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Medtronic invests in GI Dynamics to advance treatment for metabolic disorders

GI Dynamics, a leader in non-surgical treatments for type 2 diabetes and obesity, today announced that it has received a strategic investment from Medtronic, Inc., the global leader in medical device technology and therapies designed to treat chronic diseases.

8 Jan 2010

Springer signs agreement with ISOBM to co-publish the journal Tumor Biology

Springer, a leading publisher in the fields of science, technology and medicine, has signed an agreement with the International Society of Oncology and BioMarkers (ISOBM) to co-publish the journal Tumor Biology starting in January 2010.

8 Jan 2010

HHS releases nation’s first comprehensive strategy to address existing and emerging health threats

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today released The National Health Security Strategy, the nation’s first comprehensive strategy focused on protecting people’s health during a large-scale emergency. The strategy sets priorities for government and non-government activities over the next four years.

8 Jan 2010

Senate retirements focus Democrats on election prospects and health bill impact

USA Today reports on the ripple effect of this week's retirement announcements by Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.: The "[t]wo Senate retirements have focused Democrats like a laser on their growing November election challenges, but a more pressing contest is less than two weeks away in an unlikely place: Massachusetts." Democrats are favored to retain the seat of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, but Republicans "have increasingly touted the Jan. 19 special election as an opportunity for an upset."

8 Jan 2010

Biovest International receives Orphan Drug Designation for its personalized lymphoma vaccine

Biovest International, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug Designation to BiovaxID®, Biovest’s personalized lymphoma vaccine. BiovaxID represents a new class of active immunotherapy and is one of the few select late-stage patient-specific cancer vaccines vying to be among the first to reach market.

8 Jan 2010

UCLA: Metformin can be used to treat patients with diabetes and advanced heart failure

A new study has shown that metformin, a drug often used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, is safe for use in treating patients who have both diabetes and advanced heart failure.

7 Jan 2010

Epigenetic diagnosis and therapies, a new strategy for treating cancer

A tumor's genetic profile is often useful when diagnosing and deciding on treatment for certain cancers, but inexplicably, genetically similar leukemias in different patients do not always respond well to the same therapy.

7 Jan 2010

Opinions: Uganda anti-gay bill; Clinton's foreign policy speech; PEPFAR

A Washington Post editorial calles anti-gay legislation currently under consideration in Uganda "an atrocity." The authors of the editorial write that under the legislation, "anyone convicted of 'aggravated homosexuality,' which could mean someone who is HIV-positive and is intimate with another person of the same sex, could 'suffer death.'"

7 Jan 2010

Nightingale Informatix and CPA sign license and distribution agreement

Nightingale Informatix Corporation ("Nightingale" or the "Company"), an application service provider (ASP) of electronic medical record (EMR) software and related services, announced today that it has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Canadian Patient Access Incorporated ("CPA") to offer health related services to Canadian patients, through doctors using electronic medical records in their practices.

7 Jan 2010

Uninsured patients struggle to access health care as hospitals end programs

Several news outlets report on uninsured patients and access to health care.

7 Jan 2010

Additional birth weight decreases risk of developing tuberculosis later in life

Researchers at the University of Michigan looked at how much protection additional birth weight added against developing the disease years later. They found that every 1.1 pounds of birth weight decreases the risk of developing tuberculosis later by 46 percent among identical twins.

7 Jan 2010

CRF awards $1.75 million in 11 new grants to researchers to find a cure for cystinosis

The Cystinosis Research Foundation of Irvine, Calif., announced it awarded $1.75 million in 11 new grants to researchers in the United States, Canada, Belgium and Italy who are working to find a cure for cystinosis, a rare, deadly metabolic and genetic disease that afflicts about 500 children and young adults in the U.S. and 2,000 worldwide.

7 Jan 2010

Democrats 'very close' to health bill agreement

Reuters: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "said on Wednesday congressional Democrats were close to agreement on merging their healthcare bills but still faced challenges in blending the two approaches.

7 Jan 2010

UAB issues updated guidelines for childhood and teen immunization schedule

The co-director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases is a member of the committee that this week issued updated guidelines for childhood and teen immunizations to include formal recommendations that children older than 6 months get the H1N1 influenza vaccine to guard against swine flu, and that combination vaccines are generally preferred over separate injections.

7 Jan 2010

China Medicine enters into Stock Subscription Agreement with OEP

China Medicine Corporation ("China Medicine" or "the Company"), primarily a leading distributor and a developer of Western pharmaceuticals, traditional Chinese medicines ("TCM"), and other nutriceuticals today announced that it has entered into a Stock Subscription Agreement for an equity private placement (the "Subscription Agreement") with One Equity Partners ("OEP"), the global private equity investment arm of JPMorgan Chase & Co.

7 Jan 2010

New cardiac procedure may reduce complications and hospital costs

A new approach to common cardiac procedures called transradial angiography might lead to reduced patient complications and recovery time and decreased hospital costs.

7 Jan 2010

Particle Sciences to acquire HORIBA's Raman/Particle Characterization System

Particle Sciences Inc., a leading pharmaceutical CRO, is adding to its formulation and characterization abilities through a cooperative agreement with HORIBA Scientific. Under the agreement Particle Sciences will acquire a HORIBA Raman/Particle Characterization System.

7 Jan 2010