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Novartis to expand Cambridge global Research headquarters by 400,000 square feet

Novartis announced today that it will add 300 new jobs and invest $600 million over the next five years to expand its global Research headquarters campus on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, Mass.

28 Oct 2010

Consumer groups still concerned as insurance rules are considered by HHS

The Wall Street Journal Health Blog: Consumer groups are already concerned that insurers might lobby HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to weaken the medical-loss ratio rules suggested by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners last week. "Today, consumer representatives sent a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to urge her not to tinker too much with what the NAIC came up with." The medical-loss ratio rules will determine "how much insurers pay out in health care compared with the total premiums they collect.

28 Oct 2010

Global supply of medical products create demanding challenges for Life Sciences industry

An extensive research study by Axendia, Inc., co-sponsored by Camstar Systems, Inc., shows that globalization of manufacturing and supply of medical products has created unique and demanding challenges for the Life Sciences industry. The cost advantages of global manufacturing and outsourcing are tempered by the need to improve product safety and reduce risks.

28 Oct 2010

Phrma pushes back against campaign calls for Medicare Part D price negotiation

The powerful pharmaceutical lobby is pushing back against campaign-trail calls to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices on behalf of millions of seniors enrolled in Part D, The Hill reports.

28 Oct 2010

Polio vaccination campaign targeting 72M children in 15 African countries announced; Ugandan health authorities declare polio outbreak

The WHO on Tuesday announced a mass polio immunization campaign in 15 African countries targeting a total of 72 million children, Agence France-Presse reports. "Polio has spread again in recent years with cases imported from some of the four endemic nations in Asia and Africa, mainly Nigeria, in a setback to global attempts to eradicate the crippling and sometimes lethal disease," the news service writes (10/26).

28 Oct 2010

Report notes potential for African agriculture, European partnerships

A new report highlights concerns about donors, especially from Europe, following through on funding pledges for the G8's $22 billion global food security fund, Business Daily reports.

28 Oct 2010

Elevated amounts of SP2 protein turn stem cells into cancerous tumors: Research

Researchers at North Carolina State University have found that the overproduction of a key protein in stem cells causes those stem cells to form cancerous tumors. Their work may lead to new treatments for a variety of cancers.

28 Oct 2010

Nymox updates NX-1207 Phase 3 pivotal trials for benign prostatic hyperplasia

Nymox Pharmaceutical Corporation provided an update today on the Company's Phase 3 pivotal trials for NX-1207, Nymox's investigational drug for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

28 Oct 2010

A look at the secretive AMA panel behind Medicare's payment rates

A group of 29 physicians, convened by the American Medical Associations and "mostly selected" by specialty trade groups, have the task of recommending how to divide Medicare money into payments for each service, procedure and treatment the program covers, The Wall Street Journal reports.

28 Oct 2010

Health Canada approves PRADAX anticoagulant for stroke prevention in AF patients

Boehringer Ingelheim Ltd. today announces that Health Canada has granted approval of PRADAX (dabigatran etexilate), an oral anticoagulant for the prevention of stroke and systemic embolism in adults with atrial fibrillation in whom anticoagulation is appropriate. PRADAX is the first innovative drug approved in Canada in more than two decades to reduce the risk of stroke in Canadians with atrial fibrillation.

28 Oct 2010

New oral drug shrinks IMT sarcoma driven by abnormally activated protein

A new oral drug caused dramatic shrinkage of a patient's rare, aggressive form of soft-tissue cancer that was driven by an abnormally activated protein, physician-scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute report in the Oct. 28 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

28 Oct 2010

More effective therapeutic exercises underutilized in treatment of chronic neck pain

Duke University and University of North Carolina (UNC) researchers report in the November issue of Arthritis Care & Research that narcotics and diagnostic testing are overused in treating chronic neck pain. Their findings indicate clinicians may overlook more effective treatments for neck pain, such as therapeutic exercise. According to reviews cited in the study, evidence to support the effectiveness of therapeutic exercise in treating chronic neck pain is good, yet only 53% of subjects were prescribed such exercise.

28 Oct 2010

Sec. of State Clinton commits $44M toward new initiatives to empower women

Marking the 10th anniversary of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325 the first to recognize the importance of women's 'full involvement' in efforts to maintain and promote peace and security Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday together with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and diplomats called for increased action to end sexual violence in war and increase women's involvement in peace-building efforts, the Associated Press/Forbes reports.

28 Oct 2010

New findings suggest way to treat lung diseases

A new study of an exotic, infectious virus that has caused three recent outbreaks in the United States reveals clues to how the virus might damage lungs during infection. The findings also suggest possible new ways to treat lung diseases in humans.

28 Oct 2010

Mass. hospitals turn away mentally ill kids, Anthem braces for rate hearings, other state news

The Boston Globe reports that children with mental illnesses are "increasingly being turned away from some Massachusetts hospitals' psychiatric wards, a problem the hospital industry acknowledges and blames on insufficient insurance payments to cover treatment of such sick children. … Dr. JudyAnn Bigby, the state's health and human services secretary, said yesterday that hospitals licensed to treat mentally ill children must provide that care if they have sufficient staffing and beds, regardless of the reimbursement rates" (Lazar, 10/27).

28 Oct 2010

Omnyx initiates research testing of digital pathology platform

GE Healthcare and UPMC announced today that their imaging joint venture, Omnyx, is initiating clinical research testing of a breakthrough digital pathology platform that is expected to help transform the 125-year-old practice of pathologists using glass slides.

28 Oct 2010

Reuters examines development progress of microbicide gel to prevent HIV

Reuters reports that the developers of a vaginal microbicide gel containing the antiretroviral tenofovir, which has been found to reduce "HIV infections in women by 39 percent," said the FDA last week granted fast-track approval designation to the gel.

28 Oct 2010

Study finds green tea does not protect breast cancer

Green tea does not protect against breast cancer. A study of data from approximately 54,000 women, published in BioMed Central's open access journal Breast Cancer Research, found no association between drinking green tea and breast cancer risk.

28 Oct 2010

Republican's controversial proposal to mend Medicare

In a Kaiser Health News companion piece to the story, Some Hill Races Could Hinge On Seniors' Anger Over Medicare, Marilyn Werber Serafini reports that Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan's ideas - including giving Medicare beneficiaries a voucher to buy health coverage and adjusting benefits based on income -- could gain ground if the GOP wins control of the House in November (Serafini, 10/26).

28 Oct 2010

TU/e researchers mimic process of bone formation in laboratory

Researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) have for the first time succeeded in mimicking the process of bone formation in the laboratory, and in visualizing the process in great detail. The results will be published in the December edition of the scientific journal Nature Materials.

28 Oct 2010