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Enbrel outperforms Humira in treating newly diagnosed RA patients: Report

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that Amgen/Pfizer's Enbrel is the leading tumor necrosis factor -alpha inhibitor prescribed in newly diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis patients, outpacing Abbott's Humira in the first three lines of treatment.

9 Dec 2010

Research findings could lead to new therapies to correct neurological disorders

Yale University researchers have found that a single molecule not only connects brain cells but also changes how we learn. The findings, reported in the December 9 issue of the journal Neuron, may help researchers discover ways to improve memory and could lead to new therapies to correct neurological disorders.

9 Dec 2010

Media examines efforts to protect patients in Africa from counterfeit medications

HP and the African social enterprise mPedigree on Monday announced a new service that will enable patients in Ghana and Nigeria to verify the authenticity of their medications, Fast Company reports. "Counterfeit drugs are estimated to be a $75-billion-per-year business, [and are] implicated in the deaths of something like 700,000 people around the world annually," according to the article (Zax, 12/6).

9 Dec 2010

VIRxSYS presents study results of VRX1116 at HIV DART 2010

VIRxSYS Corporation, a privately held company developing vaccines and RNA therapies, today presented results from a study of VRX1116 at HIV DART 2010 in Los Cabos, Mexico, showing that vaccinated monkeys challenged with highly pathogenic simian immunodeficiency virus achieve sustained viral load reduction, preservation of the immune system and increased survival compared to controls.

9 Dec 2010

Report examines African government funding for child development

Tanzania, Mozambique and Niger spend the most on child wellbeing in Africa - with Sudan, Angola and Burundi at the bottom of the table," according to an African Child Policy Forum report, which was launched in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Tuesday at the opening of the Fourth International Policy Conference on the African Child, Deutsche Presse-Agentur/M&C reports (12/7).

9 Dec 2010

Arizona State Dem. lawmakers push for restoring Medicaid transplant money

The Fiscal Times: "Organ transplants are considered optional by the federal government. And in today's economic climate, 'optional' means endangered. In Arizona, the expenses for transplants are generally covered by the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), or 'Access,' as the state's version of Medicaid is known. But since cash-strapped Arizona is having trouble covering its mandated medical costs—never mind anything else—[some] transplants, among other things, are on the chopping block" (Mackey, 12/7).

9 Dec 2010

European researchers develop new form of therapy for Alpha-mannosidosis

Alpha-mannosidosis is a rare childhood disease which causes symptoms such as mental retardation or hearing loss and is linked to a lower life expectancy. A European research team headed by Professor Paul Saftig from Christian-Albrechts-Universit-t zu Kiel has developed a form of therapy as part of the Alpha-Man project, which will receive around six million euros from the European Union for its next stage of trials.

9 Dec 2010

Nottingham researchers develop new 'score' to detect heart disease in younger people

Experts at The University of Nottingham have developed a new 'score' to help GPs detect heart disease in younger people - before it damages their health.

9 Dec 2010

Study: Adding community features to online health programs could reduce attrition

In an era when social networking sites and blogs are visited by three quarters of online users, it's only natural that the medical profession would also tap into the power of social media tools.

9 Dec 2010

Researchers find weak association between parent-child dietary intake

As primary caregivers, parents are often believed to have a strong influence on children's eating behaviors. However, previous findings on parent-child resemblance in dietary intakes are mixed. Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health reviewed and assessed the degree of association and similarity between children's and their parents' dietary intake based on worldwide studies published since 1980. The meta-analysis is featured in the December issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

9 Dec 2010

p53 activation offers a novel strategy for cancer therapy

A pioneering clinical trial is testing the effectiveness in leukemia of a small molecule that shuts down MDM2, a protein that can disable the well-known tumor suppressor p53.

9 Dec 2010

Exergen's TemporalScanner demonstrates accuracy in temperature assessment for surgical patients

Temperatures taken orally or by temporal artery thermometry "are an accurate means of temperature assessment for adult patients undergoing colorectal or gynecology surgery," according to analysis published by the Journal of PeriAnesthesia Nursing. Accurate temperature readings are necessary to determine when to intervene for patients at all stages of their hospitalizations but especially during and immediately after surgical procedures to avoid post-operative complications.

9 Dec 2010

Texas leaders cut spending for Medicaid, Wyo. begins to set up state exchange

"State leaders, trying to dig out of a hole in the current two-year budget before the next one has to be whacked, ordered agencies Tuesday to further curb spending. Agency chiefs were told in a letter that they must reduce expenditures by 2.5% in the remaining nine months of the fiscal year. Managers of the state Medicaid program immediately announced they would cut another 1% from the fees paid to doctors, dentists and hospitals, along with 2% in payments to nursing homes and home health care providers. The decreases take effect Feb. 1, and they come on top of 1% cuts that kicked in just before Labor Day" (Garrett, 12/8).

9 Dec 2010

New objective criteria for evaluating hemostatic efficacy in treatment of VWD

Octapharma USA researchers presented new stringent, objective criteria used in the evaluation of hemostatic efficacy in the treatment of von Willebrand disease and reported on their application of these criteria in clinical trials during the recently completed National Hemophilia Foundation Annual Meeting.

9 Dec 2010

Annual survey ranks states on health, health care

An annual survey ranks state's overall health and gives snap shots of specific measures including crime, air pollution and smoking rates.

9 Dec 2010

New technique jumpstarts growth of nerve fibers to reverse stroke damage

A new technique that jumpstarts the growth of nerve fibers could reverse much of the damage caused by strokes, researchers report in the Jan. 7, 2011 issue of the journal Stroke.

9 Dec 2010

Senators announce deal to 'fix' Medicare doctor payments - for now

Senate leaders announced a deal late Tuesday to stave off deep cuts to physicians' Medicare payments by repurposing money set aside for the health law, Politico reports. The deal, announced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., changes ... "how much money consumers would have to repay if they receive too large a subsidy in the health insurance exchanges after 2014.

9 Dec 2010

Home health care technology could help patients improve their health, overall well-being: Study

Home health care technology may provide one important solution to global concerns about how to sustain health care systems threatened by rising costs and manpower shortages, but such a change faces multiple obstacles to adoption, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

9 Dec 2010

Personalized medicine advocates push for better reimbursement system

The U.S. reimbursement for diagnostic tests is outdated and inhibits the development of more personalized tests for patients, according to a report released Tuesday by the Personalized Medicine Coalition.

9 Dec 2010

Anchor Therapeutics announces publication describing pepducin technology as novel approach to target GPCR

Anchor Therapeutics today announced the publication of new research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. The paper describes the identification and characterization of a pepducin-based allosteric agonist that targets CXCR4, a chemokine G protein-coupled receptor found on hematopoietic stem cells and other bone marrow-derived cells.

9 Dec 2010