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FDA accepts for filing Salix Pharmaceuticals' NDA for rifaximin tablets

Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SLXP) today announced the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for filing and designated for Priority Review the Company’s New Drug Application (NDA) for rifaximin tablets 550 mg for the maintenance of remission of hepatic encephalopathy (HE). Additionally, the FDA has informed the Company of its plan to schedule an Advisory Committee meeting in late February 2010 to discuss the application.

25 Aug 2009

NIAID to establish a human immune profiling research consortium in 2010; invites grant applications

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a component of the National Institutes of Health, is accepting grant applications for a new initiative to establish a consortium of human immune profiling research centers.

25 Aug 2009

Orphan drug status granted to BioCancell's BC-819 drug

Tikcro Technologies today announced that the United States (“US”) Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") has granted orphan drug status to BioCancell's BC-819 drug, currently in Phase I/IIa clinical trials, for its use in treating ovarian cancer.

24 Aug 2009

Obama tops ranking of the 100 most powerful people in healthcare

President Barack Obama was voted the most powerful person in healthcare by readers of Modern Healthcare, the nation's leading weekly healthcare business news magazine. Obama, whose name has become inextricably linked with healthcare reform, topped the magazine's annual ranking of the 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare.

24 Aug 2009

Health and Human Services Secretary to present at the 2009 Community Health Institute and Expo

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will deliver remarks at the National Association of Community Health Centers' 2009 Community Health Institute and Expo in Chicago.

24 Aug 2009

$25.7 million in grants announced to increase and improve US health center services

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced more than $25.7 million in grants to increase and improve health and support services at the nation's health centers.

24 Aug 2009

Public plan and Co-ops battle for public hearts, political minds

What started with a "couple of liberal policy wonks" is now in the center of the debate over government's role in the health care system and has placed President Obama "uncomfortably in the middle," The Associated Press reports.

24 Aug 2009

Chicago health conference to focus on health care reforms and expandng access to care for the uninsured and jobless during recession

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will be among top federal officials to address a national conference of Community, Migrant and Homeless Health Center representatives from across the country.

24 Aug 2009

Daschle advising Obama, health industry on reform

The Washington Post: "Former Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle's visit to the Oval Office on Friday, at the invitation of President Obama, was more than just a meeting between two loyal friends and political allies. It also served as a reminder of what might have been."

23 Aug 2009

HHS Secretary to address National Association of Community Health Centers

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will deliver remarks at the National Association of Community Health Centers' 2009 Community Health Institute and Expo in Chicago.

23 Aug 2009

Role of life sciences and health care industries in shaping national health care reforms emphasized at summit hosted by Cherokee Pharmaceuticals

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21 Aug 2009

Southern Research's Birmingham campus to have a Comprehensive Chemical Biology Center

Southern Research Institute today announced that it has been selected as one of 11 organizations to help establish the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Chemical Biology Consortium (CBC)--a program meant to coordinate and accelerate the discovery and development of new therapeutic agents to treat cancer patients. Southern Research will establish one of NCI's five Comprehensive Chemical Biology Centers at its Birmingham campus.

21 Aug 2009

Biden: $1.2 billion from stimulus for computerized medical records

"Vice President Joe Biden today announced $1.2 billion from federal stimulus dollars to allow hospitals to modernize record keeping systems," The Chicago Tribune reports.

20 Aug 2009

Physician shortage limits even insured patients' access to care

CBS News reports that just having insurance coverage "doesn't guarantee access" to health care, because there is s shortage of primary care doctors to provide treatment. "Baystate Medical Center is the second busiest emergency room in Massachusetts. They treat over 100,000 patients a year, but here's the thing: according to Dr. Niels Rathlev, who runs the ER, a quarter of them don't need his services." Rathlev says it would be "more appropriate" for those people to see a primary care doctor. "'The majority of patients who are frequent utilizers of the emergency department actually have insurance,' Rathlev said. 'They have a primary care physician, but they choose to come to the ER because they don't have access.'"

20 Aug 2009

HHS issues new regulations to notify individuals on health information

New regulations requiring health care providers, health plans, and other entities covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to notify individuals when their health information is breached were issued today by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

20 Aug 2009

Co-op proposal continues to draw White House defensiveness, Liberals' ire

The Hill reports on Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' backpedaling on comments she made Sunday that a public option "isn't essential" to a reform package: "'Here's the bottom line. Absolutely nothing has changed. We continue to support the public option that will help lower costs, give American consumers more choice and keep private insurers honest,' Sebelius said. 'The public option is a very good way to do this,' she added" (Youngman, 8/18).

20 Aug 2009

Vanderbilt enters Chemical Biology Consortium as a Chemical Diversity Center to develop cancer treatment drugs

Vanderbilt University has been selected as one of 10 centers in the nation to participate in the Chemical Biology Consortium (CBC), a major new initiative to facilitate the discovery and development of new agents to treat cancer.

20 Aug 2009

US FDA announces establishment of the Center for Tobacco Products with Lawrence Deyton as Center Director

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announcement today that it is establishing the Center for Tobacco Products and has selected Lawrence Deyton, MSPH, MD, a highly respected and experienced public health leader, as the Center Director is a demonstration of its commitment to moving quickly and vigorously to implement its new authority to regulate tobacco products, the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. This announcement comes just two months after Congress approved and President Obama signed into law historic legislation giving the FDA authority over tobacco products.

20 Aug 2009

H1N1 vaccine administration coverage for eligible members of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Maine

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Maine has announced that it will offer coverage for the administration of the H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine when it becomes commercially available to the general public. The vaccine administration will be covered for members whose benefit plans provide coverage for vaccines.

20 Aug 2009

New guidance for businesses to plan for and respond to upcoming flu season

Department of Commerce (DOC) Secretary Gary Locke, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced new guidance for businesses to plan for and respond to the upcoming flu season.

19 Aug 2009

Health and Human Services News and Research

FDA accepts for filing Salix Pharmaceuticals' NDA for rifaximin tablets

NIAID to establish a human immune profiling research consortium in 2010; invites grant applications

Orphan drug status granted to BioCancell's BC-819 drug

Obama tops ranking of the 100 most powerful people in healthcare

Health and Human Services Secretary to present at the 2009 Community Health Institute and Expo

$25.7 million in grants announced to increase and improve US health center services

Public plan and Co-ops battle for public hearts, political minds

Chicago health conference to focus on health care reforms and expandng access to care for the uninsured and jobless during recession

Daschle advising Obama, health industry on reform

HHS Secretary to address National Association of Community Health Centers

Role of life sciences and health care industries in shaping national health care reforms emphasized at summit hosted by Cherokee Pharmaceuticals

Southern Research's Birmingham campus to have a Comprehensive Chemical Biology Center

Biden: $1.2 billion from stimulus for computerized medical records

Physician shortage limits even insured patients' access to care

HHS issues new regulations to notify individuals on health information

Co-op proposal continues to draw White House defensiveness, Liberals' ire

Vanderbilt enters Chemical Biology Consortium as a Chemical Diversity Center to develop cancer treatment drugs

US FDA announces establishment of the Center for Tobacco Products with Lawrence Deyton as Center Director

H1N1 vaccine administration coverage for eligible members of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Maine

New guidance for businesses to plan for and respond to upcoming flu season

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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