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Scaling up communication and coordination biggest challenge in GAVI's $1B vaccine initiative

In this post in the Huffington Post's "Impact" blog, Orin Levine, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins University, responds to the GAVI Alliance's announcement on Tuesday that it will supply more than $1 billion in childhood vaccines to 37 of the world's poorest countries, writing, "As the Alliance takes perhaps the most significant step ever toward increasing access to lifesaving immunization with this new and exciting round of country approvals, the challenge will be to ensure that every piece of the puzzle is in place to deliver on GAVI's tremendous promise."

29 Sep 2011

Almirall submits linaclotide MAA to EMA for treatment of IBS-C

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that its European partner Almirall, S.A. submitted a Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for linaclotide, a guanylate cyclase type-C (GC-C) agonist, for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with constipation.

29 Sep 2011

Prehypertension may increase risk of stroke

Even people with blood pressure that is slightly above normal may be at an increased risk of stroke, according to a review of studies published in the September 28, 2011, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

29 Sep 2011

Calif. bill could affect out-patient surgery centers; some Florida public hospitals prosper

Also in news about local hospitals, the Mayo Clinic announces plans to develop a new medical school branch in Arizona and a Minn. hospital is accused of dumping a patient.

29 Sep 2011

AASLD publishes updated practice guidelines on hepatitis C

On Monday, September 26, 2011, the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases published online at its journal Hepatology's website an update to its practice guidelines for hepatitis C – "An Update on Treatment of Genotype 1 Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection: 2011 Practice Guideline by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases."

29 Sep 2011

EMRC White Paper assesses current status of biomedical research in Europe

The European Science Foundation's EMRC publishes new White Paper assessing the current status of biomedical research in Europe in a global context. European biomedical research is advancing at a great pace compared to the relatively small funds available, and with more funding, it could do better.

29 Sep 2011

U.S. aid groups criticize U.S. government's response to sending food donations to North Korea

"Several American aid groups are criticizing the U.S. government delay on deciding whether to resume large-scale food donations to North Korea" after recent flooding deteriorated health and food security in the country, VOA News reports.

29 Sep 2011

VOICE HIV prevention trial to discontinue use of tenofovir tablets

VOICE, an HIV prevention trial evaluating two antiretroviral (ARV)-based approaches for preventing the sexual transmission of HIV in women - daily use of one of two different ARV tablets or of a vaginal gel - will be dropping one of the oral tablets from the study.

29 Sep 2011

High volume liver transplant centers achieve better risk-adjusted survival rates

The shortage of available organs for transplantation has driven up use of high-risk donor livers. New research published in the October issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, reported that high volume transplant centers more frequently utilized livers with a high donor risk index, but achieved better risk-adjusted graft and recipient survival rates compared with lower volume centers.

29 Sep 2011

Older women destined to develop AD have high blood levels of pregnancy protein

In an advance toward a much-needed early diagnostic test for Alzheimer's disease (AD), scientists have discovered that older women destined to develop AD have high blood levels of a protein linked to pregnancy years before showing symptoms.

29 Sep 2011

Merck sells 50% interest in JJMCP joint venture

Merck, known outside the United States and Canada as MSD, today announced that the company has sold its 50 percent interest in the Johnson & Johnson--Merck Consumer Pharmaceuticals Co. joint venture (JJMCP) to Johnson & Johnson (J&J) affiliates, McNEIL-PPC, Inc., McNEIL MMP, LLC, and Johnson & Johnson, Inc.

29 Sep 2011

Prototype drug shows promise against chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Pre-clinical research has generated some very promising findings about a prototype drug for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

29 Sep 2011

Post-Soviet economic breakdown may have contributed to re-emergence of NTDs in Central Asia

According to an article by Peter Hotez, president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, and Ken Alibek of Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan, published Tuesday in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Central Asia "continues to suffer from a post-Soviet economic breakdown that may have contributed to a re-emergence of several NTDs in the area, especially among its most economically disadvantaged groups," a PLoS press release states.

29 Sep 2011

JIA program effective in changing unhealthy youth behaviors

The National Survey of Children's Health indicates 31 percent of Missouri children are overweight or obese; yet, the state lacks physical activity requirements for students and nutritional standards for school meals beyond those recommended by the USDA.

29 Sep 2011

Acetyl-L-carnitine likely to improve outcomes and recovery for individuals with SCI

A commonly used supplement is likely to improve outcomes and recovery for individuals who sustain a spinal cord injury (SCI), according to research conducted by University of Kentucky neuroscientists.

29 Sep 2011

Study links pain severity with depression

A new study in The Journal of Pain, published by the American Pain Society, www.ampainsoc.org, shows that changes in pain severity can predict subsequent depression severity and, likewise, a worsening change in depression is an equally strong predictor of subsequent pain severity.

29 Sep 2011

Viewpoints: Blocking, replacing health law; a doc's HPV advice; County wellness plan working

Too often, the Republican Party health-care agenda seems to consist of incanting "repeal and replace" and then to stop thinking - if the thinking ever begins at all. Certainly the current Presidential field is saying little beyond promising to repeal ObamaCare, but in the nick of time Paul Ryan has provided some intellectual guidance in an important speech yesterday at Stanford's Hoover Institution. he said "we cannot simply revert to the status quo."

29 Sep 2011

Johns Hopkins researchers discover oxaliplatin-based nerve damage

Oxaliplatin, a platinum-based anticancer drug that's made enormous headway in recent years against colorectal cancer, appears to cause nerve damage that may be permanent and worsens even months after treatment ends.

29 Sep 2011

DaTscan aids doctors in diagnosing patients with Parkinson's disease

Fifty thousand to 60,000 new cases of Parkinson's disease are diagnosed in the United States each year. Central DuPage Hospital (CDH) in Winfield, Ill., is among the first medical centers in North America to be using a new technology called DaTscan, an imaging tool that aids doctors in diagnosing patients who demonstrate Parkinsonian symptoms, like Parkinson's disease.

29 Sep 2011

Roche to sponsor 3rd Annual World MRSA Day

As part of its ongoing work in the prevention and control of serious infections in healthcare settings, Roche announced today its sponsorship of the 3rd Annual World MRSA Day.

From Roche Sequencing and Life Science 29 Sep 2011