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Mesa Laboratories reports fiscal third quarter results

Mesa Laboratories, Inc. today reported sales and earnings for both its fiscal third quarter and nine months ended December 31, 2009.

12 Feb 2010

HIE leaders convene to discuss prospect of healthcare delivery

Dr. David Kibbe, recognized healthcare futurist and Senior Advisor, American Academy of Family Physicians, headlined Medicity’s Customer Summit last week, which attracted the nation’s most progressive healthcare organizations engaged in health information exchange (HIE) across the largest ecosystem of connected providers nationwide.

12 Feb 2010

New York's detained youth lack coordinated mental health care

The New York Times: "The State of New York does not have a single full-time staff psychiatrist charged with overseeing the treatment of the 800 or so young people who are detained in state facilities at any given time." The Times reports that all 17 psychiatrists at the detention facilities in the state's juvenile justice system are working either on contract and part time.

12 Feb 2010

HealthSpring enters into $350M senior secured credit facility

HealthSpring, Inc. today announced that it has entered into a new $350 million senior secured credit facility. The new agreement consists of $175 million in five-year term loans and a four-year, $175 million revolving credit facility, $25 million of which was drawn at closing. Outstanding loans under the new credit facility bear interest at a spread over a base rate or LIBOR (initially 325 basis points), depending on the Company’s total leverage ratio.

12 Feb 2010

Study could lead to new ways to combat obesity

The tiny tongue of a fruit fly could provide big answers to questions about human eating habits, possibly even leading to new ways to treat obesity, according to a study from a team of Texas A&M University researchers.

12 Feb 2010

Blood test to detect elevated levels of antibodies unique to Alzheimer’s disease developed

OPKO Health, Inc. today announced the development of a simple diagnostic blood test for Alzheimer’s disease. The test, designed to detect elevated levels of antibodies unique to Alzheimer’s disease, was approximately 95% accurate in initial testing.

12 Feb 2010

Mass. Gov. seeks greater authority to attack health costs

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick asked the state legislature to grant his administration broad new authority to "review and reject" excessive rates charged by medical providers in hopes of curbing costs and making health care more affordable, The Boston Globe reports. Under a bill filed Wednesday by Patrick, the rates that "hospitals and other health providers charge insurers would be 'presumptively disapproved as excessive' if they increased faster than the level of medical inflation, and they could be rejected after a public hearing."

12 Feb 2010

NewLink Genetics receives FDA SPA approval for HyperAcute immunotherapy Phase 3 pancreatic cancer trial

NewLink Genetics Corporation announced that it has reached agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) process for a pivotal Phase 3 trial of its HyperAcute immunotherapy in pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer is highly lethal and is currently an area of very significant unmet medical need. The SPA is a written agreement between NewLink as the trial sponsor and the FDA regarding the design, endpoints, and planned statistical analysis of a Phase 3 trial to be used in support of a Biologic License Application (BLA).

12 Feb 2010

Additional data from Phase III clinical trial of taliglucerase alfa in patients with Gaucher disease presented

Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc., announced today that additional data from the Company's pivotal Phase III clinical trial of taliglucerase alfa in patients with Gaucher disease was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Lysosomal Disease Network: WORLD Symposium 2010 in Miami, Florida, during an oral session titled, "Novel Enzyme Replacement Therapy for Gaucher Disease: Phase III Pivotal Clinical Trial with Plant Cell Expressed Recombinant Glucocerebrosidase (prGCD) - taliglucerase alfa."

12 Feb 2010

Researchers discover cancer gene in ancestral metazoan

To find the causes for cancer, biochemists and developmental biologists at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, retraced the function of an important human cancer gene 600 million years back in time. For the first time, they have identified the oncogene myc in a fresh water polyp and they have shown that this oncogene has similar biochemical functions in ancestral metazoan and in humans.

12 Feb 2010

Opinions: Rebuilding Haiti

In a Baltimore Sun opinion piece, Richard Santos - president and CEO of IMA World Health, a non-profit that provides health care services and supplies - describes what he sees as the top three priorities for the rebuilding of Haiti, beginning with healthcare, which he describes as " foundational to all else." He continues, "Development groups have experience setting up basic health care systems in South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other difficult environments.

12 Feb 2010

New amplitude gating technique helps scanners pinpoint tumors

When one diagnoses a cancer patient, it's important to gather as much information about that person as possible. But who would have thought an accurate diagnosis would depend on throwing some of that information away?

12 Feb 2010

New screening system developed to discover molecules that block HCV life cycle

A newly designed system of identifying molecules for treating hepatitis C should enable scientists to discover novel and effective therapies for the dangerous and difficult-to-cure disease of the liver, says Zhilei Chen, a Texas A&M University assistant professor of chemical engineering who helped develop the screening system.

12 Feb 2010

Today's opinions and editorials: A litigation explosion, Anthem Blue Cross and starting fresh

What would a fresh start look like? It would begin with a new bill. Amending the 2,000 pages in either the Senate or House bill would prove to be impossible. They were born of an unseemly process and based on a premise already rejected by the American people. Language from the existing bills, in areas of agreement, could obviously be used to expedite drafting (Michael O. Leavitt, 2/11).

12 Feb 2010

Scientists uncover new gene that could help save sight of patients with inherited blindness

The international research team led by the University of Leeds found that the TSPAN12 gene is faulty in patients with a disease known as FEVR (Familial Exudative Vitreoretinopathy), which affects the development of the eye.

12 Feb 2010

3SBio, Ascentage Pharma announce cancer therapeutics collaboration

3SBio Inc., a leading China-based biotechnology company focused on researching, developing, manufacturing and marketing biopharmaceutical products, and Ascentage Pharma Group Corporation, Ltd. ("Ascentage Pharma") announced today that they have formed a strategic alliance to research, develop and commercialize best-in-class targeted cancer therapeutics focusing on programmed cell death, or apoptosis. The alliance will leverage Ascentage Pharma's expertise in structure-based small molecule design, lead optimization and preclinical development with 3SBio's proven drug development and commercialization capabilities in China.

12 Feb 2010

Labopharm begins proposed public offering of common stock

Labopharm Inc. today announced that it has commenced an underwritten public offering of up to US$20,000,000 of units, with each unit to be comprised of one common share and a warrant to purchase a portion of a common share.

12 Feb 2010

Payments, pricing info, paperwork may contribute to costs, confusion

The way doctors, hospitals and other health care providers are paid creates a so-called "perverse incentive" to order more and more medical services, even when those services do not contribute to better health, according to researchers for Dartmouth's Atlas of Health, CNN's investigations unit reports. The report explores a lawsuit filed against a physician-owned hospital in McAllen, Texas, by one of the physician-owners.

12 Feb 2010

Biological-based therapies are alternative medicines for women recovering from breast cancer

Biological-based therapies such as diet supplements and vitamins are the most popular complementary and alternative medicines for women recovering from breast cancer, according to a Michigan State University researcher working to create a support intervention for women in treatment for the disease.

12 Feb 2010

First FDA-approved umbilical cord blood stem cells infusion trial in children with cerebral palsy

Medical College of Georgia researchers are conducting the first FDA-approved clinical trial to determine whether an infusion of stem cells from umbilical cord blood can improve the quality of life for children with cerebral palsy.

12 Feb 2010