Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Applied engineering makes for more efficient operating rooms

Work by specialists from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering has led to significant improvements in turnover times for operating rooms at three California safety net hospitals, allowing "many more hours of daytime surgery per year."

3 Dec 2008

Intradigm issued new RNAi therapeutics patent

Intradigm Corporation has announced the issuance of United States patent 7,459,547, entitled "Methods and Compositions for Controlling Efficacy of RNA Silencing."

3 Dec 2008

Are we finally winning the war on cancer?

Improvements in behavior and screening have contributed greatly to the 13 percent decline in cancer mortality since 1990, with better cancer treatments playing a supporting role, according to new research from David Cutler of Harvard University.

3 Dec 2008

Patient safety compromised with faster drug approvals

With new drugs being reviewed by regulatory agencies and then released onto the market faster than ever before, patients' safety is being compromised, warns a study published on bmj.com.

3 Dec 2008

Escalating inequality in cardiovascular health status between rich and poor

A new paper released by The George Institute for International Health is warning a cardiovascular disease based epidemic is gaining pace among many low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), exemplified at its worst in the world's largest populated countries – China and India.

3 Dec 2008

New cream for vaginal dryness approved

Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved its subsidiary Duramed Pharmaceuticals, Inc.'s New Drug Application (NDA) for Synthetic Conjugated Estrogens-A (SCE-A) 0.625 mg/g Vaginal Cream.

1 Dec 2008

FDA accepts Zevalin supplemental biologics license application

Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (CTI) has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for filing and review, and has granted priority review status for, the supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for use of Zevalin ([90Y]-ibritumomab tiuxetan) as consolidation therapy for patients with follicular B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma who achieve a response to first-line therapy. Priority review is granted by the FDA for a treatment that addresses a significant unmet medical need.

1 Dec 2008

Liver disease tackled with dedicated unit at Imperial College London

Liver disease death rates are rising in the UK, in contrast to other common diseases such as heart disease and cancer, and the new Robert Hesketh Hepatology Clinical Research Facility aims to provide care and develop new therapies to reverse this trend.

1 Dec 2008

Prescription for improvements in patient safety

A major reform of the way that NHS hospitals pay for legal liability insurance has led to improvements in patient safety, according to research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

30 Nov 2008

Parents of new babies should be considered for a whooping cough booster, say experts

A booster vaccination for parents of new babies and other household members may be the most effective way of preventing the fatal form of whooping cough in young infants, say a group of paediatric intensive care doctors on bmj.com.

28 Nov 2008

Novel target for therapeutics against Staphylococcus aureus

Researchers at the Texas A&M Health Science Center Institute of Biosciences and Technology, and the University of Edinburgh have uncovered how a bacterial pathogen interacts with the blood coagulation protein fibrinogen to cause methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections, a finding that could aid in developing therapeutics against the potentially deadly disease.

28 Nov 2008

Misleading media coverage of clinical trials

Media coverage of clinical trials does not contain the elements readers require to make informed decisions.

26 Nov 2008

FDA issues complete response letter for Ceftobiprole for treatment of complicated skin infections

Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, L.L.C. (J&JPRD), today announced that it received a Complete Response letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding its New Drug Application (NDA) for ceftobiprole for the treatment of complicated skin and skin structure infections, including diabetic foot infections.

26 Nov 2008

AHF: Lancet’s Africa AIDS study shows global testing woefully under-funded

A study published in the British medical journal Lancet yesterday suggesting that testing all adults in Africa annually for HIV and immediately treating every person who tests positive could halt the AIDS epidemic in Africa within a decade has spurred the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) to renew its call for the massive scale up of, and dramatically increased funding for global HIV testing and antiretroviral treatment worldwide.

26 Nov 2008

AIDS advocates tell WHO: Stop harmful single-dose treatment for expectant mothers and infants

As World AIDS Day 2008 approaches, a coalition of hundreds of HIV/AIDS medical care providers and advocates, representing dozens of organizations, today sent a letter to Dr. Margaret Chan, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), urging an end to harmful single-dose HIV/AIDS treatment as a recommended treatment for expectant mothers and infants worldwide.

25 Nov 2008

Hospital ups employee satisfaction 33 percent with 'on screen' internal communications

In Washington, DC, The George Washington University Hospital's (GWUH) internal survey shows employee satisfaction with hospital communication increased by 33 percent.

25 Nov 2008

Women more likely than men to be hospitalized for chest pain

Women are more likely than men to be hospitalized for chest pain for which doctors cannot find a cause, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

24 Nov 2008

Pregnancy and fertility following bariatric surgery

Women who undergo weight-loss surgery, known as bariatric surgery, and later become pregnant after losing weight may be at lower risk for pregnancy-related diabetes and high blood pressure-- complications that can seriously affect the mother or her baby--than pregnant women who are obese, according to new findings from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality that are published in the November 19 issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

24 Nov 2008

Obama's team presented with policy recommendations designed to combat obesity epidemic

President-elect Barack Obama's Health and Human Services Transition Team was presented with a series of nearly 50 legal and policy recommendations designed to combat the nation's obesity epidemic.

24 Nov 2008

HHS releases first-ever inventory of quality measures

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released the first-ever inventory of quality measures that are used for reporting, payment, or quality improvement by its agencies and operating divisions.

24 Nov 2008