Medical News

RSS

Utah tries to improve state health insurance exhange; Mich. plans for doctor shortage

The Salt Lake Tribune: "State health reform got a boost Tuesday with House passage of a fix-it bill to improve the Utah Health Exchange, an online tool for purchasing health insurance. Pitched as a free-market approach to lowering costs for small businesses, the exchange has had limited success. Only 400 people are receiving health insurance in its experimental first stage. And some of its 66 plans are up to 130 percent more expensive than what some companies were already paying. That's because insurers are calculating premiums differently 'inside' and 'outside' the exchange, said House Speaker Dave Clark" (Stewart, 2/16).

17 Feb 2010

Sorafenib drug therapy can reduce the size of primary kidney tumors before surgery

More than 57,000 Americans face a diagnosis of kidney cancer each year. Now patients with advanced disease may soon have another treatment option. Physicians who conducted a pilot study at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center found that therapy before surgery with the drug sorafenib can reduce the size of large tumors and could be safely undertaken administered without adding significantly to the risks of surgery.

17 Feb 2010

PositiveID acquires intellectual property rights and assets of Easy Check Medical Diagnostics

PositiveID Corporation announced today that it has acquired intellectual property rights and assets of Easy Check Medical Diagnostics, LLC, to expand its portfolio of non-invasive glucose-level testing products and diabetes management tools under development. Easy Check has two primary products under development: the Easy Check breath glucose detection system and the iGlucose™ wireless communication device.

17 Feb 2010

New research units established for Japanese-German research collaboration

With its ten new Research Units, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) is intensifying interdisciplinary and multiple-location collaboration among researchers pursuing specific scientific questions and new avenues of research.

17 Feb 2010

WellPoint cancels investor meeting to prepare for congressional hearing on premium hikes

WellPoint, the parent company of Anthem Blue Cross, has canceled an investor meeting "so that executives can prepare for a congressional hearing on the company's large rate hikes in California," the Los Angeles Times reports. "A subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce has called WellPoint Inc. Chief Executive Angela F. Braly to testify Feb. 24 about planned premium increases of as much as 39% for many of Anthem's 800,000 individual policyholders in California."

17 Feb 2010

Calif. budget cuts would end aid to new legal immigrants; Minn. Dems criticize Pawlenty for relying on federal funds

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest proposals to close California's budget shortfall would end public assistance for most new legal immigrants, eliminating emergency cash, food and medical aid for those who don't yet qualify for federal welfare. The proposal would represent an about-face for the state.

17 Feb 2010

Roche completes enrollment in RG7128 Phase 2b PROPEL study

Pharmasset, Inc. announced today the complete enrollment by Roche of the 12 week RG7128 Phase 2b study (PROPEL) of approximately 400 treatment-naive patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes 1 and 4. The study remains blinded to Roche and Pharmasset.

17 Feb 2010

ACP urges Congress and Obama to enact comprehensive health care reform

"The unfortunate truth is that by many measures, the State of America's health care is in decline," Joseph W. Stubbs, MD, FACP, president of the American College of Physicians (ACP), reported today at ACP's annual State of the Nation's Health Care briefing. "We have too many uninsured, too few primary care physicians, and the cost of health care is rising faster than we can afford."

17 Feb 2010

Codexis announces two separate collaborations in pharmaceutical manufacturing

Codexis, Inc. today announced two separate collaborations in pharmaceutical manufacturing with Dishman Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals and AMPAC Fine Chemicals LLC, a subsidiary of American Pacific Corporation. These agreements expand the application of Codexis technology to a broadened pipeline of branded innovator pharmaceutical products.

17 Feb 2010

Former Senate parliamentarian questions reconciliation, Senators want public option back

A former Senate parliamentarian said Tuesday that using reconciliation to pass health care reform will be difficult because the procedure wasn't meant to make policy, Politico's Live Pulse blog reports. The former parliamentarian, Robert Dove, who now teaches at George Washington University, said there are many things that cannot be put into the reconciliation bill. "Dove would know. In 1974, in the midst of his 36-year Senate career, he helped design the Congressional Budget Act, which first created the rules for reconciliation.

17 Feb 2010

New sugar-based polymer for disposing food packaging and other plastic items

Food packaging and other disposable plastic items could soon be composted at home along with organic waste thanks to a new sugar-based polymer.

17 Feb 2010

Carriage Services reports record $45.1M total revenue for fourth-quarter 2009

Carriage Services, Inc. today announced results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2009.

17 Feb 2010

USPTO grants patent to Bellacure's drug-free treatment device for arthritis pain

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted a patent today to Bellacure, Inc. for its knee pain treatment device, which was designed to allow the patient to reproducibly apply a therapeutic force that urges the femur and tibia apart on the affected side of the knee at an unmatched intensity level while maximizing force efficiency and minimizing weight (United States Patent 7,662,122).

17 Feb 2010

Ardiem Medical receives non-exclusive license to make and sell neuromodulation devices

Ardiem Medical Inc. has obtained a non-exclusive license to make and sell neuromodulation devices based on intellectual property developed at Case Western Reserve University's Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Functional Electrical Stimulation Center in Cleveland.

17 Feb 2010

Health on the Hill - February 16, 2010

Kaiser Health News staff writer Mary Agnes Carey and Eric Pianin of the Fiscal Times talk with the Kaiser Family Foundation's Jackie Judd about recent events on Capitol Hill. For instance, President Obama has scheduled a bipartisan summit for Feb. 25 to discuss ways to pass health care overhaul legislation this year.

17 Feb 2010

Athersys completes enrollment in phase I MultiStem allogeneic stem cell therapy clinical trial

Athersys, Inc. and Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that Athersys has completed patient enrollment for its phase I clinical trial of MultiStem(R), its allogeneic stem cell therapy product, administered to individuals following acute myocardial infarction (AMI), more commonly referred to as a heart attack. Top line results of the trial are expected to be announced midyear, upon completion of the four-month patient follow-up visits and analysis of results.

17 Feb 2010

Deficit panel to tackle worries of federal debt, including health spending

The New York Times reports that President Obama's appointment of a special panel to study the nation's debt will come "(a)fter decades of warnings that budgetary profligacy, escalating health care costs and an aging population would lead to a day of fiscal reckoning."

17 Feb 2010

Eat fruits and vegetables to prevent heart disease

As heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death in the United States for all adults, a new report released by the Nutrilite Health Institute, America's Phytonutrient Report: Heart Health by Color*, shows that Americans are falling short on heart-healthy phytonutrients.

17 Feb 2010

COBRA expansion, Medicare payments to doctors 'fix' looming over Congress

Lawmakers seek ways to expand COBRA and address the Medicare doctor payment "fix."

17 Feb 2010

Top health groups increased political spending in 2009

USA Today: "Pharmacists, optometrists and groups representing an array of medical specialists boosted their political giving in 2009, as Congress worked on health care legislation that would dramatically reshape their industry. ... Donations by the top 15 health care political action committees rose to $11.7 million in 2009, a nearly 14% increase from 2007, the most recent non-election year, according to a USA TODAY analysis of data compiled by CQ MoneyLine."

17 Feb 2010

Medical News

Utah tries to improve state health insurance exhange; Mich. plans for doctor shortage

Sorafenib drug therapy can reduce the size of primary kidney tumors before surgery

PositiveID acquires intellectual property rights and assets of Easy Check Medical Diagnostics

New research units established for Japanese-German research collaboration

WellPoint cancels investor meeting to prepare for congressional hearing on premium hikes

Calif. budget cuts would end aid to new legal immigrants; Minn. Dems criticize Pawlenty for relying on federal funds

Roche completes enrollment in RG7128 Phase 2b PROPEL study

ACP urges Congress and Obama to enact comprehensive health care reform

Codexis announces two separate collaborations in pharmaceutical manufacturing

Former Senate parliamentarian questions reconciliation, Senators want public option back

New sugar-based polymer for disposing food packaging and other plastic items

Carriage Services reports record $45.1M total revenue for fourth-quarter 2009

USPTO grants patent to Bellacure's drug-free treatment device for arthritis pain

Ardiem Medical receives non-exclusive license to make and sell neuromodulation devices

Health on the Hill - February 16, 2010

Athersys completes enrollment in phase I MultiStem allogeneic stem cell therapy clinical trial

Deficit panel to tackle worries of federal debt, including health spending

Eat fruits and vegetables to prevent heart disease

COBRA expansion, Medicare payments to doctors 'fix' looming over Congress

Top health groups increased political spending in 2009

Redefining control and consistency in anaerobic microbiome workflows

AI in Healthcare: How generative tools are transforming clinical practice

The future of automation: Machine learning–driven hepatocyte and organoid counting

Latest News