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EIF enters into co-investment agreement with Karolinska Development

Karolinska Development AB today announced that the European Investment Fund (EIF) has entered into a co-investment agreement with the company. The co-investment fund will be managed by Karolinska Development and used to invest in the company's portfolio of early-stage pharmaceutical and medical technology companies.

20 Nov 2009

Medicare physician payment system will ensure seniors' access to quality care, says Pelosi

"Strengthening Medicare for generations to come is essential to our efforts to reforming health care for all Americans. This legislation will permanently improve the way Medicare pays physicians and in doing so, guarantee that America's seniors will continue to have access to excellent care through Medicare.

20 Nov 2009

Deloitte Consulting offers new sales strategy for pharmaceutical companies

Pharmaceutical companies face a fundamental decision about the best way to sell their products. Even if they could find a way to make the current sales model work, pharma companies still face sky-high commercial costs. So, the question is, should pharma companies stick with their traditional sales approach or blow it up and try something new?

20 Nov 2009

Harry Reid unveils health care bill, which includes pro-abortion language

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid last night unveiled a health care bill which includes pro-abortion language. The bill's language mirrors the Capps Amendment from the House debate -- it allows the public option to include abortion coverage and provides federal subsidies for private plans which cover abortion.

20 Nov 2009

University of Michigan scientists discover how SEVI works

Since the discovery in 2007 that a component of human semen called SEVI boosts infectivity of the virus that causes AIDS, researchers have been trying to learn more about SEVI and how it works, in hopes of thwarting its infection-promoting activity.

20 Nov 2009

Positive short term results from combined surgical and electrophysiological approach to treat AF

nContact Surgical, Inc., a leader in the investigation of devices for minimally-invasive treatment for heart conditions, announced that data from a poster was presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Orlando. The study demonstrated that the convergent approach, which combines surgical and electrophysiological expertise, appears to be a good strategy to achieve short term success in patients with long standing persistent atrial fibrillation (AF).

20 Nov 2009

Increased computerization in U.S. hospitals hasn't made them cheaper or more efficient, say researchers

The increased computerization in U.S. hospitals hasn't made them cheaper or more efficient, Harvard researchers say, although it may have modestly improved the quality of care for heart attacks.

20 Nov 2009

Study: U.S. lagging behind other nations on adopting policies that support workers and families

A major new study by researchers at Harvard and McGill Universities - the largest ever to look at working conditions worldwide - finds the United States far behind other economically successful nations in terms of adopting policies that support workers and families.

20 Nov 2009

"EurSafety Health-net" launched to fight hospital acquired MRSA infection

On November 19, 2009, the kick-off meeting for the Euregio-project "EurSafety Health-net" has taken place. EurSafety Health-net is the follow-up of EUREGIO MRSA-net, that, according to the Robert Koch Institute, gained some sort of model character all over the nation when talking about prevention of hospital acquired MRSA infection. Besides the protection against infection, the main goal of this new project is to strengthen the patients' safety on both sides of the border.

20 Nov 2009

PIPC commends CER language inclusion in health care reform bill

The Partnership to Improve Patient Care (PIPC) today applauded Senator Reid’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act for including strong patient-centered comparative effectiveness research (CER) language. The CER language is based on the approach taken by Senators Baucus and Conrad in their CER bill (S. 1213), which is supported by over 100 organizations across the country, representing patients, providers, people with disabilities, and minority health organizations.

20 Nov 2009

All Americans should have guaranteed access to affordable coverage: AHIP

"The promise of health care reform is that it will provide all Americans coverage, allow them to keep their coverage if they like it, and bends the cost curve to put the system on a sustainable path. These are the standards by which any reform bill should be judged, and the Senate bill falls short of meeting them. We believe that these issues can be addressed and improved to achieve these goals, and we will continue to work with policymakers toward that end.

20 Nov 2009

Scientists use exome sequencing method to discover the cause of mendelian disorder

For the first time, scientists have successfully used a method called exome sequencing to quickly discover a previously unknown gene responsible for a mendelian disorder.

20 Nov 2009

New Senate version of health care reform with government funding for elective abortion introduced

Last night, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and the Senate Democrats introduced a new Senate version of health care reform that includes government funding for elective abortion. The "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" authorizes the Secretary to include elective abortion in the public option and subsidize health plans in the government run exchange that cover elective abortion.

20 Nov 2009

Scientists anticipate new approaches in drug development to combat prion infection

The regulating protein Srebp2 drives cholesterol formation, which prions need for their propagation, in prion-infected neuronal cells. With these findings, published in the current issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, scientists of Helmholtz Zentrum München and Technische Universität München anticipate new approaches in drug development to combat prion infection.

20 Nov 2009

Global initiative battles online supply of dangerous and illegal medicines

In response to an ever-increasing number of websites supplying dangerous and illegal medicines, Operation Pangea II, involving 24 countries, was coordinated by INTERPOL and the World Health Organization's International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce (IMPACT) to highlight the dangers of buying medicines online.

20 Nov 2009

Significant increases in IT use have not reduced drug review process

Drug approvals are taking just as long as they ever did despite increased expenditure on new information technology at the Food and drug Administration. So says a statistical analysis of approval intervals from 1997 to 2006, published in the International Journal of Electronic Healthcare.

20 Nov 2009

New algorithm for de-identifying health information

As electronic health records become more widely deployed, increasing amounts of health information are being collected. This data has many beneficial applications, such as research, public health, and health system planning. In a recent study, Dr. Khaled El Emam, the Canada Research Chair in Electronic Health Information at the CHEO Research Institute argues that there is a need for robust de-identification of patient data to avoid the negative impact that individual consent requirements have on studies using health record data for secondary purposes.

20 Nov 2009

Arcadia Biosciences and Vilmorin collaborate to develop and market NUE wheat

Arcadia Biosciences, Inc., an agricultural technology company focused on developing technologies and products that benefit the environment and human health, and Vilmorin, the world’s fourth-largest seed company and the global leader in wheat genetics and seed, today announced that they have reached an agreement for the development and commercialization of Nitrogen Use Efficient (NUE) wheat.

20 Nov 2009

I-STEM team succeeds in recreating a whole epidermis from hES cells

Stem cell research is making great strides. This is yet again illustrated by a study carried out by the I-STEM Institute (I-STEM/ Inserm UEVE U861/AFM), published in the Lancet on 21 November 2009. The I-STEM team, directed by Marc Peschanski has just succeeded in recreating a whole epidermis from human embryonic stem cells.

20 Nov 2009

Health care reform will not impact America's pharmaceutical research industry

A recent Reuters article reported that America's pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies don't expect an industry increase as a result of broader insurance coverage proposed in health care reform.

20 Nov 2009