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Boost for biologics manufacturing in Australia

AusBiotech has welcomed the news that Australia’s first major contract manufacturing facility for biologic medicines has secured backing and is set to be built in Queensland by 2012.

3 May 2010

KHN column: Playing chicken

In his latest Kaiser Health News column, Jonathan Cohn writes: "A lot of people laughed when Sue Lowden, the Nevada Republican running for the U.S. Senate, suggested last month that people start paying for their medical care with chickens. I didn't. I thought about my late grandfather Kurt, a family doctor who practiced in Brooklyn starting in the 1940s.

3 May 2010

Sorin Group to distribute CardioMedical's entire Cardio Vision MIS Portfolio

Sorin Group, a global company and a leader in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, announced today that it has entered into a distribution agreement, effective May 1, 2010, with CardioMedical GmbH, making Sorin Group, CardioMedical's selected partner for the entire Cardio Vision™ MIS Portfolio which is a comprehensive catalogue of minimally invasive cardiac surgery instruments and accessories.

3 May 2010

ACTS Retirement-Life Communities announces affiliation with PUMH, Heron Point

ACTS Retirement-Life Communities, one of the nation's largest not-for-profit senior living organizations, today announced that it has completed an affiliation with the Peninsula United Methodist Homes, Inc. (PUMH) and Heron Point of Chestertown (Heron Point), and will assume management and operation of four continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) in Delaware and Maryland.

3 May 2010

WHO, UNICEF issue guide, call for more research into medicines for children

Along with the release of a WHO-UNICEF guide on medicines for children, the U.N. agencies on Friday said the guide "exposed dangerous shortfalls" in medicines designed for children and called for more research into treating children, Reuters reports. "While effective medicines exist to fight disease and treat life-threatening conditions like malnutrition, formulations suitable for children are often difficult to source," Francisco Blanco, UNICEF's chief of medicines and nutrition, said, according to the news service.

3 May 2010

Landec announces acquisition of Lifecore Biomedical from Warburg Pincus Private Equity

Landec Corporation, a materials science company that develops and markets patented polymer products for food, agriculture, personal care and drug delivery applications, today announced that it has acquired Lifecore Biomedical, Inc. from Warburg Pincus Private Equity IX, LP. When acquired by Warburg Pincus in March 2008, Lifecore was comprised of two divisions, the Dental Division and the Hyaluronan Division. The Dental Division was merged into a Warburg Pincus portfolio company.

3 May 2010

Health care practitioners call for national database to crack down on prescription drug abuse

The Associated Press reports on efforts in California, where "a state online drug database went into effect last year to thwart addicts who bounce from doctor to doctor to feed a habit or make a small fortune peddling meds" and efforts to set up a national program "to snare so-called doctor shoppers and curb drug abuse.

3 May 2010

Weight loss through caloric restriction and increase in physical activity improve symptoms of GERD

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a debilitating problem for sufferers -- heartburn, difficulty swallowing, chest pain and acid reflux. According to a Mayo Clinic study that will be presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2010 in New Orleans May 1-5, even moderate weight gain can exacerbate those symptoms, DDW is the largest international gathering of physicians and researcher in the field of gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy and gastrointestinal surgery.

3 May 2010

PlusNews/IRIN examines HIV/AIDS elements of new adult mortality data

PlusNews/IRIN examines what the global adult mortality data, released Friday in the journal Lancet, suggests about HIV/AIDS. According to the news service, the study, based on an analysis of adult mortality rates between 1970 and 2010 in 187 countries, revealed: "HIV was key to reversing the worldwide decline in mortality from 1970 to 1990. Even though worldwide mortality is still about 26 percent lower than it was 40 years ago, there are regional imbalances.

3 May 2010

Researchers identify genes associated with cleft lip and/or cleft palate

An international consortium of scientists, led by researchers at Johns Hopkins University has identified two genes that when altered are closely associated with cleft lip and/or cleft palate. Cleft lip and cleft palate are among the world's most common congenital malformations and occur in one in every 700 births. The finding is the result of the largest family-based, genome-wide study of cleft lip and/or cleft palate conducted to date. The results were published online by the journal Nature Genetics.

3 May 2010

GOP, Democrats increasingly use health reform lessons to shape other policies

The Associated Press: Politics within the Republican Party are having a profound affect on sweeping policy issues "such as immigration, health care and deficit spending." The reason behind this development is that many incumbent Republicans are moving to the right to protect themselves against primary election challenges.

3 May 2010

FDA issues advisory on prostate cancer drugs

Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone (GnRH) agonists, a class of medications primarily used to treat men with prostate cancer, have been associated with a small increased risk for diabetes, heart attack, stroke, and sudden death in men treated with one of the medications, according to a preliminary and ongoing analysis of several studies by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

3 May 2010

Congress and the VA deal with complications of veterans' health care

The Associated Press/The Washington Post: Pressure from Congress telling the Department of Veterans Affairs that it should make it easier for veterans to settle their disability claims is seeing some controversy. "The system is dysfunctional, an open invitation to fraud. And the VA has proposed changes that could make deception even easier."

3 May 2010

Kids' health can suffer when parents must choose between health care and basic necessities

"The health of children is harmed when families are forced to choose between medical care and basic household necessities such as food, rent and utilities, a new study found," HealthDay News/U.S. News & World Report writes. "The study included 6,447 low-income caregivers with children ranging in age from newborn to 3 years.

3 May 2010

NOXXON Pharma completes first-in-human clinical trial with Spiegelmer NOX-A12

NOXXON Pharma AG, the biopharmaceutical company focusing on the development of novel drugs based on its unique proprietary Spiegelmer® technology, announced today the successful completion of the first-in-human clinical trial with Spiegelmer® NOX-A12.

3 May 2010

Health law brings a 'host of new taxes' and billions in tax credits

The Washington Post/Fiscal Times: Tax credits and other breaks -- including $50 billion a year in subsidies for low-income people to buy insurance under the new health law -- were "worth more than $1 trillion to recipients last year. That's more than the government spent on Social Security, and nearly enough to balance the federal budget." These and other so-called "tax expenditures" could total $3 trillion by 2020.

3 May 2010

HTG, JWCI collaborate to develop new approaches for early stage primary cutaneous melanoma diagnosis

HTG, Inc., provider of the quantitative Nuclease Protection Assay (qNPA™), today announced it signed a collaboration agreement with the John Wayne Cancer Institute (JWCI) at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California. Under the terms of the agreement, HTG and JWCI (Department of Molecular Oncology, Dave S. B. Hoon, Ph.D., Director) will collaborate to generate a novel mRNA signature that can measure the gene expression differences in melanoma and benign nevi using HTG's qNPA technology in classical surgical pathology samples.

3 May 2010

Ecolab launches new OptiPro Instrument Reprocessing Program

Ecolab Inc. today announced the launch of its new OptiPro™ Instrument Reprocessing Program, a comprehensive approach to instrument reprocessing that features Ecolab's solid technology and advanced formulations. The program is supported by Ecolab's service and training on industry best practices to achieve improved patient outcomes and process standardization. The announcement was made at the 2010 International Association of Healthcare Central Service Material Management Annual Meeting in San Diego.

3 May 2010

CQ examines foreign aid budget

CQ examines the challenges involved with passing the Obama administration's FY 2011 "budget request for the State Department and foreign operations." Though eight former secretaries of state recently urged Congress not to cut foreign aid, "lawmakers and aides involved in the appropriations process say that getting President [Barack] Obama all the money he wants will be a really tough sell."

3 May 2010

NIAID researchers initiate trial of DAS181 in patients with asthma, bronchiectasis

NexBio, Inc. announced today the initiation of a trial of DAS181 (Fludase®) in patients with the respiratory conditions asthma and bronchiectasis, being conducted by researchers with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This trial will examine the effects of DAS181 in subjects with well-controlled or stable pulmonary disease.

3 May 2010