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Drug company fights for patent extension

The New York Times: The drug maker Medicines Company that makes the blood thinner called Angiomax, missed the application deadline to extend its patent back in 2000 by a day or two, depending on how you count.

20 Mar 2010

ELCA's 49-page draft social statement on genetics

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America released March 18 a 49-page draft social statement on genetics, a framework for discussion on a variety of current topics in the field including certain advances in medicine, reproductive cloning, human embryonic stem cells, and animal and plant genetic engineering.

20 Mar 2010

Details of Democratic tweaks to health bill

News reports scour the latest health overhaul bill for specific provisions and adjustments.

20 Mar 2010

BCBSAZ recognized with Brand Excellence Award in Enrollment Growth category

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona announced today that it has received a Brand Excellence Award from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. The annual awards honor Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies that excel in developing and enhancing the overall Blue Cross and Blue Shield brand image.

20 Mar 2010

DARA BioSciences receives NASDAQ non-compliance notice

On March 16, 2010, DARA BioSciences, Inc. received notice from the Listing Qualifications Staff of The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC indicating that the Company had not timely regained compliance with the $1.00 bid price requirement, as set forth in Listing Rule 5550(a)(2). DARA plans to timely request a hearing before a NASDAQ Listing Qualifications Panel, at which it will request the continued listing of its securities on The NASDAQ Capital Market pending the completion of its plan to evidence compliance with the minimum bid price requirement.

20 Mar 2010

CCAGW calls upon Congress to vote against healthcare bill

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste today called upon Congress to reject any attempts to alter the nation’s healthcare system using parliamentary gimmicks and urged members to vote against the bill.

20 Mar 2010

Canadian Prime Minister says he's open to including contraception in G8 plan for improving maternal, child health

"Facing a squall of condemnation from aid groups and opposition politicians," following statements by Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon that Canada's G8 maternal and child health initiative would not include family planning, Prime Minister Stephen Harper "disavowed his foreign minister Thursday, promising that the federal government would include contraception programs in its maternal-health foreign-aid initiative," the Globe and Mail reports.

20 Mar 2010

NYBC joins "Honor Roll of Life" of US blood centers to support Haiti relief effort

New York Blood Center, serving New York City, Long Island, the Hudson Valley, and New Jersey, has provided a contribution of $76,250, and has joined the "Honor Roll of Life" of US blood centers providing units of blood directly to the Haiti relief effort.

20 Mar 2010

China Sky One Medical's Myocardial Infarction and Urine Microalbumin Diagnostic Kits receive CE certification

China Sky One Medical, Inc., a leading fully integrated pharmaceutical company producing over-the-counter drugs in the People's Republic of China, today announced the receipt of Conformite Europeenne (CE) certification for its Myocardial Infarction and Urine Microalbumin Diagnostic Kits. The CE marking certifies that the two products have met the European Union health and safety standards and are approved for sale in the 27 EU countries and four members of the European Free Trade Association.

20 Mar 2010

CBO numbers buoy Democrats eyeing Sunday health reform vote

Democrats unveiled a health overhaul reconciliation bill the Congressional Budget Office says will cost $940 billion but also cut the deficit by $138 billion over the next 10 years.

20 Mar 2010

Susan G. Komen receives $31,680 as donation for the Cure, San Diego

The Associates of AimLoan.com, a San Diego based Internet Direct Lender, announced a generous donation to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, San Diego for a total of $31,680. This contribution positions the organization as the second largest corporate donor in San Diego. The donation is a result of their 4th Quarter 2009 Community Service Website Campaign.

20 Mar 2010

'Cadillac' insurance plans explained

Kaiser Health News staff writer Jenny Gold, in collaboration with NPR, provides an update to explain the latest on how these high-cost insurance plans are treated in the latest health reform package.

20 Mar 2010

Innovative tissue damage preventing cardiac scaffold awarded Rappaport Prize for biomedical research

Prof. Smadar Cohen, head of the University's Avram and Stella Goldstein-Goren Department of Biotechnology Engineering, has been awarded the prestigious Rappaport Prize for Excellence in Biomedical Research, an award totaling $100,000. The prize, given by Israel's Rappaport Foundation, is presented annually to a researcher whose research has either significantly advanced or has the potential to significantly advance any medical or biomedical field.

20 Mar 2010

AARP urges Congressmen to support health care bill and help deliver relief to Idahoans

Hundreds of thousands of Idahoans unable to afford health care or struggling to pay soaring health care costs are watching Congress and hoping for relief. With a final showdown looming on health insurance reform legislation in Washington, D.C., AARP announced this morning it will back the bill containing key reform provisions, improving health care for older Americans and their families.

20 Mar 2010

Exposure to pesticide chlorpyrifos associated with early childhood developmental delays: Study

Exposure to the pesticide chlorpyrifos-which is banned for use in U.S. households but is still widely used throughout the agricultural industry-is associated with early childhood developmental delays, according to a study by researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

20 Mar 2010

GOP trying to derail, challenge health reform legislation

The Wall Street Journal: "Republicans are looking beyond Sunday's expected vote on the Democrats' health-care overhaul to focus on strategies for striking back should it pass, ranging from challenges to the measure by individual states to a national repeal campaign. ... GOP leaders hope at a minimum that they can energize conservative activists and turn the electorate against the Democrats in the crucial period after the law's enactment, when both parties would be fighting to define it in the public's mind before the November elections."

20 Mar 2010

Research roundup: Insurance crisis tough on middle class; Hospitals' profit margins on private patients up

Private-Payer Profits Can Induce Negative Medicare Margins - "Hospitals' profit margins on privately insured patients have risen dramatically in recent years, while profit margins on Medicare patients have fallen," write the authors, who all work for MedPAC.

20 Mar 2010

New Virtuoso LigoLab interface to be demonstrated at USCAP Annual Meeting

BioImagene, Inc., the leading provider of end-to-end digital pathology solutions, and LigoLab, innovative provider of clinical laboratory information system, today announced the development of an interface between Virtuoso™, BioImagene’s digital pathology workflow software, and LigoLab’s anatomic pathology module of laboratory information system (LIS). The new interface gives labs using Virtuoso and LigoLab shared access to critical information and functionality from both systems, optimizing the clinical workflow.

20 Mar 2010

SoCalBio to host forum on latest medical devices for treating obesity

The Southern California Biomedical Council will host a discussion on the latest medical devices for treating obesity during its networking forum on Thursday, March 25th (7:00 - 9:30 am) at the UC Irvine University Club.

20 Mar 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

A Lancet study performed a systematic review of HIV prevention and treatment services targeting injecting drug users (IDUs) globally based on the availability of "core interventions for IDUs: needle and syringe programmes (NSPs), opioid substitution therapy (OST) and other drug treatment, HIV testing and counselling, antiretroviral therapy (ART), and condom programmes." The authors conclude, "although the number of countries with core HIV prevention services is growing … worldwide, there are few countries in which the level of intervention coverage is sufficient to prevent HIV transmission" (Mathers et al., 3/20).

20 Mar 2010