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Reid planning to start debate on COBRA, Medicaid help extensions

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is planning to start debate Monday on a bill that would extend COBRA health coverage benefit subsidies for people who have been laid-off. The measure, part of a larger package of expired government programs, also would help states with Medicaid reimbursements.

2 Mar 2010

Towns struggle with high health costs

In the final installment of a two-part series, The Boston Globe reports on municipal health costs and how financially strapped towns are seeking a change in state law so that they can have more flexibility in setting health costs.

2 Mar 2010

Baxter International to acquire outstanding equity of ApaTech for $330 million

Baxter International Inc., a global, diversified healthcare company, and ApaTech, a private equity-backed, U.K.-based orthobiologic products company, today announced a definitive agreement whereby Baxter will acquire all of the outstanding equity of ApaTech for total consideration of up to $330 million.

From Baxter International Inc. 2 Mar 2010

Researchers uncover new explanation for the spread of tau protein within human brain

A team of researchers at UMass Lowell has found a new mechanism by which a key protein associated with Alzheimer's disease can spread within the human brain.

2 Mar 2010

Celsion to commence Phase II Study of ThermoDox and RFA for CRLM

Celsion Corporation today announced that it will initiate a Randomized Phase II Study of Lyso-Thermosensitive Liposomal Doxorubicin (ThermoDox®) and Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA) for Colorectal Liver Metastases (CRLM). Dr. Steven K. Libutti, Professor and Vice Chairman, Department of Surgery and Director of the Montefiore-Einstein Center for Cancer Care and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, will serve as Principal Investigator for the study.

2 Mar 2010

Coalition to Protect Patients’ Rights opposes Medicare payment cuts

Due to Congressional inaction, Medicare’s reimbursement rates to doctors for their care of our nation’s elderly population will be cut a staggering 21 percent today.

2 Mar 2010

Watson Pharmaceuticals agrees to divest equity ownership position in ScinoPharm Taiwan

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that it signed an agreement on February 26, 2010 to divest its equity ownership position of approximately 31% of ScinoPharm Taiwan Ltd. The transaction is subject to the parties obtaining approvals from various government agencies in Taiwan, as well as other customary closing conditions.

2 Mar 2010

MedPac urges Feds to cut payments to private insurers

Reuters: The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPac) on Monday issued nonbinding recommendations that Medicare "cut U.S. government payments to private insurers and home healthcare providers." The panel, which is an independent body set up to advise Congress on Medicare, "repeated its earlier call for the federal government to pay private insurers that offer coverage known as Medicare Advantage the same as it pays when Medicare reimburses providers directly."

2 Mar 2010

Opeds: GOP ideas, HSAs, calls for 'yes' on health bill

It turns out that, when someone is spending his own money alone for routine expenses, he is far more likely to ask the questions he would ask if purchasing any other good or service: "Is there a generic version of that drug?" (Gov. Mitch Daniels, 3/1).

2 Mar 2010

Study shows high rate of shoulder dislocation in young males and elderly women

An article published in the March 2010 issue of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery reveals that the majority of all shoulder dislocations occur during sports activities and young males are at a higher risk. The study also shows a high rate of shoulder dislocation in elderly women.

2 Mar 2010

New treatment guidelines demonstrate that best care does not always cost more

Arizona Oncology is proud to be a part of the larger network that just completed a recently conducted study by US Oncology and Aetna that finds evidence-based care for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) results in an average cost savings of 35 percent over 12 months while demonstrating equivalent health outcomes.

2 Mar 2010

Getting pregnant the "traditional" way or by assisted reproduction does not affect birthing process or the baby

Whether a women gets pregnant the "traditional" way or by assisted reproduction has no effect on the birthing process itself or the baby, researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have found.

2 Mar 2010

Researchers proceed to develop vaccination to reverse neurological damage seen with Parkinson's disease

Researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center have taken a significant step forward in developing a vaccination approach to reverse the neurological damage seen with Parkinson's disease.

2 Mar 2010

$Visceral fat can increase fracture risk in obese teenage girls$

Visceral fat can increase fracture risk in obese teenage girls

According to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), obese teenage girls with a greater ratio of visceral fat (fat around internal organs) to subcutaneous fat (fat found just beneath the skin) are likely to have lower bone density than peers with a lower ratio of visceral to subcutaneous fat.

2 Mar 2010

Medical identify theft on the rise

NPR/WBUR: Medical identity theft - in which thieves use stolen social security numbers, names and insurance information to seek treatment under an assumed identity - is on the rise. "Over the past 12 months, [CoxHealth Hospital in Missouri] has seen nine instances of identity theft — four in the past 45 days, says Betty Breshears, vice president of corporate integrity at the hospital."

2 Mar 2010

ARIAD Pharmaceuticals' investigational pan-BCR-ABL inhibitor receives FDA and EMA orphan drug designation

ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that its investigational pan-BCR-ABL inhibitor, AP24534, has been granted orphan drug designation by both the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). In the U.S., the orphan designation of AP24534 is for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph+ ALL) and in the E.U., its orphan designation is for CML and acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

2 Mar 2010

Quark Pharmaceuticals commences dosing in clinical study of QPI-1007 for NAION

Quark Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a world leader in the discovery and development of RNAi-based therapeutics, announced today the dosing of the first patient in a Phase I study of the investigational neuroprotective agent, QPI-1007.

2 Mar 2010

AnaptysBio announces strategic collaboration to generate novel antibodies for specified disease target

AnaptysBio, Inc., a privately-held therapeutic antibody platform and product company, today announced a strategic collaboration with an undisclosed leading global pharmaceutical company to generate novel antibody therapeutics to a specified disease target. This is the third collaboration with a leading pharmaceutical company announced by AnaptysBio during 2010.

1 Mar 2010

WHO Director-General calls for greater efforts to reduce tobacco use

In a speech on Friday marking the fifth anniversary of an international tobacco control treaty, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan called for government officials worldwide to increase efforts to protect their population from the harmful effects of tobacco, Reuters reports. "Tobacco kills more than 5 million people a year from cardiovascular disease, cancers, diabetes and other chronic illnesses, including about 600,000 from second-hand smoke, according to the United Nations agency," the news service writes.

1 Mar 2010

Health votes pose imminent test for Pelosi; Hutchison pledges to stay in Senate as long as reform debate continues

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's latest test on a health reform overhaul will come in the form of living up to the words that she has the votes on a health reform package, Politico reports.

1 Mar 2010