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HTDS receives Registration Certificate for MEVAC-Vari vaccine in Guatemala

Hard to Treat Diseases and its subsidiary Mellow Hope announce that the company received Registration Certificate for its MEVAC-Vari vaccine in Guatemala.

12 Mar 2010

Powerful Catholic quietly shaping abortion, health bill debate

Kaiser Health News reports on Richard Doerflinger, who doesn't look the part of a high-powered political strategist. Bearded and bespectacled, he works in a small, cluttered office out of one of Washington's less fashionable neighborhoods, far from the lobbying bastions of K Street.

12 Mar 2010

In addition to anal and cervical cancer, HPV can also cause head and neck cancer

The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is the causative agent responsible for most cases of cervical cancer, but is also associated with several other types of cancer.

12 Mar 2010

Azur Pharma to acquire PRIALT analgesic therapy from Elan Pharmaceuticals

Azur Pharma Limited today announced it has signed a definitive agreement with Elan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (a subsidiary of Elan Corporation, plc) to acquire the analgesic therapy, PRIALT(R) (ziconotide intrathecal infusion).

12 Mar 2010

Hospitals cope with losing money

Kentucky's Jewish Hospital and St. Mary's HealthCare is eliminating 500 jobs this month. The layoffs represent the first large-scale cuts in a Louisville-area hospital system since the recession began.

12 Mar 2010

OXiGENE signs definitive agreement to sell Common Stock

OXiGENE, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics to treat cancer and eye diseases, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with certain institutional investors to sell 6,578,945 shares of its Common Stock and separate series of warrants to purchase Common Stock in a private placement.

12 Mar 2010

Study questions frequency of heart angiograms

A recent study raises questions about the frequency of doctors' use of elective heart angiograms, which showed no disease in almost 40 percent of patients. BusinessWeek reports: "Doctors may be sending patients too quickly for elective angiograms to detect heart disease, exposing them to radiation and driving up U.S. health-care costs, a study suggests.

12 Mar 2010

Covidien to use FDA, Health Canada approved Mo 99 from Maria for manufacturing Tc 99m generators

Covidien, a leading global provider of healthcare products, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health Canada have approved the use of the Maria Research Reactor (Maria) in Poland as a site to irradiate highly-enriched uranium targets for Molybdenum 99 (Mo 99) production. Covidien will use the Mo 99 obtained from Maria in the manufacture of its Technetium 99m (Tc 99m) generators. Patients should begin to benefit from Maria-produced Mo 99 in the United States and Canada later this month.

12 Mar 2010

PSA test is still the best option for diagnosing prostate cancer

When it comes to the documented 40 percent effectiveness of PSA testing in preventing death from prostate cancer, neither the American Cancer Society nor the discoverer of the PSA protein, Richard Ablin, are telling the public the complete story.

12 Mar 2010

Congress, Obama continue health reform push

"Health care reform takes center stage Thursday as President Obama and top congressional Democrats work behind closed doors to nail down a final agreement," CNN reports. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., hosted a "meeting of the entire House Democratic caucus in the morning," while Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to hold a news conference that will "build public momentum by framing the issue in more personal terms."

12 Mar 2010

Obama makes impassioned argument for health reform, tough measures to combat health fraud

A shirt-sleeved President Barack Obama took his closing arguments for health care reform to the St. Louis area Wednesday.

12 Mar 2010

Microchip Biotechnologies renamed as IntegenX

Microchip Biotechnologies, a maker of automated microscale biotech laboratory systems, today announced that it has changed its business name to IntegenX. The new name articulates the company's focus on integrating sample preparation and analysis technologies into complete products that address generic problems shared by life science and biotechnology research laboratories worldwide.

12 Mar 2010

Abbott's sNDA for new six-month 45-mg formulation of Lupron Depot: FDA accepts for review

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted for review the supplemental new drug application (sNDA) of a new six-month 45-mg formulation of Lupron® Depot (leuprolide acetate for depot suspension) for use in the palliative treatment of advanced prostate cancer. Palliative treatment helps to relieve symptoms associated with advanced prostate cancer.

12 Mar 2010

Detroit federal jury convicts doctor in Medicare fraud scheme

Farmington Hills, Mich., physician Jose Castro-Ramirez was convicted today by a Detroit federal jury on all 13 charged counts in connection with his role in an $18.3 million Medicare fraud scheme.

12 Mar 2010

Survey: Employers plan to shift more health costs to workers

The Washington Post: "Most big employers plan to shift a larger share of health-care costs to their workers next year, according to a survey to be released Thursday. ... Meanwhile, employees at many companies can expect significantly higher premiums, deductibles and co-payments, according to the annual survey by the National Business Group on Health, a coalition of big employers, and Towers Watson, a consulting firm that advises companies on employee benefits."

12 Mar 2010

Today's OpEds: Rove on reconciliation, an imagined plea from Kennedy, vulnerable Hispanics

The Trouble With 'Reconciliation' The Wall Street Journal House Democrats would be foolish to trust a process that has deeply alienated the American public. Republicans know that and are determined to make House Democrats think hard about the price they will pay for passing this health-care monstrosity (Karl Rove, 3/11).

12 Mar 2010

Sigma-Aldrich announces global licensing agreement with CSIRO for RAFT agents

Sigma-Aldrich (Nasdaq: SIAL) announced today that it has entered into a worldwide licensing agreement with Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) to manufacture and sell Reversible Addition-Fragmentation chain Transfer (RAFT) agents – organic molecules that can be added to polymerization reactions to precisely control molecular weights and structures of polymers.

12 Mar 2010

Study explores incidence of eating disorders among type 1 diabetic patients

Diabetics, under the gun to better manage their disease by controlling their food intake and weight, may find themselves in the sticky wicket of needing treatment that makes them hungry, researchers said.

12 Mar 2010

Restrictions on physician work hours may lead to more miscommunication

As shifts change in a hospital, outgoing physicians must "hand off" important information to their replacements in a brief meeting. But a new study of this hand-off process finds that the most important information is not fully conveyed in a majority of cases, even as physicians rate their communication as successful.

11 Mar 2010

Children's National Medical Center implements Streamline's Audit Integrity Manager Solution

Streamline Health Solutions, Inc. a leading provider of document workflow solutions for hospitals, today announced that Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC, will be implementing its Audit Integrity Manager Solution for more efficient enterprise compliance with government and healthcare related regulations.

11 Mar 2010