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Reid: No comment on public option, bill will be ready 'soon'

"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) declined Tuesday afternoon to predict when negotiations on a final health care reform bill would be complete, saying only that he hopes to have legislation in hand 'soon,'" Roll Call reports

21 Oct 2009

Osteologix to continue clinical development of NB S101 osteoporosis drug

Osteologix, Inc., a bio-pharmaceutical company announced today that the company will continue the clinical development for its osteoporosis drug, NB S101 (strontium malonate), in the United States and the rest of the world markets. Additionally, the company wants to recognize World Osteoporosis Day’s significance and make more people aware of its research dedicated to improving the lives of people with osteoporosis.

21 Oct 2009

Majority of IT practitioners believe organizations have insufficient resources to protect patients’ privacy

LogLogic®, the leader in log and security management solutions, and the Ponemon Institute, a privacy and information management research firm, today announced results of a national survey of healthcare IT security professionals that shows patients may be surrendering their privacy as the $2.5 trillion medical industry – prompted by federal stimulus funding – pushes to accelerate the pace of digitizing health information records.

21 Oct 2009

The medical homes model is spreading

A new model of health care called "medical homes" offers a stark contrast to hurried doctor visits, long waits and rushed physicians, the Chicago Tribune reports. Instead, a patients gets regular phone calls and e-mails from medical staff, reminders for flu screenings and vaccines, and less hurried doctors.

21 Oct 2009

Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma acquires Sepracor

Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co., Ltd. (“DSP”) and Sepracor Inc. today announce the successful completion of DSP’s acquisition of Sepracor for US$23.00 per share in cash. DSP completed the acquisition through a cash tender offer and by exercising an option to acquire additional shares directly from Sepracor followed by a short-form merger of an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of DSP with and into Sepracor on October 20, 2009. Sepracor is now an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of DSP.

21 Oct 2009

School meal programs should adopt new set of nutrient targets, says IOM

The National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program should adopt a new set of nutrient targets and standards for menu planning, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine.

21 Oct 2009

Retinal prosthesis restores partial vision to people who are totally blind

Two experimental treatments, a retinal prosthesis and fetal tissue transplant, restored some vision to people with blinding eye diseases. The findings, presented at Neuroscience 2009, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world's largest source of emerging news on brain science and health, may lead to new treatments for the blind. Researchers also reported that an engineered protein restored vision in an animal model and identified ways to improve stem cell treatments.

21 Oct 2009

New poll finds most Americans back public option in health reform

The Washington Post leads the paper today with a report that "a new Washington Post-ABC poll shows that support for a government-run health-care plan to compete with private insurers has rebounded from its summertime lows and wins clear majority support from the public."

21 Oct 2009

Apotex to market Hisamitsu's Fentanyl Transdermal System for chronic pain management

Apotex Corp announced today that it has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Company of Japan. Apotex will sell to the U.S. healthcare market, Hisamitsu's recently FDA approved matrix Fentanyl Transdermal System for the management of chronic pain.

21 Oct 2009

Grady Memorial Hospital uses LiveProcess event log for emergency healthcare management

Facilities like Atlanta, Georgia-based Grady Memorial Hospital are taking extra precautions, including leveraging technology for emergency healthcare management, in anticipation of a H1N1 surge this fall.

21 Oct 2009

Massachusetts seeks to cut increase in small business health care costs

Today's state news covers access to care issues in Florida and California, a new proposal to review premiums charged to small business, and the potential flaws of Ohio's nursing home payment plan.

21 Oct 2009

GlycoMimetics raises $38 million through venture financing

GlycoMimetics, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a new class of glycobiology-based therapies for a broad range of indications, today announced the company has raised $38 million in its latest round of venture financing. New investor Genzyme Ventures joined returning investors New Enterprise Associates, The Novartis Venture Fund, Anthem Capital and Alliance Technology Ventures in the round.

21 Oct 2009

Assets of Cartilix acquired by Biomet

Biomet, Inc., a global leader in the manufacture of orthopedic and dental medical devices, announced today its acquisition of the assets of Cartilix, a Foster City, CA based company that has developed proprietary cartilage repair technology.

21 Oct 2009

AFFiRiS reports encouraging results from clinical studies of its two Alzheimer's vaccines

AFFiRiS AG today announced that the primary endpoints have been met for the Phase I clinical studies of its two Alzheimer's vaccines AD01 and AD02, which demonstrated favourable safety and tolerability profiles. These results trigger a 10 million EUR milestone payment from licensee GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals.

21 Oct 2009

Nationwide H1N1 Event Log to help ongoing challenges of flu pandemic

LiveProcess launched a nationwide H1N1 Event Log on October 1 designed to help regional healthcare organizations more effectively deal with the expected patient surge, consolidate the massive flow of disease-related communications and coordinate regional events with their constituent hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

21 Oct 2009

Health care reform leads to mergers

Health care reform has caused some unrest in the health care industry but has also led to strong deal-making and mergers.

21 Oct 2009

New cutting edge nerve procedure relieves migraine permanently

The Plastic Surgery Center today announced that a 57-year-old Plainfield man reports he is free of constant headache pain after undergoing a new cutting edge nerve procedure to permanently eliminate pain caused by migraines. The procedure was performed by plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr. Matthew Kaufman, of the Plastic Surgery Center in New Jersey on August 4, 2009.

21 Oct 2009

Baucus doubts a pure public plan can get 60 votes in Senate

Kaiser Health News staff writer Eric Pianin reports on the Senate leadership's ongoing efforts to craft a health overhaul measure that can draw 60 votes.

21 Oct 2009

Rice University scientists win NIH stimulus funds to study influenza A

Rice University scientists have won a $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to scrutinize the influenza A virus for clues that could lead to more effective antiviral drugs. Strains of influenza A include this year's pandemic H1N1 variety, some seasonal varieties and the much-feared H5N1 bird flu.

21 Oct 2009

First human implants of the Conformable GORE TAG Thoracic Endoprosthesis performed

W. L. Gore & Associates (Gore) today announced the first human implants of the next generation Conformable GORE TAG® Thoracic Endoprosthesis for the treatment of thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAAs). The first implants were performed by Joshua Rovin, MD and Eugene Murphy, MD, at Bayfront Medical Center and William McMillan, MD and Scott Schultz, MD, at North Memorial Medical Center.

21 Oct 2009