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Consumer confusion triggers crackdown by states on discount health plans

Reporting for Kaiser Health News, Maggie Mertens writes: "State regulators are cracking down on a health care product that targets the growing group of uninsured and underinsured Americans: the discount health plan" (Mertens, 4/29).

30 Apr 2010

Clarient reports 14.8% increase in first quarter 2010 revenue

Clarient, Inc., a premier anatomic pathology and molecular testing services resource for pathologists, oncologists and the biopharmaceutical industry, today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2010.

30 Apr 2010

Provenge cellular immunotherapy for men with advanced prostate cancer receives FDA approval

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Provenge (sipuleucel-T), a new therapy for certain men with advanced prostate cancer that uses their own immune system to fight the disease.

30 Apr 2010

Palomar Medical Technologies reports 9% increase in revenues for first-quarter 2010

Palomar Medical Technologies, Inc., a leading researcher and developer of light-based systems for cosmetic treatments, today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2010. Revenues for the quarter ended March 31, 2010 were $16.0 million, which represents a 9 percent increase over the $14.6 million reported in the first quarter of 2009. Product and service revenues increased to $13.1 million, a 14 percent increase over the $11.5 million in the first quarter of 2009.

30 Apr 2010

Cerus reports strong revenue growth in first quarter 2010

Total revenue was $5.7 million during the first quarter of 2010, up 64% from the $3.5 million recognized during same period in 2009. Product revenue for the INTERCEPT Blood System was $5.5 million during the first quarter of 2010, up more than 75% from the $3.1 million recognized during the same period in 2009.

30 Apr 2010

The closing of St. Vincent's Hospital creates many uncertainties in N.Y.

The Wall Street Journal reports on the closing of St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan. One story details how the staff of St. Vincent's has not yet received details about the hospital's closing on Friday. The hospital has been slowly winding down services since it announced its closure. "The emergency room stopped admitting patients and ambulances started going elsewhere, leaving the emergency room focused on walk-ins. Their needs have run the gamut. Tuesday night, for example, brought a patient with a possible ruptured aorta...

30 Apr 2010

Study promises a new treatment for cancer

Cancer cells producing toxins that destroy tumours - could this be a future treatment for cancer? Researchers at Lund University have achieved good results in tests on both cells and animals.

30 Apr 2010

Kissei to commercialize Protox's PRX302 PSA-activated pro-drug for BPH, prostate cancer in Japan

Protox Therapeutics Inc., a leader in the development of receptor targeted fusion proteins, today announced that it has entered into an exclusive US $75 million license agreement with Kissei Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. for the development and commercialization of its PSA-activated pro-drug, PRX302, in Japan for BPH, prostate cancer and other diseases of the prostate. Protox retains exclusive rights to PRX302 in all other territories.

30 Apr 2010

Researchers identify key protein that regulates innate immune system

A team of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine has identified a protein called NLRC5, a member of the NOD-like protein family, that is involved in inhibition of protein complexes key to critical pathways of innate immunity called NF-κB and type I interferon signaling. A report on their work appears in the current issue of the journal Cell.

30 Apr 2010

Republicans call for investigation of health law's costs

Politico: "House Republicans on Wednesday demanded an investigation into whether the health care overhaul plan would increase national health spending, following a recent report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that showed cost increases, at least in the first decade." The Medicare actuary's report showed a one percent increase in health spending over 10 years, which Republicans said cut against Democrats' pledge that the health overhaul would "bend the cost curve down."

30 Apr 2010

SCOLR Pharma first-quarter total revenues decrease 3%

SCOLR Pharma, Inc. today reported financial results for the first three months ended March 31, 2010.

30 Apr 2010

CRH Medical reports 115% increase in first-quarter 2010 revenue

CRH Medical Corporation announced today unaudited results for the three months ended March 31, 2010. Total revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2010 was $1,951,590 compared to $1,739,470 for the same period in 2009.

30 Apr 2010

Canadian researchers identify new therapeutic target for lung cancer

Lung cancer patients whose tumors over-express a cell surface molecule called CXCR4 do significantly worse than those who do not, Canadian researchers have found. Their work, reported at the 2nd European Lung Cancer Conference in Geneva, highlights the exciting possibility that the molecule could soon become a new target for personalized cancer therapy.

30 Apr 2010

Experts see 'lump sums' in health spending's future

Los Angeles Times/Dallas Morning News: Some elite California hospitals will begin "bundling" their fees for joint replacement surgeries into a single lump sum in an attempt to rethink the current pricing system that leaves "hospitals and doctors charging separately for their services," driving "up costs while leaving no one to coordinate decisions about patient care."

30 Apr 2010

Artisan Pharma enrolls 750 patients in Phase 2b study of ART-123 in sepsis patients with DIC

Artisan Pharma, Inc., a private biopharmaceutical company dedicated to bringing best-in-class critical care therapeutics to patients, today announced the completion of patient enrollment in its Phase 2b study of ART-123 (Recomodulin® - recombinant human thrombomodulin) in sepsis patients with disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). The clinical trial was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2b study to assess the safety and efficacy of ART-123 in patients with sepsis and DIC.

30 Apr 2010

Continuing education lectures on adult glioblastoma to be held at all U.S. healthcare centers

Adult glioblastoma continues to be a difficult disease to treat, so healthcare professionals must have the most up-to-date information regarding optimal methods for diagnostic imaging and treatment of these tumors. Awareness of novel agents in clinical trials is also critical to providing the best care.

30 Apr 2010

Depomed attributes 56% increase in first-quarter revenue to $5.8M increase in Glumetza product sales

Depomed, Inc. today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2010.

30 Apr 2010

Partisan disagreement mounts as health programs are considered by debt commission

This week's focus on the federal deficit -- at a fiscal summit that drew many major policy makers and at the opening of President Barack Obama's bipartisan debt-reduction commission -- has renewed interest in the economic effects of the new health care law, especially given Obama's remarks that everything, even that law, would be under consideration by the commission as it looks to cut the national debt.

30 Apr 2010

athenahealth reports strong revenue growth in first quarter 2010

athenahealth, Inc., a leading provider of Internet-based business services for physician practices, today announced financial and operational results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2010.

30 Apr 2010

Study examines doctors' uncompensated daily work

The New York Times: "A new study detailing the uncompensated work burden on family doctors points to the need to change how they are paid, medical experts say — particularly as the new health care law promises to add millions more patients to the system. … Family doctors make up the embattled front line of the nation's health care system.

30 Apr 2010