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A look at how key provisions compare in the House and Senate bills

The New York Times reports that "the health care proposals from the House and the Senate are broadly similar but differ on some major issues." It reports on five issues - the public plan, employer contribution, abortion, illegal immigrants and financing - and puts differences in bold type (11/19).

19 Nov 2009

Aegera Therapeutics commences AEG35156 Phase 2B study for AML

Aegera Therapeutics Inc. announced today the dosing of the first patient in a randomized Phase 2B study of AEG35156, a targeted antisense therapeutic in mid-stage development for multiple oncology indications.

19 Nov 2009

A selection of today's opinions and editorials

Everyone has been trying to come up with a good nickname for the 10 years we're concluding next month. Terror Era really sounds like too much of a downer. How about the Decade of Medical Backtracking? Somewhere between the reports that Pap smears and tests for prostate cancer aren't all they were cracked up to be and the news that a high fiber diet doesn't do anything to prevent cancer, the health establishment began looking decidedly nonomniscient. Then this week, a federal task force reported that most women don't need annual mammograms (Gail Collins, 11/18).

19 Nov 2009

Senate bill draws immediate reactions from GOP, interest groups

Republicans quickly rebuked Senate Democrats' health overhaul bill after its release last night, Roll Call reports. They said it would result in higher insurance premiums, tax hikes, and Medicare cuts, and complained that it was drafted behind closed doors, and that they have not yet had a chance to read it.

19 Nov 2009

Democrats' continue efforts to win over moderates

Wavering moderates, including Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., control the key votes needed to bring the health overhaul bill to the Senate floor, so securing their agreement to go forward has become a priority for the Democratic leadership.

19 Nov 2009

Vicor Technologies' PD2i nonlinear algorithm and software: a promising diagnostic for in-field trauma triage

David H. Fater, CEO of Vicor Technologies, Inc., today announced that Andriy Batchinsky, MD, a researcher with the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research (USAISR), identified Vicor's proprietary PD2i® nonlinear algorithm and software as the most promising diagnostic for in-field trauma triage during a presentation before several hundred attendees at the American Heart Association's Resuscitation Science Symposium 2009 on November 14, 2009 in Orlando, Florida.

19 Nov 2009

Adamas Pharmaceuticals expands its Phase 2 TCAD therapy study for influenza A

Adamas Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held company, announced today that it has expanded its Phase 2 clinical study of a proprietary investigational triple-combination antiviral drug therapy for influenza to include centers in the United States, Canada and Europe. The study, which was initiated in August 2009 in the Southern Hemisphere, is designed to investigate Adamas' triple combination antiviral drug (TCAD) therapy as a treatment for influenza A, including novel influenza A/H1N1, the cause of the current flu pandemic.

19 Nov 2009

Senate leaders consider timeline for health bill votes

Roll Call reports: "Senators may keep slogging through debate on their health care overhaul until the day before Thanksgiving, according to an adjournment resolution the House approved Wednesday. That measure provided for the Senate to adjourn Friday — or next Wednesday. The House is set to break on Thursday or Friday of this week." The Senate must first vote on a motion to proceed - to move the bill to the floor (Newmyer, 11/18).

19 Nov 2009

Anika Therapeutics' "ELEVESS Light" receives European CE Mark approval

Anika Therapeutics, Inc., a leader in products for tissue protection, healing and repair based on hyaluronic acid (“HA”) technology, today announced that it has received European CE Mark approval for “ELEVESS™ Light,” the Company’s latest aesthetic product used for the treatment of fine lines and facial wrinkles. ELEVESS Light will be distributed in the European market by the Company’s current aesthetic dermatology distributors.

19 Nov 2009

Kansas pilot program to use electronic medical records to coordinate care

A health information technology project "may revolutionize how health care is managed" by using medical records to coordinate patients' records.

19 Nov 2009

WaferGen Biosystems launches new SmartChip Service for gene-expression profiling of thousands of genes

WaferGen Biosystems, Inc., a leading developer of state-of-the-art genetic analysis systems, today announced a new, innovative service for gene-expression profiling of thousands of genes using the SmartChip(TM) Real-Time PCR System. By taking advantage of the SmartChip Real-Time PCR system, WaferGen will offer universities, pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies a service that utilizes pathway-specific gene panels to discover and validate new biomarkers.

19 Nov 2009

White House backing Medicare 'doc fix' bill

Reuters reports that the White House Wednesday "urged Congress to pass a bill to boost Medicare payments to doctors, a step that could shore up support" from the American Medical Association for health care reform.

19 Nov 2009

Lawmakers call for inquiry into pharmaceutical company price hikes

Congressional Democrats are seeking government investigations into recent price increases of brand-name prescription drugs, as Congress finalizes an overhaul of the healthcare system. Lawmakers are concerned the companies are trying to reap gains ahead of reforms aimed at lowering drug prices and forcing drugmakers to partly fund changes that aim to boost the number of Americans covered by health insurance.

19 Nov 2009

VisEn Medical launches two new agents for imaging quantification

VisEn Medical Inc., a leader in fluorescence in vivo imaging from research through medicine, announced today the commercial launch of its new OsteoSense® 800 imaging agent for targeting areas of bone turnover and microcalcification in vivo. The new 800 nm OsteoSense agent complements VisEn's OsteoSense 680 and 750 products, and is expected to further expand the utilization of this agent family in enabling in vivo detection, measurement and monitoring of skeletal changes in a wide range of disease states, including arthritis, osteoporosis, and cancer metastasis.

19 Nov 2009

Emerging trends fuelling the US market for reprocessed electrophysiology diagnostic catheters

According to Millennium Research Group (MRG), the global authority on medical technology market intelligence, the US market for reprocessed electrophysiology diagnostic catheters will grow at a rate of over 15% through 2014. MRG's new US Markets for Electrophysiology Mapping and Ablation Devices 2010 report finds that although reprocessed catheters have existed for a number of years, it is only recently that this device type has begun to play a larger role in the electrophysiology diagnostic market.

19 Nov 2009

Positive results from Echo Therapeutics' Symphony tCGM System study

Echo Therapeutics, Inc., a company developing its needle-free Symphony(TM) tCGM System as a non-invasive, wireless, transdermal continuous glucose monitoring (tCGM) system and the Prelude(TM) SkinPrep System for transdermal drug delivery, today announced positive results of a clinical study of its Symphony tCGM System in patients with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes.

19 Nov 2009

Cardiovascular Systems commences patient enrollment in CALCIUM 360° clinical trial

Cardiovascular Systems, Inc., announces the first patient enrollment in its prospective, randomized CALCIUM 360° clinical trial, part of the company’s 360° Clinical Series. The CALCIUM 360° study will evaluate the treatment of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) behind and below the knee using CSI’s Diamondback 360® PAD System, a minimally invasive catheter for treating PAD anywhere in the leg.

19 Nov 2009

Altair Therapeutics initiates its IL-4 receptor alpha inhibitor bronchoprovocation phase 2 trial

Altair Therapeutics, Inc., a privately-held, biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics for respiratory diseases, today announced the commencement of its IL-4 receptor alpha inhibitor bronchoprovocation trial. Study AIR645-CS2 is a phase 2, multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to assess the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of inhaled AIR645 in suppressing the asthmatic response in subjects with mild asthma. Results are expected in the third quarter of 2010.

19 Nov 2009

Positive results from Sciele Pharma's second pivotal study of PSD502 for the treatment of PE

At the annual meeting of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America, Inc. in San Diego, Sciele Pharma, Inc., a Shionogi Company, and Plethora Solutions Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Plethora Solutions Holdings PLC, today presented data from its second positive pivotal study of PSD502 for the treatment of premature ejaculation (PE).

19 Nov 2009

Dicom Systems' latest API improves the Teleradiology network experience for healthcare professionals

Dicom Systems, consolidating their reputation for continued and groundbreaking innovation, are preparing to launch the latest addition to their DCMSYS family: API for Advanced Statistical reports and graphs, and for monitoring.

19 Nov 2009