Medical News

RSS

NXT Nutritionals Holdings secures $2.35M financing

NXT Nutritionals Holdings, Inc., developer and marketer of SUSTA™ Natural Sweetener, the great tasting, all-natural, healthier sweetener, announced today that the Company has secured $2.35 million in financing through a private placement offering (the “Offering”). Proceeds from the Offering will be used for general corporate purposes and to fund further development and marketing of its SUSTA™ products.

18 Feb 2010

Rituxan, intended for patients with CLL receives FDA approval

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Rituxan (rituximab) to treat certain patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), a slowly progressing blood and bone marrow cancer.

18 Feb 2010

Highly fit MS patients perform better on tests of cognitive function than less-fit patients: Study

Highly fit multiple sclerosis patients perform significantly better on tests of cognitive function than similar less-fit patients, a new study shows.

18 Feb 2010

A selection of today's opinions and editorials

The epic of health care evolution is complex and is worth reviewing over the last five decades. Having practiced medicine in the same community in Southeast Missouri for more than 30 years, I have seen changes in health care beyond the scope of imagination (Dr. S.D. Madduri, 2/18).

18 Feb 2010

Humana schedules layoffs as insurers struggle to cut costs

Dow Jones Newswires/Wall Street Journal reports that Humana, one of the nation's largest health insurers, "said it will shed nearly 1,400 jobs, or 5% of its work force, this year" because of declines in enrollment. The company will cut a total of 2,500 jobs, but plans to hire 1,100 new employees to help with such issues as controlling medical costs and managing pharmacy benefits.

18 Feb 2010

Gen-Probe board authorizes $100M stock repurchase plan

Gen-Probe Incorporated announced today that its board of directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $100 million of the Company's common stock over the next year.

18 Feb 2010

Epeius Biotechnologies completes construction of VPU to manufacture targeted genetic medicines

Epeius Biotechnologies (www.epeiusbiotech.com) announces the completion of the design engineering and construction phase of a state-of-the-art Vector Production Unit (VPU) for the commercial manufacturing of its advanced targeted genetic medicines. In accordance with an FDA Critical Path initiative, which encourages innovation and the implementation of new technological advances in GMP, CMC, aseptic processing, and quality control, the Epeius VPU is poised to launch the large-scale production of targeted genetic medicine into the 21st century.

18 Feb 2010

Medical experts convene to discuss emotional and medical issues of young breast cancer survivors

One in eight women diagnosed with breast cancer is younger than 45 when diagnosed, yet their emotional and medical concerns are different than those of women over age 45, as is the impact of their diagnosis on family, friends, partners, colleagues and children.

18 Feb 2010

States' retiree benefits underfunded by at least $1 trillion

State governments' retiree pension and health plans are severely underfunded, according to a new report from the Pew Center on States.

18 Feb 2010

'Cadillac' tax would have non-union impact, analysis finds

"A proposed tax on high-cost ['Cadillac'] health insurance plans, an element of Democratic health-care legislation that has been strongly opposed by organized labor, would actually fall equally on nonunion plans, according to a new analysis. ... at least 80 percent of the workers whose plans would be subject to the tax in 2019 would be in nonunion jobs," according to Ken Jacobs of the University of California at Berkeley Labor Center and William H. Dow, professor of health economics at Berkeley and a member of President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers.

18 Feb 2010

Anulex Technologies announces the commercial availability of Xclose Plus Tissue Repair System

Anulex Technologies, Inc., a privately held medical device manufacturer focusing on spinal disc Preservation & Anular Repair™ products, announced the commercial availability of the Xclose™ Plus Tissue Repair System at the AANS/CNS Joint Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves meeting in Orlando, Florida.

18 Feb 2010

Johns Hopkins Medicine acquires Naviscan Positron Emission Mammography for radiotracer research

Johns Hopkins Medicine has become the latest academic medical center to acquire the Naviscan Positron Emission Mammography (PEM) scanner. The device will be utilized by Richard Wahl, M.D., F.A.C.R, Professor of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in pre-clinical and translational research for the development of novel radiotracers.

18 Feb 2010

AltraVax acquires vaccine development technology package from Maxygen

AltraVax, Inc., a new, privately-held biopharmaceutical company, has acquired a vaccine development technology package from Maxygen, Inc. that gives AltraVax an exclusive license to develop vaccines for infectious diseases and is targeting influenza, a treatment for hepatitis B and HIV.

18 Feb 2010

Centene to acquire Columbia-based Carolina Crescent Health Plan

Centene Corporation today announced that its South Carolina subsidiary, Absolute Total Care, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Columbia-based Carolina Crescent Health Plan (CCHP), the state's largest non-profit Medicaid managed care organization, from University Health Services, Inc. (UHS). CCHP serves more than 40,000 Medicaid members in 46 counties across the state.

18 Feb 2010

Ear candles can cause serious injuries, warns FDA

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers to steer clear of ear candles -- hollow cones that are about 10 inches long and made from a fabric tube soaked in beeswax, paraffin, or a mixture of the two.

18 Feb 2010

CryoLife discloses financial results for fourth-quarter and full-year 2009

CryoLife, Inc., an implantable biological medical device and cardiovascular tissue processing company, announced today that revenues for the fourth quarter of 2009 increased 12 percent to a quarterly record of $28.6 million compared to $25.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2008. This was the 12th consecutive quarter of profitability for the Company.

18 Feb 2010

OPKO Health acquires Pharmacos Exakta

OPKO Health, Inc. today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Pharmacos Exakta, S.A. de C.V. (“Pharmacos Exakta”), a privately-owned Mexican pharmaceutical company engaged in the manufacture, marketing and distribution of ophthalmic and other pharmaceutical products for government and private markets since 1957. OPKO acquired Pharmacos Exakta, including a manufacturing facility owned by an affiliate, for cash and shares of OPKO Common Stock.

18 Feb 2010

Fourth-quarter and full-year 2009 results announced by Life Time Fitness

Life Time Fitness, Inc. today reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2009.

18 Feb 2010

Merge Healthcare passes interoperability tests at IHE Connectathon

As a part of its ongoing commitment to interoperability standards, Merge Healthcare, a leading health IT solutions provider, announced that it successfully passed interoperability tests at the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE), North American Connectathon event in Chicago, Illinois. During the testing, which connects vendor solutions to promote better electronic information exchange, Merge demonstrated interoperability with every vendor pairing, which included some of the largest companies in the world.

18 Feb 2010

BIOGUARD wound dressings with Quick-Med’s NIMBUS antimicrobial technology to be sold by Medline Industries

Quick-Med Technologies, Inc. announced today that its licensee, Derma Sciences, Inc., has entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with Medline Industries whereby Medline will market and sell BIOGUARD™ wound dressings with Quick-Med’s proprietary NIMBUS antimicrobial technology. The agreement covers the acute care segment of the health care market, which includes nearly 6,000 hospitals in the United States plus surgery centers, wound care centers, and other associated health care facilities. Sales under this new agreement are expected to start later this month.

18 Feb 2010