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FDA approves OZURDEX implant for uveitis treatment

Allergan, Inc. today announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved OZURDEX (dexamethasone intravitreal implant) 0.7 mg for the treatment of non-infectious ocular inflammation, or uveitis, affecting the posterior segment of the eye.

27 Sep 2010

Stirling Products’ drug delivery technology interests big ‘pharma’

Healthcare group, Stirling Products Limited (ASX:STI) has advised that following the recent TeleMedCare e-health acquisition and the conditional addition of the recently announced pathology business (subject to due diligence completion and shareholder approval), the Company is now in process of its strategised business integration.

26 Sep 2010

Victorian health report card

Results from the 2008 Victorian Population Health Survey of more than 34,000 people are out. Broadly the picture is not too pleasing with signs of poor health like weight gain and disease. People are eating less fruit and vegetables, but smoking is down and asthma is less prevalent than it was earlier in the decade.

26 Sep 2010

WA teenage death related to swine flu

Teenager Andrew Allan died hours after being sent home from Northam Hospital, Western Australia (WA) with some Paracetamol by a nurse on the 17th September. He was ill with fever and vomiting but was not assessed by a doctor. Health officials now believe his illness was due to swine flu and are urging people to get vaccinated. Nine people have died from swine flu in WA this year.

26 Sep 2010

Wealthy live longer than the poor: Study

According to the latest research poorer Australians die at least three years before their wealthy counterparts. The report entitled, “The Health Lies in Wealth” by the University of Canberra's National Centre for Social and Economic Modeling found that people in the lowest socio-economic group died on average at 79.6 years of age compared with 82.7 years for the highest socio-economic group. Factors that influence life expectancy include household income, work status, education level and support networks.

26 Sep 2010

New Concordia research links hormones with attention and learning

Feeling a little sluggish and having trouble concentrating? Hormones might be to blame according to new research from Concordia University published in the journal Brain and Cognition. The study shows that high estrogen levels are associated with an inability to pay attention and learn - the first such paper to report how this impediment can be due to a direct effect of the hormone on mature brain structures.

24 Sep 2010

The House approves six health-related measures, including legislation related to the disposal of unused prescription drugs

The Hill's Healthwatch Blog: "The House passed six health-related bills Wednesday evening, including efforts to combat Medicare fraud and dispose of unused prescription drugs." The measures were approved under suspension of the rules, "an expedited procedure that only allows for 40 minutes of debate followed by a voice vote."

24 Sep 2010

GOP 'pledge' to create jobs, control spending, repeal health law draws mixed reaction

The New York Times: "In the legislative blueprint that Republicans hope will serve as a roadmap to winning control of the House, they declared their two highest priorities to be creating jobs and stopping 'out-of-control spending' by the federal government." It includes a call to repeal the health law, while retaining "popular provisions."

24 Sep 2010

Genta commences new tesetaxel Phase 2 clinical trial in advanced bladder cancer

Genta Incorporated today announced that the Company has initiated a new Phase 2 clinical trial of tesetaxel in patients with advanced bladder cancer. Tesetaxel is the leading oral taxane in clinical development. The new trial will be conducted at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, and at least one site in the EU.

24 Sep 2010

Insurers irked by latest draft of spending requirements

"One of the most critical aspects of the federal health overhaul for insurers is shaping up as a mixed bag for the industry, as regulators issued draft rules Thursday on how the companies must account for how much they spend directly on patients' medical care," The Wall Street Journal reports. At issue is which expenses count as medical, versus administrative.

24 Sep 2010

Congress considers setting standards to reduce football concussions

NPR: "A college player who recently committed suicide had a degenerative brain disease normally linked to much older players. It's prompting a new round of questions about safety in the dangerous game that Americans love. ... [Chronic traumatic encephalopathy] is the football concussion 'disease of the moment.' In the past couple of years, Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy has revealed that many deceased NFL players had CTE. The symptoms include depression, erratic behavior and, ultimately, dementia" (Goldman, 9/23).

24 Sep 2010

Key pathway used by malaria parasite to infect human cells identified

Development of an effective vaccine for malaria is a step closer following identification of a key pathway used by the malaria parasite to infect human cells. The discovery, by researchers at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, Australia, provides a new vaccine target through which infection with the deadly disease could be prevented.

24 Sep 2010

Maine receives federal grants to upgrade electronic public health systems, scores of criminals provide home health care in Cal.

The Boston Globe: "Caritas Christi Health Care executives have told union negotiators they will shutter St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Brighton and Carney Hospital in Dorchester if they can't close a deal for the six-hospital chain to be bought by a New York private equity firm. The warning was made during contract talks last week with the Massachusetts Nurses Association, according to two people who attended the meeting.

24 Sep 2010

Premium rates may skyrocket for many Medicare drug plans

The Associated Press: "A new analysis of government data finds that premiums will go up an average of 10 percent among the top plans that have signed up some 70 percent of seniors. That's according to Avalere Health, a private research firm that crunched the numbers. Marketing for next year's drug plans gets under way Oct. 1, and seniors will see some of the biggest changes since the Medicare prescription benefit became available in 2006. More than 17 million are enrolled in private drug plans offered through Medicare."

24 Sep 2010

Playing video games may help children become laparoscopic surgeons

Playing video games for hours on end may prepare your child to become a laparoscopic surgeon one day, a new study has shown. Reorganisation of the brain's cortical network in young men with significant experience playing video games gives them an advantage not only in playing the games but also in performing other tasks requiring visuomotor skills. The findings are published in the October 2010 issue of Elsevier's Cortex.

24 Sep 2010

Researchers create device to find ways to improve commonly used treatment for 'water on the brain'

Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) scientists participated in a study with researchers from the University of Utah that could help find ways to improve shunt systems used to treat the neurological disorder hydrocephalus, or "water on the brain," the leading cause of brain surgery for children in the United States. Researchers studied the shunt systems under a variety of conditions by creating a bioreactor that mimics the environment inside patients.

24 Sep 2010

Navilyst Medical to distribute VasoNova's VPS central venous catheter navigation technology

VasoNova announced a strategic partnership with Navilyst Medical Inc. today to distribute its VasoNova™ Vascular Positioning System™ VPS™ central venous catheter navigation technology.

24 Sep 2010

Competition on access: A role for government in health care markets

In this Kaiser Health News column, Austin Frakt and Rexford Santerre write: "In late August, The Wall Street Journal reported that government-owned hospitals are 'drowning in debt' due to high health care costs, high rates of uninsured patients and cuts in public payments. Some government facilities are closing while others are being sold to private-sector firms.

24 Sep 2010

Cook Medical submits PMA to FDA for new balloon expandable stent for renal artery disease

Cook Medical has submitted its Pre-Market Approval (PMA) application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its new balloon expandable stent for renal artery disease. Intended for patients suffering from renal artery stenosis, a narrowing of the arteries that supply blood to the kidneys, the new device features a low profile design and does not shorten upon expansion.

24 Sep 2010

Hyland Software announces acquisition of Computer Systems Company

Hyland Software has purchased privately held Computer Systems Company, Inc. (dba The CSC Group), a provider of business and clinical healthcare software and document conversion services. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

24 Sep 2010