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FDA grants Tolera's TOL101 orphan drug designation for treatment of T1DM

Tolera Therapeutics, Inc., was granted orphan drug status by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for TOL101 (anti-TCR murine monoclonal antibody, type IgM), for treatment of recent onset immune-mediated Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Designation is granted for treatment of patients sixteen years of age and younger with immune-mediated T1DM and preserved pancreatic beta-cell function, commonly referred to as juvenile diabetes.

23 Jun 2010

HHS, insurers, health systems preparing for health law's impact

Politico reports on the Department of Health and Human Services' HealthCare.gov, "the new Web portal that goes live July 1 and is designed to give consumers a place to research and compare health insurance plans. Since it will be the most tangible link to the health reform law for many Americans, health policy experts and administration officials say it's crucial that the site is well-designed, easy to navigate and free of the jargon that makes the field of health insurance so unintelligible to the public. ... When HealthCare.gov launches next Thursday, it will have information about insurance plans that users can sort based on their own situation and their eligibility for public insurance programs, like Medicare, the Children's Health Insurance Program and the new high-risk pools for individuals with pre-existing conditions" (Kliff, 6/22).

23 Jun 2010

Psychotropic medications associated with pediatric ADRs in Denmark: Researchers

Between 1998 and 2007, psychotropic medications were associated with 429 adverse drug reactions in children under 17 in Denmark. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Research Notes found that more than half of these were serious and several were birth defects - suggesting that tighter controls on the prescription of psychotropic medications to pregnant women may be required.

23 Jun 2010

Senate Dems explore phase-out of Medicaid enhanced funding

Congressional Quarterly: Senate Democrats are negotiating with "a pair of pivotal Republicans" a slimmed-down version of the tax bill that they were unable to clear last week. "The most significant change being discussed would shrink the cost of a $24.2 billion provision that extends extra federal Medicaid funds to struggling states."

23 Jun 2010

Weikang Bio-Technology files for listing on NASDAQ

Weikang Bio-Technology Group Co., Inc., a leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Western prescription and OTC pharmaceuticals and other health and nutritional products in the People's Republic of China, today announced that the Company had filed an application to list its common stock on the NASDAQ Capital Market.

23 Jun 2010

Exposure to chlordecone associated to increased risk of prostate cancer: Researchers

In an article to be published on 21 June 2010 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers from Inserm (Inserm unit 625 - Research Group on Human and Mammalian Reproduction, University of Rennes 1), the CHU (University Hospital Centre) in Pointe - Pitre (urology department, University of the French West Indies and Guiana) and from the Center for Analytical Research and Technology (University of Li-ge, Belgique), show that exposure to chlordecone (also named Kepone), an organochlorine chemical with well defined estrogenic properties used in the French West Indies until 1993, is associated to a significant increased risk of prostate cancer.

23 Jun 2010

FDA approves Hospira's meropenem for injection, USP (I.V.)

Hospira, Inc., the world leader in generic injectable pharmaceuticals, today announced it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for meropenem for injection, USP (I.V.) 500 mg and 1 g vials. The medication, a carbapenem that belongs to the beta-lactam class of antibiotics, is a generic version of AstraZeneca's Merrem® I.V. Sales of the name-brand product in the United States were approximately $200 million in 2009.

23 Jun 2010

AIDS specialist leaves Calif. practice, citing rising costs

A long-time San Francisco AIDS specialist is closing his clinic and moving to Manhattan because of frustration with the insurance industry and the rising cost of practicing medicine, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. "The bottom line is, you cannot make a living practicing medicine unless you work at least 50 to 60 hours a week," said Dr. Marcus Conant, one of the first AIDS doctors in the area. "I'm not the only doctor who's getting to the point where it's not worth it."

23 Jun 2010

Health reform includes changes to denied claims, health savings accounts

News outlets examine some changes to the health care system that health reform will bring, including help for those with denied insurance claims and health savings account modifications.

23 Jun 2010

iCAD image analysis software program used in DCE-MRI studies demonstrated at ASCO 2010

ACR Image MetrixTM, an imaging contract research organization with expertise in imaging trial design, techniques and data extraction, in conjunction with its software partner, iCAD, gave demonstrations of the iCAD image analysis software program used in DCE-MRI studies at the ACR Image Metrix booth during the 2010 Annual American Society of Clinical Oncology Meeting, which took place June 4-8, 2010, in Chicago, IL.

23 Jun 2010

Genentech's Lucentis for treatment of macular edema following RVO receives FDA approval

Genentech, Inc., a member of the Roche Group, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Lucentis® (ranibizumab injection) for the treatment of macular edema following retinal vein occlusion (RVO). The FDA approved this new indication after a six-month Priority Review.

23 Jun 2010

No increased risk of childhood cancer if born near mobile phone stations: Study

There have been concerns regarding increased risk for cancer in children born to mothers who lived near mobile phone stations during their pregnancy after a report of a cluster of childhood cancer cases near such stations. A newly published study in the British Medical Journal refutes such beliefs and has found no link to early childhood cancers and living near mobile phone masts.

22 Jun 2010

Cancer forms “intolerable burden” on the community: Health Minister

A new report reveals that here has been a 10 percent rise in cancer figures from 2006 in Australia. The figure translates to nearly 115,000 Australian cancer cases and 43,700 Australians are expected to die from the disease this year.

22 Jun 2010

Mobile, supervised drug use units considered cost effective: Report

Drug abuse experts believe Melbourne needs a mobile, supervised drug injecting van. This is mainly due to the geographical spread of drug abusers in the region.

22 Jun 2010

States worry about Medicaid funding caught in Congressional impasse

Washington Examiner: "Lawmakers in Virginia and Maryland are bracing for a congressional impasse over millions of dollars in health care funding that threatens to thrust both states into the red. The Medicaid funding is set to expire in January, and a measure to extend it is stalled in the Senate over concerns about the ballooning federal deficit.

22 Jun 2010

Nuon study confirms potential utility of tranilast as uricosuric agent

Nuon Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held, clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, announced that results from clinical and preclinical studies demonstrating the ability of tranilast to reduce serum uric acid levels and monosodium urate crystal-induced inflammation - two important risk factors for gout - were presented at The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) 2010 Annual European Congress of Rheumatology in Rome, Italy, June 16-19, 2010.

22 Jun 2010

Benioff family gifts $100 million for construction of new UCSF Children's Hospital at Mission Bay

Salesforce.com chairman and CEO Marc Benioff and his family have given a $100 million private gift to help fund the construction of the new UCSF Children's Hospital at the UCSF Mission Bay campus near downtown San Francisco. The gift is both the largest gift the donors have ever made and the largest gift ever granted specifically to the UCSF Children's Hospital.

22 Jun 2010

PharmaTrust to introduce MedCentre remote pharmacy dispensing machine in UK

PharmaTrust will become the first company to introduce a remote pharmacy dispensing machine into the UK later this year. The Oakville, Ontario-based company announced yesterday at an event at Grocer's Hall in London that it is commencing trials of its MedCentre dispensing technology at five hospitals in the UK. Guests included government representatives, pharmacy stakeholders and media.

22 Jun 2010

Ricerca's Lyon facility obtains ISO 9001:2008 certification

Ricerca Biosciences, a uniquely integrated preclinical contract research drug development company providing services to the pharmaceutical industry, is pleased to announce that its Ricerca France, Lyon facility, has recently obtained the ISO 9001:2008 certification for all activities performed at the site.

22 Jun 2010

Ethicon Endo-Surgery renews research collaboration agreement with UC and Metabolic Diseases Institute

Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. (EES) today announced it has renewed its research collaboration agreement with the University of Cincinnati (UC) and its Metabolic Diseases Institute (MDI). The three-year, $13.5M grant extension, is part of the EES Metabolic Applied Research Strategy (MARS), which also includes research from GI Metabolism Laboratory and Weight Center at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).

22 Jun 2010