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Viewpoints: Shouldering the health costs of the 'irresponsible'; Learning from the parallels between Obamacare and the 'war on terror'

The central idea of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - the formal name of the Obamacare law - emphasized in the hearings is to spread the cost of health care to ever-larger pools of Americans. In particular, to those who pay low health insurance premiums, the young who choose to have no insurance and the healthy.

4 Apr 2012

Vitamin D deficiency may increase risk of mortality in intensive care patients

Scientists have long believed that vitamin D, which is naturally absorbed from sunlight, has an important role in the functioning of the body's autoimmune system. Now Prof. Howard Amital of Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and Sheba Medical Center has discovered that the vitamin may also affect the outcomes of patients in intensive care.

4 Apr 2012

Combination of gemcitabine and TH-302 improves survival in advanced pancreatic cancer

The combination of the novel drug TH-302 with the standard drug gemcitabine has shown early signs of delaying the worsening of cancer in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, a Mayo Clinic-led study has found.

4 Apr 2012

Navidea announces FDA extension of Lymphoseek PDUFA date by three months

Navidea Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that yesterday it received notification from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) date for 99m-Tc-Tilmanocept, has been modified to September 10, 2012, a 90-day extension from the initial PDUFA date of June 10th.

4 Apr 2012

Researchers figure out how rapamycin causes diabetes

The drug known as rapamycin is widely used by cancer and transplant patients, and there are hints that it might even help us put off old age and live longer. But, it also comes with a downside: rapamycin leads to diabetes in as many as 15 percent of the people who take it.

4 Apr 2012

Blues insurers win antitrust case in Mich., see profits increase 20% in Minn.; HMO profit caps mean Minn. will get $8M back from another insurer

Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Michigan won a hospital pricing antitrust case. In Minnesota, nonprofit insurer UCare prepares to return $8 million to the state while Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota's profit rose 20 percent in 2011.

4 Apr 2012

Cruciferous vegetable intake may boost survival of breast cancer patients

A study by Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention investigators reveals that breast cancer survivors who eat more cruciferous vegetables may have improved survival.

4 Apr 2012

Hepatitis B-infected patients with longer telomeres more likely to develop HCC

Hepatitis B-infected patients with significantly longer telomeres—the caps on the end of chromosomes that protect our genetic data— were found to have an increased risk of getting liver cancer compared to those with shorter ones, according to findings presented by researchers at Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2012.

4 Apr 2012

Johns Hopkins devises new seizure detection software

Epilepsy affects 50 million people worldwide, but in a third of these cases, medication cannot keep seizures from occurring. One solution is to shoot a short pulse of electricity to the brain to stamp out the seizure just as it begins to erupt. But brain implants designed to do this have run into a stubborn problem: too many false alarms, triggering unneeded treatment. To solve this, Johns Hopkins biomedical engineers have devised new seizure detection software that, in early testing, significantly cuts the number of unneeded pulses of current that an epilepsy patient would receive.

4 Apr 2012

BioMed closes new $400M senior unsecured term loan facility

BioMed Realty Trust, Inc. announced today that the company has closed a new $400 million senior unsecured term loan facility. The new facility matures on March 30, 2017.

4 Apr 2012

NCAA-funded study to focus on sports-related concussions

Sports-related concussions have become a subject of deep concern in recent years, with Congress holding hearings on the issue, retired players suing sports leagues for alleged damage they've suffered, and new research pointing to degeneration in injured athletes' brains over time.

4 Apr 2012

Topline results from GSK's seven of eight albiglutide Phase 3 studies on type 2 diabetes

Attached is a press release issued earlier this morning by GlaxoSmithKline, announcing that topline results have been received from seven of the eight Harmony Phase 3 studies investigating the use of albiglutide in type 2 diabetes.

4 Apr 2012

Mylan introduces Mesna Injection

Mylan Inc. today announced that its Mylan Institutional business has launched Mesna Injection, 100 mg/mL, packaged in 1,000 mg/10mL multiple-dose vials.

4 Apr 2012

AIT renews ISO 9001:2008 certification

Applied Instrument Technologies (AIT), a leading manufacturer of process analyzers for the refining, petrochemical, chemical, steel, biotechnology and emissions markets has renewed its ISO 9001:2008 certification.

4 Apr 2012

TL32711 compound targets key pathway in lymphoma

Scientists at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia have come one step closer to developing the first treatment to target a key pathway in lymphoma. The new findings will be announced at the AACR Annual Meeting 2012 on Tuesday, April 3.

4 Apr 2012

Dohmen announces acquisition of BioSoteria

CEO Cynthia (Dohmen) LaConte announced today that the Dohmen Company has acquired BioSoteria, a leading provider of drug safety and risk management services to the biopharmaceutical industry.

4 Apr 2012

FDA clears Fenwal's Aurora plasmapheresis system

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared for marketing a new source plasma collection system developed by Fenwal, Inc., the company announced today. Called the Aurora plasmapheresis system, the new device can support two-way, wireless data communication designed to eliminate manual steps and increase operator and donor satisfaction.

4 Apr 2012

Women with IBS more likely to suffer from ectopic pregnancies, miscarriages

A study by researchers at University College Cork, Ireland and the University of Manchester, UK suggests that women with Irritable Bowel Syndrome are more likely to suffer from miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies.

4 Apr 2012

Bio-Path 2011 net loss increases to $2,363,344

Bio-Path Holdings, Inc., a biotechnology company developing a liposomal delivery technology for nucleic acid cancer drugs, today announced operational and financial results for the year ended December 31, 2011.

4 Apr 2012

State roundup: Docs fight over HMO in Fla.; Striking health law wouldn't stop reform in Minn.; Calif. mulls public employee 'Bill of Rights'

Two doctors who are among Florida's most aggressive fundraisers for the Republican Party have had a nasty falling-out over control of an HMO. Dr. Zachariah P. Zachariah, a prominent Broward cardiologist, has filed suit against Dr. Akshay Desai, the chairman and CEO of Universal Health Care. Universal, founded in 2002, is a fast-growing Medicare HMO based in St. Petersburg.

4 Apr 2012