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PTC restructures collaboration with Genzyme

PTC Therapeutics, Inc. and Genzyme, a Sanofi company, announced today the restructuring of their collaboration. Under the original agreement, PTC held commercial rights for the U.S. and Canada and Genzyme held commercial rights in all other countries.

2 Sep 2011

UnitedHealthcare to administer major Calif. physicians groups

UnitedHealth Group continues to expand its Optum health services division, entering into an agreement to handle non-clinical operations at one of California's largest physicians groups.

2 Sep 2011

New tool to predict survival after heart transplant

Johns Hopkins researchers say they have developed a formula to predict which heart transplant patients are at greatest risk of death in the year following their surgeries, information that could help medical teams figure out who would benefit most from the small number of available organs.

2 Sep 2011

NCD summit negotiations must get back on track to help millions worldwide

With negotiations over the outcomes for the U.N. High-level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) stalled, "[i]t is feared that sound proposals for clear goals and timelines to tackle these devastating diseases are being systematically deleted, diluted and downgraded by some U.N. Member States and urgent action is needed to put the negotiations back on track, when they recommence on September 1," Rob Moodie, chair of Global Health at the Nossal Institute of Global Health, writes in the Crikey health blog "Croakey."

2 Sep 2011

Western, Midwestern states register higher methamphetamine usage

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, the world's leading provider of diagnostic testing, information and services, today issued its annual report on U.S. worker drug use, the Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index.

From Quest Diagnostics 2 Sep 2011

Hospital growth slows, NLRB issues nursing home union decision

Hospital revenue growth continued to slow down in 2010 and is projected to cool further during the next few years... Median operating revenue and expense growth last fiscal year dropped to a pace not seen in the last decade, said [said Moody's Investors Service's] analysis of 401 not-for-profit hospitals that operate alone or within single-state health systems.

2 Sep 2011

Insomnia prevalent in 23% of US workers

Insomnia is costing the average U.S. worker 11.3 days, or $2,280 in lost productivity every year, according to a study in the September 1 issue of the journal Sleep. As a nation, the total cost is 252.7 days and $63.2 billion.

2 Sep 2011

Women smokers more likely to attempt quitting when bans are enforced

Many workplaces and households ban smoking and, for some women, the effects extend beyond their office building or family home. A new study finds that women smokers who live and work where bans are enforced, even those who did not make explicit plans to quit, are more likely to attempt quitting.

2 Sep 2011

NAIC members raise concerns about exchange waiver process

The nation's insurance commissioners are raising concerns about how much flexibility states will have to tweak their exchanges once the new insurance markets are up and running. Under the first set of exchange rules, released in July, states that want to alter their exchange plans would have to get permission from HHS.

2 Sep 2011

Researchers modify toxic chemical of marine cycyanobacteria to treat colon cancer

University of Florida researchers have modified a toxic chemical produced by tiny marine microbes and successfully deployed it against laboratory models of colon cancer.

2 Sep 2011

Discovery in rare disease may shed light on common causes of blindness

In a rare eye disease, the retina degenerates because light-receiving cells fail to regenerate, research led by a student at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine shows.

2 Sep 2011

AmerisourceBergen completes acquisition of Premier Source

AmerisourceBergen Corporation today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Premier Source, a privately held company that provides consulting and reimbursement services to medical device, pharmaceutical, molecular diagnostic, and biotechnology manufacturers, as well as other health services companies.

2 Sep 2011

Florida steps up efforts against pill mills; Hospital executives under scrutiny

The New York Times looks at Florida's efforts to stop illegal sales of prescription drugs while other outlets examine local hospital issues.

2 Sep 2011

Link between age-related changes, health and cognition

Critical life course events and experiences - in both youth and middle adulthood - may contribute to health and cognition in later life, according to a new supplemental issue of the Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences.

2 Sep 2011

Freiburg researchers receive European Research Council Starting Grants

Marta Artal Sanz, Thomas Brox, Winfried Römer, and Oliver Schilling from the University of Freiburg have been selected for one of the most prestigious European grants for young researchers: The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded them a total of 5.8 million euros in ERC Starting Grants for new projects.

2 Sep 2011

AAPB publishes first handbook on sport psychology, neurofeedback and biofeedback

The Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback (AAPB), an international society for mind-body research, healthcare, and education, recently published the first handbook on sport psychology, neurofeedback, and biofeedback to offer performance techniques for reaching maximum potential.

2 Sep 2011

Investments in EHRs could reap major benefits in better patient care, health outcomes

Research published today in the New England Journal of Medicine gives cause for optimism that federal investments in electronic health records (EHRs) could reap major benefits in better patient care and health outcomes.

2 Sep 2011

Microtubule stability linked to increased sensitivity to paclitaxel

SCIENTISTS have discovered how blocking key cell signalling proteins could help boost the success rate of the tumour-shrinking drug paclitaxel, according to a study published in the journal Cancer Research today.

2 Sep 2011

STTI selects AJN as 2011 recipient of Nursing Media Award for Print

Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW), part of Wolters Kluwer Health, is pleased to announce that the American Journal of Nursing (AJN) has been selected as the 2011 recipient of the Nursing Media Award for Print by Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI), the Honor Society of Nursing.

2 Sep 2011

Contraceptive pill prevents loss of eye sight

Scientists at University College Cork (UCC) have shown that the active component (Norgestrel) of the contraceptive 'Mini Pill' prevents the loss of sight in mice that have degenerative eye conditions that normally lead to blindness.

2 Sep 2011