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$Medicare reimbursed for only a fraction of the services recommended by government task force, study finds$

Medicare reimbursed for only a fraction of the services recommended by government task force, study finds

Health care reform should be able to mend a disconnect that has existed between the recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a task force charged by the government to review clinical preventive health services for older adults, and Medicare coverage for those services, a new UCLA-led study finds.

21 Jan 2011

How genetic abnormalities transform normal cells into leukemic cells

Cancer scientists led by Dr. John Dick at the Ontario Cancer Institute (OCI) and collaborators at St Jude Children's Research Hospital (Memphis) have found that defective genes and the individual leukemia cells that carry them are organized in a more complex way than previously thought.

21 Jan 2011

AHF proposes funding solutions to current ADAP crisis

In anticipation of an additional round of cuts to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) to be implemented in the next few months, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today proposed three possible funding solutions to the current ADAP crisis—which has left more than 5,000 people on waiting lists to receive lifesaving medications and thousands more scheduled to be disenrolled from the program altogether. Currently,

21 Jan 2011

Three million Medicare beneficiaries receive prescription drug cost relief through Affordable Care Act

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced that three million Medicare beneficiaries nationwide have received prescription drug cost relief through the Affordable Care Act. To date, three million eligible beneficiaries who fell into the drug coverage gap known as the donut hole during 2010 have been mailed a one-time, tax-free $250 rebate check.

21 Jan 2011

VIVUS holds End-of-Review meeting with FDA for QNEXA NDA

VIVUS, Inc. today announced that it held an End-of-Review meeting with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the New Drug Application (NDA) for QNEXA®, an investigational drug for the treatment of obesity. The meeting occurred on January 19th at the FDA's offices in Maryland and was attended by senior members of the FDA and VIVUS' management and consultants.

21 Jan 2011

Sunshine and Binghamton University enter research agreement for cancer compound

Sunshine Biopharma, Inc. a development stage pharmaceutical company focused on the research, development and commercialization of drugs for the treatment of various forms of cancer, today announced that it has executed an agreement with The Research Foundation of the State University of New York (SUNY), acting for and on behalf of Binghamton University (Binghamton, NY).

21 Jan 2011

GSK, Valeant receive European CHMP positive opinion for Trobalt

GlaxoSmithKline and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. announced today that the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has issued a positive opinion, recommending marketing authorisation for Trobalt™ (retigabine) as an adjunctive treatment of partial onset seizures, with or without secondary generalisation in adults aged 18 years and above with epilepsy.

21 Jan 2011

Surgery Partners to acquire NovaMed for $214 million

NovaMed, Inc., a leading operator of ambulatory surgery centers in partnership with physicians, today announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by an affiliate of Surgery Center Holdings, Inc. ("Surgery Partners") in a transaction valued at approximately $214 million, including the assumption or repayment of approximately $105 million of indebtedness.

21 Jan 2011

First Edition: January 21, 2011

Today's headlines highlight the House GOP's plans to advance the "replace" part of their strategy to reverse the health overhaul.

21 Jan 2011

HHS announces new funding opportunity for states to implement Health Insurance Exchanges

Today, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced a new funding opportunity for grants to help states continue their work to implement a key provision of the Affordable Care Act - Health Insurance Exchanges.

21 Jan 2011

Approaches designed to motivate drug development for children needed

Recent legislative and regulatory actions make great strides toward establishing much needed incentives for pharmaceutical companies and others to develop and test more medications for pediatric rare diseases, including pediatric cancers, according to commentary by experts from Children's National Medical Center. The commentary appears in the January 19 issue of Science Translational Medicine.

21 Jan 2011

Math may help assess how rapidly stem cells and cancer-causing cousins increase numbers

The difficult task of sorting and counting prized stem cells and their cancer-causing cousins has long frustrated scientists looking for new ways to help people who have progressive diseases.

21 Jan 2011

inVentiv Health to acquire Campbell Alliance and i3

inVentiv Health, Inc., a leading provider of outsourced clinical development, launch and commercialization services to the global healthcare industry, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Campbell Alliance, a leading management consulting firm specializing in serving the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Yesterday, inVentiv announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to purchase i3 from Ingenix.

From Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. 21 Jan 2011

How Dems who voted against the health law decided their repeal positions

Three House Democrats voted with Republicans to repeal the health law. But others, who voted against the legislation the first time around, chose to side with their party caucus.

21 Jan 2011

HCLA testifies that medical lawsuit abuse threatens patient care

The Health Coalition on Liability and Access (HCLA) testified today before the Committee on the Judiciary of the U.S. House of Representatives in a hearing titled, "Medical Liability Reform – Cutting Costs, Spurring Investment, Creating Jobs." Stuart L. Weinstein, MD, a spokesperson for the HCLA, called on the Congress to "create a climate for patient centered care by reforming a medical liability system that continues to put everyone's health care at risk."

21 Jan 2011

EMA CHMP issues negative opinion against Biogen Idec's FAMPYRA for multiple sclerosis

Biogen Idec announced today that the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has issued a negative opinion recommending against approval of FAMPYRA to improve walking ability in adult patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the European Union. Biogen Idec intends to appeal this opinion and request a re-examination of the decision by the CHMP.

21 Jan 2011

Researchers map complex choreography used by immune system's T cells to recognize pathogens

Researchers have for the first time mapped the complex choreography used by the immune system's T cells to recognize pathogens while avoiding attacks on the body's own cells.

21 Jan 2011

Initiative to eliminate cervical cancer in North Carolina

Patricia Gregory of Cary was only 24 years old when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Now a mother of an 11-year-old daughter, she considers herself blessed to have a child, as cervical cancer can make women unable to bear children.

21 Jan 2011

What protects certain diabetics from complications?

Much research has been carried out on why diabetics develop complications. Now researchers are asking the question the other way around. They want to know why some diabetic patients do not develop complications. What is it that protects them? The PROLONG study could provide the answer.

21 Jan 2011

RBM, SMA Foundation collaborate to develop plasma protein biomarkers for spinal muscular atrophy

The Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation and Rules-Based Medicine, announced today that they have reached the first milestone in a program to develop a panel of plasma protein biomarkers for SMA using RBM's Multi-Analyte Profiling technology platform.

21 Jan 2011