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Task force's role in reform bills draws scrutiny in the wake of mammography guidelines

The Washington Post reports that the "once-obscure federal panel that triggered a firestorm with its new mammography guidelines would get far greater authority under the health-care reform proposals pending in Congress, sparking more debate about its power and independence. Critics of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force say that the panel would become a stealth tool for government bureaucrats bent on rationing health care.

21 Dec 2009

KHN column: The Senate bill saves families money

In his latest Kaiser Health News column, Jonathan Cohen writes about costs under the Senate health bill. "It's certainly true that, under the terms of the Senate bill, insurance would cost more and cover less than many of us would prefer. But would it really produce little social progress?

21 Dec 2009

Winners, losers examined in Senate health bill tax treatment, insurer regulations

The Associated Press reports on some winners and losers in the Senate health reform bill including cosmetic surgeons who helped defeat a proposed 5 percent tax on their services and a handful of states getting more federal aid to help them afford a proposed Medicaid expansion.

21 Dec 2009

Technologies for optimizing medication adherence in older adults needed

Avoiding medication-related errors and improving medication adherence among older adults could save the nation billions of dollars and save thousands of lives, according to information included in "Technologies for Optimizing Medication Use in Older Adults," a recent report produced by the non-profit Center for Technology and Aging, and available at www.techandaging.org.

21 Dec 2009

Gore introduces PROPATEN Vascular Grafts with Integrated Rings

W. L. Gore & Associates (Gore) today announced it will expand its line of GORE PROPATEN® Vascular Grafts to include configurations with a unique, all ePTFE radial support that is concealed within the ultra-smooth graft wall and resists kinking and compression. The GORE PROPATEN Vascular Graft with Integrated Rings was introduced at the 2009 AIMsymposiumTM / VEITHsymposiumTM in November in New York City.

21 Dec 2009

Effectiveness of VSEL stem cells in regenerative medicine demonstrated at the ASH meeting

NeoStem, Inc. (NYSE Amex: NBS), which is a leading provider of pre-disease adult stem cell collection, processing and long-term storage services, and holds the exclusive, worldwide license to VSEL(TM) technology that uses very small embryonic-like stem cells isolated from peripheral blood, announced today that five posters and two oral presentations at the prestigious American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting in New Orleans in early December demonstrated the basic cellular mechanisms of very small embryonic-like stem cells.

21 Dec 2009

Oxford Finance to provide Titan Pharmaceuticals a $3M term loan

Titan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that it has entered into a Loan and Security Agreement with Oxford Finance Corporation ("Oxford") for a $3 million term loan. The loan will bear interest at an approximate rate of 13% per annum and be payable over three years. Under the terms of the agreement, Titan will pay Oxford an initial facility fee of $60,000 and a final payment fee of $180,000.

21 Dec 2009

Bioject Medical Technologies completes a Series G Preferred Stock financing

Bioject Medical Technologies Inc., a leading developer of needle-free injection therapy systems, today announced that on December 18, 2009, it completed a Series G Preferred Stock financing with each of Life Sciences Opportunities Fund II, L.P., Life Sciences Opportunities Fund (Institutional) II, L.P. (collectively, the “LOF”), and Edward Flynn for the purchase of an aggregate of 92,448 shares of its Series G Convertible Preferred Stock at a price of $13.00 per share.

21 Dec 2009

Senate Democrats win overnight procedural vote; move one step closer to approving health bill by Christmas

The New York Times: "After a long day of acid, partisan debate, Senate Democrats held ranks early Monday in a dead-of-night procedural vote that proved they had locked in the decisive margin needed to pass a far-reaching overhaul of the nation's health care system."

21 Dec 2009

CSC completes a Series B financing round

California Stem Cell, Inc. (CSC), a leading stem cell company, announced that it has completed a Series B financing round with private investors. The financing will enable the company to support the advancement of its therapeutic products to human clinical trials, as well as the generation and distribution of its tools to aid in stem cell research and drug discovery.

21 Dec 2009

Health insurance industry reports decline in net income

According to a new analysis by Highline Data, the leading data provider of financial and marketing information on insurance companies, the health insurance industry reported a decline of 12.4 percent in net income, to $8.2 billion, as of September 30 compared to the same period in 2008.

21 Dec 2009

Requirement for Americans to get insurance is central to health overhaul

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz, working in partnership with USA Today, writes about the mandate included in pending health reform proposals. "Both the House and Senate health care overhaul bills require most Americans to carry health insurance or pay a penalty.

21 Dec 2009

Neurocrine to advance its NBI-98854 VMAT2 Inhibitor into a multiple repeated dose Phase 1 study

Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. today announced their highly selective vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2) inhibitor, NBI-98854, will be advanced in clinical development.

21 Dec 2009

Reid's fight to get 60 votes dims Liberals' hopes of compromises in conference committee

Although the liberals and union leaders once hoped that a House-Senate conference committee could undo some of the compromises and move the health overhaul bill more to their liking, the "titanic struggle to lock in Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) as the 60th senator for the first key test vote early Monday morning has changed all that," Politico reports.

21 Dec 2009

ValueOptions employs TriZetto’s Clinical CareAdvance application

The TriZetto Group, Inc. today announced that ValueOptions® Inc., the nation’s largest independent behavioral healthcare and wellness company, recently went live with TriZetto’s Clinical CareAdvance® application 4.41 and expects to launch TriZetto’s Personal CareAdvance® application in early 2010.

21 Dec 2009

Democrats seek to regulate how insurers spend their customers' money

Kaiser Health News staff writer Julie Appleby explores the following concept advanced in current health overhaul plans. "Both the House measure and the newly recast Senate bill would force insurers to spend the vast majority of premium revenue on medical care for their customers, reducing the amount available for profits, executive salaries, sales and administration.

21 Dec 2009

Today's opinions and editorials

We usually associate presidential leadership with the pursuit of goals that, though initially unpopular, serve America's long-term interests. Obama has reversed this (Robert Samuelson, 12/21).

21 Dec 2009

Response Biomedical receives USPTO Notice of Allowance for its “Sensitive Immunochromatographic Assay”

Response Biomedical Corporation announced that the Company has received a Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a continuation of the patent entitled “Sensitive Immunochromatographic Assay”. This patent covers key aspects of Response Biomedical’s lateral flow immunoassays with the proprietary RAMP® testing platform.

21 Dec 2009

Positive interim results from Idera Pharmaceuticals' IMO-2125 Phase 1 clinical trial for HCV

Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced positive interim results from a Phase 1 clinical trial of IMO-2125 in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection (HCV). IMO-2125 is an agonist of Toll-like Receptor 9 that Idera designed to treat HCV by inducing endogenous interferon-alpha and other Th1-type cytokines and chemokines.

21 Dec 2009

TessArae's RM-Flu test granted FDA EUA

TessArae, LLC, a privately held company, and Affymetrix Inc., (NASDAQ:AFFX) today announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to TessArae for its TessArray® Resequencing Influenza A Microarray Detection Panel for the Detection of the 2009 H1N1 Influenza A Virus (TessArray RM-Flu test) for the duration of the declaration of emergency unless revoked earlier. The declaration of emergency will expire on April 26, 2010, unless terminated earlier or renewed.

21 Dec 2009

Medical News

Task force's role in reform bills draws scrutiny in the wake of mammography guidelines

KHN column: The Senate bill saves families money

Winners, losers examined in Senate health bill tax treatment, insurer regulations

Technologies for optimizing medication adherence in older adults needed

Gore introduces PROPATEN Vascular Grafts with Integrated Rings

Effectiveness of VSEL stem cells in regenerative medicine demonstrated at the ASH meeting

Oxford Finance to provide Titan Pharmaceuticals a $3M term loan

Bioject Medical Technologies completes a Series G Preferred Stock financing

Senate Democrats win overnight procedural vote; move one step closer to approving health bill by Christmas

CSC completes a Series B financing round

Health insurance industry reports decline in net income

Requirement for Americans to get insurance is central to health overhaul

Neurocrine to advance its NBI-98854 VMAT2 Inhibitor into a multiple repeated dose Phase 1 study

Reid's fight to get 60 votes dims Liberals' hopes of compromises in conference committee

ValueOptions employs TriZetto’s Clinical CareAdvance application

Democrats seek to regulate how insurers spend their customers' money

Today's opinions and editorials

Response Biomedical receives USPTO Notice of Allowance for its “Sensitive Immunochromatographic Assay”

Positive interim results from Idera Pharmaceuticals' IMO-2125 Phase 1 clinical trial for HCV

TessArae's RM-Flu test granted FDA EUA

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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