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Republicans tout alternative health care reform plans, react to Dems

Following President Barack Obama's challenge to "let me know" if they had better ideas for a health overhaul, Rep. John Boehner, the House Republican leader, said that their plan, rejected last November by the Democratic majority in the House, would satisfy Obama's goals to "bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured" and improve Medicare, BusinessWeek reports. "The Republican ideas ... may have a bigger role in defining party differences this election year than in crafting a compromise on the health bill. That's because the gap between the two approaches is so wide."

30 Jan 2010

Healthcare Services Group declares cash dividend

Healthcare Services Group, Inc.: Our Board of Directors has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $ .21 per common share, payable on March 5, 2010 to shareholders of record at the close of business February 12, 2010. This dividend represents a 5% increase over the dividend declared for the 2009 third quarter and a 24% increase over the 2008 same period payment.

30 Jan 2010

$Study shows hip fractures in elderly men are linked to impaired bone health in their grandsons$

Study shows hip fractures in elderly men are linked to impaired bone health in their grandsons

If your grandfather has had a hip fracture, you too could be at risk. Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have been able to show, for the first time, a link between hip fractures in elderly men and impaired bone health in their grandsons.

30 Jan 2010

Obama, Republicans face off on a range of issues including health reform

Politico: "President Barack Obama told House Republicans Friday that Washington can't break through partisan gridlock 'if we can't move past the politics of no' — then engaged with them in an extraordinary back-and-forth straight out of the House of Commons."

30 Jan 2010

White House wants to scale up war on Medicare fraud

The White House plans to ask Congress to increase funding for fighting Medicare fraud by 80 percent, in hopes of curbing billions of dollars in abuses, Dow Jones Newswires/NASDAQ reports. Already, "The administration has stepped up enforcement and prevention efforts targeting Medicare claims. Rather than rely on tips, it has begun combining Medicare claims data into a single, searchable database, making it easier to pinpoint suspicious claims among the more than $1 billion spent on such claims each day" (Burns, 1/28).

30 Jan 2010

BG Medicine files registration statement with SEC for proposed initial public offering of common stock

BG Medicine, Inc. today announced that it has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) relating to the proposed initial public offering of its common stock. The number of shares to be offered and the price range of the offering have not yet been determined.

30 Jan 2010

Gilead Sciences' board authorizes share repurchase program

Gilead Sciences, Inc. today announced that the company’s Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $1.0 billion of the company’s common stock through January 2011.

30 Jan 2010

Dental hygienists provide free oral care services for Valentine's Day

To honour the spirit of Valentine's Day, on February 13 registered dental hygienists across the province will provide oral care services to the public at no cost.

30 Jan 2010

NuVasive reports preliminary unaudited financial results for full year ended December 31, 2009

NuVasive, Inc., a medical device company focused on developing products for minimally disruptive surgical treatments for the spine, today announced preliminary unaudited financial results for the full year ended December 31, 2009.

30 Jan 2010

Government cracks down on drug marketing

Recent crackdown on pharmaceutical companies suggests that drug marketing remains an issue with federal authorities. The Wall Street Journal reports: "Novartis AG's agreement to settle criminal allegations involving marketing of an epilepsy drug is the latest in a string of cases showing that improper marketing practices are still a problem years after the U.S. government started cracking down on them.

30 Jan 2010

Study shows majority of patients gain weight after knee replacement surgery

You'd think folks who've had knee replacement surgery -- finally able to walk and exercise without pain -- would lose weight instead of put on pounds, but surprisingly that's not the case, according to a University of Delaware study.

30 Jan 2010

Pelosi, Reid search for health reform's forward path

Legislative leaders in search of momentum on health reform "conceded that they did not have an immediate strategy for advancing a health care measure and described their time frame as open-ended," The New York Times reports.

30 Jan 2010

Mylan's subsidiary receives FDA approval for GoLytely laxative

Mylan Inc. today announced that its subsidiary Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. received final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Polyethylene Glycol 3350 and Electrolytes for Oral Solution, USP, the generic version of Braintree Laboratories' GoLytely® laxative.

30 Jan 2010

$Perifosine holds promise as a single agent for relapsed/refractory Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia$

Perifosine holds promise as a single agent for relapsed/refractory Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia

Æterna Zentaris Inc., a late-stage drug development company specialized in oncology and endocrinology, today announced that an article entitled "Clinical and Translational Studies of a Phase II Trial of the Novel Oral Akt Inhibitor Perifosine in Relapsed or Relapsed/Refractory Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia," reporting Phase 2 data demonstrating the single agent activity of perifosine (KRX-0401) for the treatment of advanced Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia ("Waldenstrom's"), will appear in the February 1, 2010 issue of the Journal of Clinical Cancer Research.

30 Jan 2010

Food labels can help in making heart-healthy food choices

February is American Heart Month -- and a good time to make simple changes in your diet to reduce your risk for heart disease.

30 Jan 2010

Today's opinions and editorials

By not acknowledging America's concerns about health reform Wednesday night, the president appeared inflexible and incapable of real compromise (Dr. Marc Siegel, 1/28).

30 Jan 2010

Salient Pharmaceuticals receives TETF commercialization award for CASAD therapy commercialization

Houston Technology Center (HTC), announced today that client company Salient Pharmaceuticals received a $2 million commercialization award from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (TETF) for the commercialization of their CASAD therapy, an all natural product used to prevent and treat some cancer therapy-induced side effects.

29 Jan 2010

Joslin.org and dLife.com announce new online partnership

Joslin.org, the Internet site for Harvard-affiliated Joslin Diabetes Center, the world's preeminent diabetes research and clinical care organization, and dLife.com, the leading online community for people living with diabetes, today announced a new online partnership.

29 Jan 2010

Diffusion Pharmaceuticals closes on $5.9M in additional private financing

Diffusion Pharmaceuticals LLC, a clinical-stage drug-development company commercializing first-in-class drugs to treat serious or life-threatening unmet medical conditions, today announced that it closed on $5.9 million in additional private financing during the second half of 2009, bringing the total the company raised in 2009 to $7.1 million.

29 Jan 2010

Positive Phase 2 trial results of Keryx Biopharmaceuticals' KRX-0401 announced

Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (the "Company") today announced that an article entitled "Clinical and Translational Studies of a Phase II Trial of the Novel Oral Akt Inhibitor Perifosine in Relapsed or Relapsed/Refractory Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia," reporting Phase 2 data demonstrating the single agent activity of KRX-0401 (Perifosine) for the treatment of advanced Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia ("Waldenstrom's"), will appear in the February 1, 2010 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

29 Jan 2010