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Senators to take on abortion this week

Senate Democrats will begin the new week by taking on one of the most divisive issues for their caucus: abortion. The Associated Press reports Democratic leaders are hoping a pep talk by President Obama Sunday and ongoing negotiations on the topic will buttress their effort to address the issue and move on. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., an anti-abortion centrist, introduced an amendment that would ban private health plans that receive federal subsidies from covering abortions, even if they are paid for by patients' premiums, much as the House has done. Liberals say that language is too restrictive.

7 Dec 2009

Last-ditch public option compromise looks to federal employees' plan

As the health care debate grinds forward, Majority Leader Harry Reid asked a group of ten Democratic senators - five liberals and five centrists - to forge a compromise on a government-operated health insurer, The New York Times reports. Even among Democrats, moderates and liberals differ on this thorny issue. "The push for a deal on the public option indicated the pressure Democrats were feeling to resolve their differences if they hope to pass the bill by their self-imposed deadline of Christmas" (Pear and Herszenhorn, 12/6).

7 Dec 2009

Investigation: Temp firms often employ incompetent nurses

"Firms that supply temporary nurses to the nation's hospitals are taking perilous shortcuts in their screening and supervision, sometimes putting seriously ill patients in the hands of incompetent or impaired caregivers," ProPublica and The Los Angeles Times report. "Emboldened by a chronic nursing shortage and scant regulation, the firms vie for their share of a free-wheeling, $4-billion industry. Some have become havens for nurses who hopscotch from place to place to avoid the consequences of their misconduct."

7 Dec 2009

KHN column: The true costs of reform

In his latest column, a collaboration between Kaiser Health News and the New Republic, Jonathan Cohn writes about the ongoing discourse surrounding the cost of reform.

7 Dec 2009

Cysteine-rich whey protein supplement may maintain or increase weight in advanced NSCLC patients

Immunotec Inc. announced today the enrollment of the first patient in the US Cancer trial of IMN 1207 being run at Beaumont Hospital's Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP) in Royal Oak, Michigan. The goal of the study is to determine the effect of IMN 1207, a cysteine-rich whey protein supplement, in preventing additional weight loss in patients with stage IV (advanced) non-small cell lung cancer.

7 Dec 2009

Today's opinions and editorials

[I]t's virtually impossible to design a reform scheme that doesn't, in the early stages, involve at least some transfer of money away from the healthy and wealthy. The point of insurance is to pool risk, bringing in contributions from relatively healthy people, so that medical bills don't fall too heavily on the sick (Jonathan Cohn, 12/7).

7 Dec 2009

In New Jersey, cosmetic surgery tax raised funds far below projections

Bloomberg: "A tax on breast enhancements and other cosmetic care, similar to one proposed in the U.S. Senate's health-overhaul legislation, doesn't generate even a third of the $30 million a year originally projected for it in New Jersey, the only state with such a levy."

7 Dec 2009

New data from Allos Therapeutics' FOLOTYN trial for PTCL

Allos Therapeutics, Inc. today reported a new analysis of data from the Company’s pivotal PROPEL trial of FOLOTYN™ (pralatrexate injection) in patients with relapsed or refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL). This indication is based on overall response rate. Clinical benefit such as improvement in progression free survival or overall survival has not been demonstrated.

7 Dec 2009

Gawande: A 'hodgepodge' of pilot programs may be the right approach to cut health costs

Legislation to overhaul the American health system lacks an overarching plan to curb the rising costs of medicine, according to Atul Gawande, the influential surgeon and writer, in an essay for the Dec. 14 issue of The New Yorker. "Does the bill end medicine's destructive piecemeal payment system? Does it replace paying for quantity with paying for quality? Does it institute nationwide structural changes that curb costs and raise quality? It does not," Gawande writes. "Instead, what it offers is . . . pilot programs."

7 Dec 2009

Demand for doctors in rural areas and primary care physicians increases

The Dallas Morning News reports that rural health providers "are keeping a wary eye on proposed health care changes under debate in Congress. ... Democrats and Republicans from rural areas in the South and Midwest succeeded in getting some relief for the rural health care system written into the Senate and House bills under debate.

7 Dec 2009

Deals on health reform in jeopardy as support from drugmakers, senior groups is tested

The pharmaceutical industry's support for a health care reform bill in the Senate is in jeopardy as Senate Democrats ponder squeezing more cost savings out of drug makers to help pay for the overhaul, The Associated Press reports.

7 Dec 2009

Study data of Perifosine + Bortezomib combination in multiple myeloma patients presented

Æterna Zentaris Inc., a global biopharmaceutical company focused on endocrine therapy and oncology, today announced that its partner Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Inc. reported updated efficacy and safety data as well as new survival data on the clinical activity of perifosine (KRX-0401) in combination with bortezomib (Velcade(R)) (+/- dexamethasone) in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

7 Dec 2009

Black women may need different mammogram guidelines

"Many African-American women don't fit the profile of the average American woman who gets breast cancer. For them, putting off the first mammogram until 50 — as recommended by a government task force — could put their life in danger," NPR reports.

7 Dec 2009

Some progress on health bill, Senators prepare for long December

"Senate Republicans and Democrats are digging in for a long December, vowing they have no objection to the possibility of a working Christmas to debate healthcare reform," The Hill reports. "From GOP rank-and-file to Democratic leaders, senators say they regret but recognize the need to put public duty ahead of their families and follow a schedule tentatively laid out by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Reid has said he may call the chamber back into session in between the Christmas and New Year's holidays" (Rushing, 12/6).

7 Dec 2009

Advocates worried about health insurance affordability push for more subsidies

The Boston Globe: "President Obama has promised that the nation's health care overhaul will make medical insurance available - and affordable - for everyone. But while bills in Congress would make insurance more accessible for millions of Americans, advocates worry that the Senate bill would impose significant financial burdens on some of the families who will now be required to buy coverage."

7 Dec 2009

PharmAthene presents Protexia clinical trial results at PHEMCE conference

PharmAthene, Inc., a biodefense company developing medical countermeasures against biological and chemical threats, today announced Phase I clinical trial results for Protexia, a pegylated recombinant version of human butyrylcholinesterase (rBChE), which has been shown to be effective in animal models in preventing toxicity from exposure to chemical nerve agents.

7 Dec 2009

Masimo SpHb monitoring technology installed at Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center

Masimo, the inventor of Pulse CO-Oximetry(TM) and Measure-Through Motion and Low Perfusion pulse oximetry, announced today that Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, has completed its system-wide conversion to Masimo SET pulse oximetry technology.

7 Dec 2009

$225,000 funding for promising epilepsy research

The Epilepsy Research Foundation (ERF), a unique joint venture of non-profit epilepsy organizations, and the Milken Family Foundation, a private philanthropic foundation, today announced two new grants recognizing promising epilepsy research in clinical development, totaling $225,000 in funding. The grant awards were announced by the Epilepsy Therapy Project and the Epilepsy Foundation, as well as the Milken Family Foundation, during the 7th Judith Hoyer Lecture in Epilepsy at the annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Society in Boston, MA.

7 Dec 2009

Incyte's INCB18424 provides previously unachievable clinical benefits in myelofibrosis patients

Incyte Corporation announced this morning that INCB18424 (also referred to as INCB018424), its selective, orally available janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor, will be the subject of three oral presentations at the 51st American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting in New Orleans.

7 Dec 2009

'Never events' - medical errors - still continue 10 years after landmark report

Advocates and experts examine progress made since the Institute of Medicine released its landmark report that called for the elimination of medical errors, or "never events," ten years ago. Modern HealthCare interviews Helen Haskell, who founded the advocacy organization Mothers Against Medical Error, and examines progress and shortcomings: "Families are still losing loved ones to errors, Haskell explained during a recent conference hosted by Consumers Union. But the biggest difference in the past 10 years is, 'where once there was denial, we now have tireless leaders.'"

7 Dec 2009