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Slow-starting high risk pools look for bigger wave of enrollees, other reform issues

States have seen a "slow trickle" of enrollees for new federally funded high-risk pools but are expecting more to begin enrolling as word spreads about the coverage option, Politico reports.

14 Jul 2010

First comprehensive U.S. HIV/AIDS strategy to draw on lessons from PEPFAR

President Barack Obama plans to "unveil the first formal national HIV/AIDS strategy on Tuesday, a plan that aims to reduce the number of new cases [in the U.S.] by 25 percent in the next five years, officials said," the Washington Post reports.

14 Jul 2010

New research shows there is great need for culturally-appropriate Alzheimer care resources

Racially and ethnically diverse older adults are one of the fastest growing population segments in the United States and new research presented today at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease 2010 in Honolulu reveals that older African-Americans and Latinos with significant cognitive impairment have a lower likelihood of nursing home placement and longer survival than White older adults in the study.

14 Jul 2010

Zogenix secures $35M financing for commercial launch of SUMAVEL DosePro needle-free delivery system

Zogenix, Inc., a privately held pharmaceutical company, announced that it has secured a $35 million debt facility led by Oxford Finance Corporation which also included Silicon Valley Bank. The facility consists of a $25 million term loan and a $10 million revolving line of credit. Concurrently, all existing Zogenix investors, including Clarus Ventures, Domain Associates, Scale Venture Partners, Thomas, McNerney & Partners, Abingworth Management, and Chicago Growth Partners, have provided an additional $15 million investment.

14 Jul 2010

CMAJ publishes new, updated guidelines on vitamin D

New and updated guidelines on recommended vitamin D intake have been published this week in the online issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

14 Jul 2010

Baxter to provide transition guide for facilities using Colleague infusion pumps

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today required Baxter Healthcare Corp. to take specific steps to carry out the April 2010 recall of all Colleague Volumetric Infusion Pumps (CVIP) and to provide customers with a refund, a replacement pump, or lease termination.

14 Jul 2010

Hospitals hope to improve outlook by turning for-profit

"For decades, the Detroit Medical Center and its network of eight hospitals have served as a safety net for thousands of poor patients throughout southeastern Michigan. So when its pending sale to a for-profit hospital system was announced in March, pediatrician James Collins began worrying whether the poor would still get the care they need" (Gold, 7/13).

14 Jul 2010

Metamark Genetics closes $22M Series B financing

Metamark Genetics, Inc., a molecular diagnostics company addressing a major challenge in cancer medicine, has completed a $22 million Series B financing. Metamark's Prognosis Determinants platform has illuminated the genetic drivers governing the lethal metastatic progression of major cancers and is now focused on pivotal translational and commercialization efforts to bring these breakthrough discoveries to cancer patients worldwide.

14 Jul 2010

LSUHSC Professor awarded $2.1M grant to determine role of PCP

Dr. Jay Kolls, Professor and Chairman of Genetics at the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine, has been awarded a $2.1 million grant over five years by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health to determine the role and identify which T-helper cells fight the opportunistic infection, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, which can be a complication of HIV/AIDS.

14 Jul 2010

Advocates lobbying for passage of International Violence Against Women Act

"Supporters of the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA) are ramping up their lobbying efforts as Congress prepares to bring the measure to a vote," The Hill reports. More than a dozen organizations and advocacy groups have written a letter requesting the support of Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio. The bill currently has two Republican sponsors in the senate and "advocates say his support will be vital to obtaining the desired amount of funding from Congress: up to $1.3 billion over five years," the newspaper writes.

14 Jul 2010

Supernus initiates SPN812 Phase IIa clinical trial for ADHD in adults

Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the initiation of a Phase IIa U.S. clinical trial of its product candidate SPN812 for the treatment of ADHD in adults. The trial is a proof-of-concept, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in healthy adults aged 18 to 64, inclusive, with ADHD. Supernus expects to enroll 50 subjects in the study at 5 sites across the United States.

14 Jul 2010

K-V announces resubmission to FDA's Complete Response action letter for Gestiva

K-V Pharmaceutical Company, a specialty pharmaceutical company, announced today that it has been informed by Hologic, Inc. that a resubmission to the FDA's Complete Response action letter received in January 2009 has been submitted for Gestiva™ (hydroxyprogesterone caproate injection), 250 mg/mL.

14 Jul 2010

Administration to unveil first national HIV/AIDS strategy today

The White House will unveil the first formal national HIV/AIDS strategy on Tuesday, a plan that aims to reduce the number of new cases by 25 percent in the next five years, officials said. Noting that the number of new infections in the United States has been static -- and that the number of people living with HIV is growing -- the new policy would direct more resources toward African Americans and gay and bisexual men. Latinos and substance abusers should also be a priority, the report says.

14 Jul 2010

Mass. lawmakers may strip ban on medical-industry gifts

Massachusetts lawmakers may repeal a two-year old law requiring medical firms to disclose gifts to doctors, The Associated Press/Boston Herald reports. "Health care advocates say such a move could put a quick halt to efforts to rein in health care costs and increase transparency in the industry. Those pushing for repeal say the law has made it harder to attract those businesses to the state.

14 Jul 2010

Antigen Express granted patent for AE37 immunotherapeutic vaccine: Generex Biotechnology

Generex Biotechnology Corporation today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Antigen Express, Inc., has been granted a United States patent on AE37, its lead immunotherapeutic vaccine. While Antigen Express has a strong intellectual property foundation on all Ii-Key technology, this is the first "composition of matter" patent to be issued relating to one of their development products.

14 Jul 2010

ChemGenex agrees with FDA on potential regulatory path to progress OMAPRO for CML

ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals Limited announced today it has agreed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on a potential regulatory path to progress OMAPRO™ (omacetaxine mepesuccinate) for the treatment of patients with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML).

14 Jul 2010

Britain planning a health overhaul of its own

Britain's new, conservative-led coalition government says it will overhaul the national, government-financed health system by cutting back on the bureaucracy - to the tune of $30 billion between now and 2014 - and increasing funding for health services.

14 Jul 2010

Obama Administration approves direct federal funding of abortion: FRC Action

Family Research Council Action responded today to a discovery made by the National Right to Life Committee that the Obama Administration has given federal approval to send Pennsylvania $160 million in taxpayer funds which will directly fund abortions through President Obama's recently enacted health care law.

14 Jul 2010

Allstate declares quarterly dividend

The Allstate Corporation today announced a quarterly dividend of 20 cents on each outstanding share of the corporation's common stock, payable in cash on Oct. 1, 2010 to stockholders of record at the close of business on Aug. 31, 2010.

14 Jul 2010

Opinions: Haitian rebuilding; Nuclear state vaccine initiatives; HIV rights abuses in China; HIV vaccine

The "paltry scale of the Pentagon's reconstruction endeavor [in Haiti] -- 1.6 million people displaced and the American military is contributing a few classrooms? -- is emblematic of the international response," columnist Dana Milbank writes in a Washington Post opinion piece.

14 Jul 2010