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False Claims Act allegations over marketing of morphine-based drug Kadian: Alpharma to pay $42.5M

American pharmaceutical manufacturer Alpharma Inc. has agreed to pay $42.5 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations in connection with the marketing of the morphine-based drug, Kadian, the Justice Department announced today. The settlement resolves allegations that, between January 1, 2000 and December 29, 2008, Alpharma paid health care providers to induce them to promote or prescribe Kadian, and made misrepresentations about the safety and efficacy of the drug, which is used to treat chronic moderate to severe pain.

17 Mar 2010

Ascent's hospital partners save millions using medical device remanufacturing programs

Ascent, the market leader in the remanufacturing of medical devices in the U.S., announced today that its hospital partners realized hundreds of millions of dollars in cost savings through the use of medical device remanufacturing programs in 2009. On a per-hospital basis, some hospitals saved more than $600,000 per year.

17 Mar 2010

Democrats making final push for health reform votes

The Associated Press: As "Democratic leaders make a desperate scramble for votes," President Obama "is wooing freshman Democrats in the Oval Office, holding at least two one-on-one sessions in the past few days that never appeared on his official schedule, according to aides to two lawmakers invited, Reps. Scott Murphy, D-N.Y., and Suzanne Kosmas, D-Fla.," who both voted no on a House health reform measure last year.

17 Mar 2010

Novel health programs try to help uninsured

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz, working in collaboration with USA Today, writes about an approach known as "three share" which helps expand health coverage by spreading health insurance premium costs among the community, the employer and the worker.

17 Mar 2010

Researchers evaluate novel organ sharing system that could help save more lives

Saint Louis University's Center for Outcome Research has received a $1 million grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to review regional kidney and liver distribution in the United States and equalize the access to transplantation among patients with similar stages of organ failure across the country.

17 Mar 2010

Unapproved nitroglycerin tablets: FDA orders Glenmark Generics and Konec to stop marketing

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today ordered Glenmark Generics of Mahwah, N.J., and Konec Inc. of Tucson, Ariz., to stop marketing unapproved nitroglycerin tablets. The tablets are placed under the tongue to relieve chest pain or to stop a heart attack and are marketed in 0.3 mg, 0.4 mg, and 0.6 mg dosages.

17 Mar 2010

Pfizer-FRSQ-MSSS Chronic Disease Fund for chronic-disease prevention and management initiatives

The Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec in partnership with the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux and Pfizer Canada, is announcing the creation of the Pfizer-FRSQ-MSSS Chronic Disease Fund. Established with an investment of $5 million from Pfizer Canada, this research grant program, coordinated by the FRSQ, is open to Quebec-based researchers who work in collaboration with health professionals.

17 Mar 2010

Researchers explore new tools to mitigate risk of radiation exposure

Doctors have a clearer picture than ever before of how much radiation reaches sensitive tissues during routine X-rays and similar imaging, thanks to sophisticated models of the human body being developed at the University of Florida.

17 Mar 2010

Catholic Bishops oppose health bill, while other Catholic groups offer support

McClatchy: "The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said Monday it opposes the Democratic health care plan heading for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives because of its language on abortion. The group noted that it liked the House health care bill because it would continue the strict ban on federal financing of abortion.

17 Mar 2010

Study: Jump in number of California's uninsured

"The state's uninsured population jumped to 8.2 million in 2009, up from 6.4 million in 2007, marking the highest number over the last decade, investigators from UCLA's Center for Health Policy Research said," the Los Angeles Times reports.

17 Mar 2010

Vertex Pharmaceuticals' telaprevir and VX-222 HCV inhibitor abstracts accepted for presentation at 45th EASL meeting

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated today announced that multiple abstracts related to the hepatitis C virus (HCV) protease inhibitor telaprevir and the HCV polymerase inhibitor VX-222 were accepted for presentation at the 45th Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) in Vienna, Austria, April 14-18, 2010.

17 Mar 2010

Acetaminophen safe and effective for reducing postpartum pain

For many mothers of newborns, lingering pain from the delivery can interfere with their first days with their infant. A recent review examined whether over-the-counter medications containing acetaminophen - Tylenol for example − provided adequate relief for such pain and concluded that they are effective.

17 Mar 2010

Research shows clove is the best antioxidant spice

Using spices eaten in the Mediterranean diet as natural antioxidants is a good way forward for the food industry, given the beneficial health effects of these products. This has been shown by researchers from the Miguel Hern-ndez University (UMH), who have put the clove in first place.

17 Mar 2010

School environment plays a big role in girls' weight-control behaviors

Their schoolmates' weight determines whether teenage high school girls will try to lose pounds, new research finds, and the school environment plays a big role in the decision.

17 Mar 2010

Health ad campaigns emerge in final days of debate

As Congress approaches a possible finale to its year-long health debate, advertisements that attempt to influence the results have flooded airwaves, Time reports. "Across the country, groups on all sides of the health care reform debate have been targeting swing members of Congress with costly ad campaigns." Firms, industry groups, unions and advocacy organizations could spend $24 million this week alone, on top of $200 million already spent on health overhaul-related ads (Scherer, 3/16).

16 Mar 2010

BioVigil's second generation hand hygiene monitoring system released

BioVigil LLC has released the second generation of the BioVigil hand hygiene monitoring system. The innovative system enables hospitals to more effectively combat Hospital-Acquired Infections (HAIs) by dramatically increasing hand hygiene compliance among healthcare workers.

16 Mar 2010

National, state efforts seek to reduce medical errors

The Wall Street Journal: "Errors made by doctors, nurses and other medical caregivers cause 44,000 to 98,000 deaths a year. Hospital infections, many considered preventable, take another 100,000 lives. ... Hospitals are taking what might seem like a surprising approach to confronting the problem: Not only are they trying to improve safety and reduce malpractice claims, they're also coming up with procedures for handling—and even consoling—staffers who make inadvertent mistakes."

16 Mar 2010

Sharp Health Plan selects PureWellness for supporting NCQA accreditation goals

PureWellness, Inc., the leading provider of online wellness solutions, announced today that San Diego-based Sharp Health Plan selected the company to deliver a comprehensive online wellness platform for their employer groups and members.

16 Mar 2010

Correction to daily report, Mar. 15

In the March 15 Morning Edition, "Economists, Dems Differ On Who's To Blame For Insurers' Rate Hikes," KHN omitted a word in a summary of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel coverage.

16 Mar 2010

Quinnova Pharmaceuticals introduces NEOSALUS CREAM for chronic inflammatory skin conditions

Quinnova Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company that develops and markets novel topical delivery platform-based prescription drugs, announced the launch of its NEOSALUSTM CREAM. NEOSALUS CREAM, the latest addition to Quinnova’s NEOSALUS brand, is a prescription product with anti-inflammatory properties that can be used without age or long-term use restrictions for the treatment of a variety of chronic inflammatory skin conditions like atopic dermatitis, contact dermatitis, and hand eczema.

16 Mar 2010