8 Oct 2010

Device maker study: Hospital middlemen arrangement wastes billions

The payment arrangements of group purchasing organizations waste billions of dollars each year, according to a new study funded by the Medical Device Manufacturers Association, a trade group that represents device makers.

8 Oct 2010

CQ Healthbeat examines HIV prevention research funding

The global economy has affected HIV/AIDS prevention research, so "scientists and those who fund them are struggling to set priorities among several competing research methods that could slow the spread of the disease, which causes about 2.7 million new infections worldwide a year," CQ HealthBeat reports.

8 Oct 2010

$LIPUS ultrasound can speed fracture healing$

LIPUS ultrasound can speed fracture healing

Ultrasound can speed the healing of fractures. A randomized controlled trial reported in the open access journal BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders has found that the use of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) in patients with tibial fractures which showed inadequate progress toward healing resulted in 34% greater bone mineral density (BMD) in the fracture area after 16 weeks than use of a sham device.

8 Oct 2010

Websites bridge gaps between patients and doctors and marketers

Conveying how well a therapy works and doing so in understandable terms isn't easy, but a group of physicians is trying to change that The Wall Street Journal's Health Blog reports.

8 Oct 2010

Senate Dems criticize 'excessive' Medigap price hikes; Acos examined

Top Senate Democrats on Wednesday called on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to protect seniors in Medigap plans from excessive rate hikes.

8 Oct 2010

Prostate cancer updates

Scientists have found that genetic variations for an enzyme involved in cell energy metabolism may increase the risk of prostate cancer. This variation in genes may impair the enzyme phosphodiesterase 11A (PDE11A), which helps regulate cells' responses to hormones and other signals, according to the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development researchers and colleagues.

8 Oct 2010

Parkinson’s disease pathology breakthrough

Researchers have found that brain cells of people with early Parkinson's disease have damaged powerhouses. In a new study they have identified 10 groups of gene sets related to the energy production problems in the brain cells of these people.

8 Oct 2010

New Bioactive technology can be applied in rapid diagnostics tests

VTT printed the paper with antibodies that react to the sample. The test result can be read in the form of a line, for example, which either does or does not appear depending on the sample - just like in the pregnancy tests already familiar to consumers. It is also possible to print instructional images or text, for example, either on or alongside the test.

8 Oct 2010

Mass. attorney general recommends approval of Caritas sale; Calif. will require students to get whooping cough vaccine

Attorney General Martha Coakley yesterday recommended approval of the proposed sale of Caritas Christi Health Care to a New York private equity firm, a deal that would bring for-profit health care on a large scale to a state long dominated by nonprofit hospitals.

8 Oct 2010

University of Colorado receives $6.3 million for umbilical cord blood bank

The University of Colorado Cord Blood Bank, a component of ClinImmune Labs and the University of Colorado School of Medicine, has been awarded $6.3 million to collect and bank umbilical cord blood, with an emphasis on donors from minority groups.

8 Oct 2010

Doctors say practices disrupted by piecemeal Medicare payment fixes

Doctor groups are warning congressional leaders that a series of short-term measures lawmakers passed earlier this year to block Medicare payment cuts were too disruptive to medical practices," CQ HealthBeat reports.

8 Oct 2010