WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Ron Johnson filed a lawsuit on Monday challenging the way President Barack Obama’s healthcare law is being applied to Congress, part of a larger Republican strategy to draw attention to what they see as critical flaws in Oba... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A long-running and well-respected workplace wellness program at PepsiCo that encourages employees to adopt healthier habits has not reduced healthcare costs, according to the most comprehensive evaluation of a such a program ever published... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. healthcare spending rose 3.7 percent in 2012 to $2.8 trillion, the fourth year in a row in this range as the slow economic recovery tempered private insurance use, drug prices fell and the government held back payment increases for doctors, th... More »
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – What do infant mortality and elephant poaching have in common? Plenty, according to conservation groups. Researchers have for the first time made clear connections between elephant poaching in Africa, which has been surging to meet soa... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – If you’re a novice driver, dialing a phone is more dangerous than retrieving text messages, and reaching for an object while driving is more likely to produce an accident than eating behind the wheel. Even experienced drivers face a... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Trebling tobacco tax globally would cut smoking by a third and prevent 200 million premature deaths this century from lung cancer and other diseases, researchers said on Wednesday. In a review in the New England Journal of Medicine, scientis... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – The U.S. government is planning stricter controls on exposure to silica, a carcinogen found in workplaces ranging from dentist’s offices to granite quarries, according to a new report. Silica is powdered quartz, in particles so smal... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Child care issues may keep breast cancer patients from getting the treatments they need, a new study suggests. Mothers with young children were more likely to skip recommended radiation treatments after breast cancer surgery because... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government said it was still processing thousands of sign-ups for health insurance under President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law on Tuesday as Americans made a final rush to obtain medical coverage in time for New Year... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Tuesday is a moment of truth for Obamacare. It marks the final deadline for most Americans to sign up for health insurance under President Barack Obama’s 2010 Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, if they want coverage start... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – As Americans scrambled to beat a deadline to sign up for insurance under President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, the White House gave most consumers an extra day, until Tuesday, to obtain coverage that starts January 1. The last-minute ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – For most Americans who don’t have health insurance, Monday is the deadline to sign up for coverage starting on January 1 under President Barack Obama’s healthcare law. For others, it’s not a deadline. There is a “hardship” exception for ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Last summer, White House officials planning a nationwide push to urge young adults to enroll in new health insurance plans had a big problem: Polls showed that many young, healthy people who could be key to the success of the Affordable ... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Hedge fund billionaire William Ackman is facing mounting pressure as his high-stakes bet against nutrition and weight loss company Herbalife enters its second year, but for now, his investors look ready to stick with him. The founder of Pers... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Friday more than half a million Americans enrolled in health insurance plans under Obamacare using the HealthCare.gov website during the first three weeks of December. That brings the total enrollments thro... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Denmark has approved the sale of an inhaled lung drug that analysts think is a generic copy of GlaxoSmithKline’s $8 billion-a-year blockbuster Advair, threatening its future sales. UK firm Vectura said on Wednesday that its partner Sandoz – ... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union diplomats approved new anti-tobacco legislation on Wednesday, including larger health warnings on cigarette packets and the bloc’s first ever rules on electronic cigarettes. “Agreement on the tobacco directive is a big step ... More »
(Reuters) – Insurance companies are struggling with a new request by the Obama administration to make sure people receive medical benefits under healthcare reform come January 1, even if they miss a sign-up deadline set for next Monday. The government has soug... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is under pressure from the pharmaceutical industry and lawmakers to undergo an independent security audit, after hackers broke into a computer system used by healthcare companies to submit information to... More »
(Reuters) – Rhode Island’s new insurance marketplace said on Tuesday it will extend its deadline until the end of the year for consumers to sign up for private coverage plans under President Barack Obama’s healthcare law and still get benefits on January 1. Me... More »
(Reuters) – Rhode Island’s new insurance marketplace said on Tuesday it will extend its deadline until the end of the year for consumers to sign up for private coverage plans under President Barack Obama’s healthcare law and still get benefits on January 1. Th... More »
(Reuters) – Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc said its experimental antibiotic for treating abdominal infections was found as effective as a widely used antibiotic in a late-stage trial. The company’s shares rose about 8 percent to $68 in premarket trading. Cubist’s ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A new battle is looming over access to antiviral medicines in developing countries – this time for treating hepatitis C – more than a decade after a global showdown over the price of AIDS drugs in Africa. Modern pills being launched in weste... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany’s Siemens agreed to cooperate with Pfizer on diagnostic tests for therapeutic products across the U.S. drugmaker’s pipeline. Siemens said in a statement on Monday it would be one of Pfizer’s collaboration partners to develop and p... More »
Boston (REUTERS) – Michael Giangregorio’s son Nicholas was diagnosed as severely autistic when he was 18 months old. Now 12, Nicholas requires nearly round-the-clock care – special schooling as well as speech, occupational and physical therapy – that can cost ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Pregnant women, babies and kids should not drink raw or unpasteurized milk, a group of pediatricians said on Monday. Because of infection risks, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Committee on Infectious Diseases and Committee... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The troubled federal website used by Americans to shop for health insurance as part of President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul was back up and running on Sunday after planned maintenance overnight took less time than planned, governme... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Around 15,000 enrollment forms filled out by people applying for health insurance under President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law were not transmitted properly to insurers, but the error rate plunged in recent weeks, the administ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Around 15,000 enrollment forms filled out by people applying for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act were not transmitted properly to insurers, but the error rate has plunged in recent weeks, the government said on Saturday. T... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Novartis said on Friday it was recalling some batches of its Tixylix liquid cough and cold medicines for children because of a potential manufacturing defect that could result in small pieces of plastic being found in the bottles. Although n... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Aetna Inc has decided not to reinstate or extend individual health insurance plans that are being canceled with the advent of the U.S. Affordable Care Act because the time frame is too short. Aetna is the largest insurer yet to announce a ... More »
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – The lawyer for a Pakistani doctor who helped the United States track down Osama bin Laden has fled Pakistan after receiving threats from militants, relatives said on Wednesday. Lawyer Samiullah Afridi went abroad after militants ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – GlaxoSmithKline is to invest another 200 million pounds ($330 million) on advanced manufacturing in Britain, the company said on Wednesday, underlining the draw of a tax break designed to encourage research and development. Britain’s so-call... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Young, low-income diabetics may not know they need annual eye exams, a new study suggests. At a large public hospital where the study was done, few diabetic patients had visited the eye care clinic within the last two years. That’s ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a new push to increase access to mental health services with $100 million in new government funding nearly a year after a school shooting rampage in Newtown, Connecticut. Biden, who spearhead... More »
(Reuters) – Pharmacy chain CVS Caremark Corp and pharmaceutical distributor Cardinal Health Inc on Tuesday announced a 10-year agreement to form the largest generic drug sourcing operation in the United States, the world’s biggest generic drug market. The 50-5... More »
TEL AVIV (Reuters) – Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, the world’s biggest maker of generic drugs, estimates its pipeline of so-called new therapeutic entities (NTEs) could generate revenue of $1 billion to $1.5 billion by 2018. This figure could jump to $3 bill... More »
FAYETTEVILLE, North Carolina (Reuters) – Water pollution at the Camp Lejeune military base in North Carolina has been linked to increased risk of birth defects and childhood cancers, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A study rel... More »
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Six men suspected of stealing a dangerous radioactive cargo from a truck outside Mexico City earlier this week have been treated in a hospital for signs of radiation exposure and remain under police guard, officials said on Friday. On M... More »
ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) – A Florida researcher is preparing to test massive dust storms in the upper atmosphere that roll in from Africa to see whether pathogens raining down on the state could be responsible for plant, animal or human disease. University o... More »
NEW YORK/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Yum Brands Inc’s KFC website in China trumpets the slogan “Trust in every bite.” That message is part of the company’s new “I Commit” campaign intended to reassure customers in its largest market, who have cut back on visits since... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Global drugmaker Pfizer Inc will broaden access to information from its scores of clinical trials to independent researchers and to patients who take part in the studies, the company said on Wednesday. Pfizer, the largest U.S. pharmaceutic... More »
MILWAUKEE (Reuters) – Wisconsin legislators on Wednesday approved delaying by three months a plan to shift thousands of people from a state Medicaid program onto the federal health insurance marketplace, which has been plagued by technical problems. The Republ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – More people signed up on the government’s new health insurance website on the first two days of December than in the entire first month of the launch of President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform, sources familiar with the numbers said o... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – An improved version of Sanofi’s diabetes drug Lantus is better than the old one at controlling blood sugar levels and comes with fewer hypoglycemic events, new late-stage trial data showed on Tuesday. The treatment is one of several drugs San... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will try to sell the American people on the relaunch of his troubled healthcare program on Tuesday in a bid to restore confidence in his signature domestic policy initiative and, more broadly, in his presidency. Ob... More »
(Reuters) – Home genetic test maker 23andMe, which is backed by Google Inc, stopped marketing its products last week after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned that it did not have regulatory approval to do so, a company spokeswoman said. The company s... More »
(Reuters) – A surge of visitors clogged the U.S. government’s revamped healthcare insurance shopping website on Monday, signaling that President Barack Obama’s administration has a way to go in fixing the portal that showcases his signature domestic policy. Fa... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Monday announced a boost to funding for research into HIV/AIDS prevention and pledged up to $5 billion to support an international effort aimed at combating HIV/AIDS. Speaking at the White House to mark World AI... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – A new U.S. study offers more evidence that childhood experience may have health effects that echo into adulthood. Based on health data for 500 unrelated black men over age 20 enrolled in the Howard University Family Study, researche... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s plan to ban khat, a leafy plant chewed as a stimulant in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian peninsula, should be dropped because it could alienate immigrants and damage counter-terrorism operations, lawmakers said on Friday. Parlia... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain signaled it would force tobacco companies to scrap branded cigarette packaging on Thursday in an attempt to reduce the number of children who may be drawn to smoking by striking and brightly colored packs. In a surprise decision that... More »
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – One in five South African clinics are running short of life-saving HIV/AIDS drugs, affecting nearly half a million people and undermining the success of the world’s largest treatment program, medical charities said on Thursday. With ab... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Dutch Health Ministry sounded an early warning on Thursday about the possible health risks of electronic cigarettes, announcing plans to clamp down on labeling ahead of European regulations. The move followed an analysis of existing s... More »
DOHA/LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists have found cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in camels in Qatar, health officials said on Thursday, fuelling speculation that camels might be the animal reservoir that allowed the virus to infect and kill human... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain announced an independent review of tobacco packaging on Thursday and said it was ready to introduce new laws banning branding on cigarette packets if the report found sufficient evidence to support it. The government, which in July d... More »
(Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s healthcare law is facing its biggest test this weekend since its disastrous October 1 launch, as Americans find out whether the administration has met a self-imposed deadline to fix its insurance shopping website. Another m... More »
DALLAS (Reuters) – American cardiologists appear staunch in their support for President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform, although some fear that its rocky launch could derail efforts to improve preventive care for needy patients. The broad support for the Aff... More »
(Reuters) – The UK government is set to announce a review of cigarette packaging in an effort to deter youngsters from smoking, British media reports said on Wednesday citing sources. The David Cameron government in July delayed plans to ban company branding o... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration on Wednesday postponed online health insurance enrollment for small businesses under Obamacare for one year, a move quickly seized upon by critics as proof the healthcare reform law should be delayed or replaced.... More »
(Reuters) – The U.S. government has issued a proposal that would likely increase risk payments in 2014 to health insurers offering plans on the Obamacare exchanges after the companies complained a recent policy change allowing people to keep their insurance po... More »
OSLO/LONDON (Reuters) – Bayer (BAYGn.DE ) has offered to pay $2.4 billion for Norway’s Algeta (ALGETA.OL ), its partner for a new prostrate cancer treatment, at a 27 percent premium to the stock’s last close, Algeta said on Tuesday. The deal would boost Bayer’... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that additional polio cases had been confirmed in two new areas of Syria, including near Damascus and in the northern city of Aleppo near Turkey. “In addition to 15 polio cases in Deir al-Zor pro... More »
(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it was looking into whether morning-after emergency contraceptive pills fail to work in women over a certain weight and will decide whether to add a warning to the drug’s label. The agency was reacting to ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Progress in the battle against AIDS is widely divergent in different African countries, so much so that to talk about “AIDS in Africa” as one epidemic needing a single approach has become an anachronism, campaigners said on Tuesday. In an an... More »
FRANKFURT/OSLO (Reuters) – German pharmaceutical group Bayer is preparing a bid to acquire Algeta, its partner for its prostrate cancer treatment Xofigo, a German newspaper reported on Tuesday. The Frankfurter Rundschau, citing internal documents it obtained, ... More »
(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned 23andMe, a company backed by Google Inc, to halt sales of its genetic tests because they have not received regulatory clearance. 23andMe, which was founded in 2006 by Anne Wojcicki, sells a $99 DNA t... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Biogen Idec has won regulatory protection for its top-selling multiple sclerosis drug Tecfidera in Europe, paving the way for its launch in markets that could account for a large proportion of future sales. The European Medicines Agency said... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The benefits of combined hormonal contraceptive pills such as Bayer’s Meliane or Yasmin in preventing unwanted pregnancies continue to outweigh any risk of blood clots, Europe’s drugs regulator said on Friday. Announcing conclusions of a rev... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Novartis is hot on the heels of Pfizer in developing a promising new type of breast cancer drug that analysts believe could generate billions of dollars in annual sales. The Swiss drugmaker, which has previously kept its research program und... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In the last days before the botched October 1 launch of President Barack Obama’s healthcare website, the team in charge was seeing alarming results from performance tests, according to internal emails released by Republican lawmakers inv... More »
TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) – An overwhelming majority of Floridians would support legalizing marijuana when used for medical purposes in the Sunshine State, a poll released on Thursday showed. The Quinnipiac University poll of registered voters in the stat... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Being in good physical shape may help preserve people’s thinking and memory skills, suggests a new study. Researchers made this discovery by mapping participants’ physical fitness against the number of errors they made on a range of... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Total health spending fell in one in three OECD nations between 2009 and 2011, with poor people in countries hardest hit by the financial crisis at risk of longer-term problems due to reduced access to medicines and check-ups, the OECD said ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – People who eat a diet rich in nuts, including peanuts, are less likely to die from heart disease or cancer, new research suggests. The more nuts consumed, the greater the apparent benefit, according to the report. It included data f... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Total health spending fell in one of three OECD nations between 2009 and 2011, with poor people in countries hardest hit by the financial crisis at risk of longer-term problems due to reduced access to medicines and check-ups, the OECD said ... More »
(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned physicians on Wednesday that two chemicals used to conduct cardiovascular stress tests can cause heart attacks and death, and it suggested resuscitation equipment and trained staff be available when the ... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – Roche said on Wednesday its drug Kadcyla, a treatment for an aggressive form of breast cancer, had been approved in Europe following U.S. approval in February. Kadcyla treats patients with late-stage disease whose cancer cells contain increa... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – GlaxoSmithKline said on Wednesday it had completed the sale of 28.2 million shares in Aspen Pharmacare at 250 rand each, raising gross proceeds of 7.059 billion rand ($694 million). Shares in the South African drug maker closed at 267.40 ran... More »
(Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s HealthCare.gov site is riddled with security flaws that put user data of millions of people at risk and it should be shut down until fixed, several technology experts warned lawmakers on Tuesday. The testimony at a congress... More »
(Reuters) – More older Americans than young adults so far have signed up for new insurance coverage under the state marketplaces created by President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, according to early data from four states reporting details on their enrollment.... More »
DALLAS (Reuters) – A new blood clot and stroke preventer from Daiichi Sankyo proved as effective and safer than widely used warfarin in a large, late stage trial of patients with atrial fibrillation, paving the way for it to compete with other new warfarin alt... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – GlaxoSmithKline and Theravance’s new inhaled lung drug Relvar has been approved in Europe to treat both asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), confirming an endorsement from regulators in September. The medicine, which is i... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Road runners and cyclists may dread moving their exercise routines indoors as winter approaches but fitness experts say it could be an opportunity to fine-tune a familiar routine or a chance to discover new skills. Jessica Matthews, a Cali... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives said on Sunday that her party would not retreat from President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare reform law, despite unrelenting Republican opposition and emerging signs of market tu... More »
NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – The first human tests of experimental vaccines against a deadly strain of avian flu, using novel technology that could produce millions of doses very quickly, has produced protective antibodies in the vast majority of recipients. En... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – More than 90 percent of women who opt for long-term reversible forms of birth control keep using them for at least six months, a new study found. Those birth control methods include intrauterine devices (IUDs) and contraceptive impl... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The world is losing the battle against diabetes as the number of people estimated to be living with the disease soars to a new record of 382 million this year, medical experts said on Thursday. The vast majority have type 2 diabetes – the ki... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The first human test of an experimental vaccine against a deadly strain of avian flu, using novel technology that could produce millions of doses very quickly, produced protective antibodies in the vast majority of those who received it, s... More »
(Reuters) – New U.S. guidelines on heart health that were a decade in the making recommend stronger measures for patients at particularly high risk of heart attack or stroke, including more aggressive therapy with drugs that lower cholesterol or even weight lo... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Among high school athletes, football players and female soccer players are most likely to injure their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), a new study finds. Those injuries often require surgery and months of rehab, and can put young ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Supreme Court took on cases involving a heroin overdose and a drug deal gone wrong on Tuesday as the justices weighed what prosecutors needed to prove in order to convict defendants of certain federal offenses. In both cases, the jus... More »
(Reuters) – A new push to sign up Americans for insurance under President Barack Obama’s healthcare law will begin in December, when the government’s faulty enrollment website is expected to work better, an advocacy group leading the campaign said on Tuesday. ... More »
(Reuters) – The Food and Drug Administration warned on Tuesday of a counterfeit dietary supplement for male sexual enhancement that could be particularly harmful to patients with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and heart disease. In a safety wa... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Microwave popcorn makers could face a long and difficult task ridding their snacks of trans fats, if a U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposal to ban the additives goes into effect. Just ask Orville Redenbacher. Redenbacher’s, a divisio... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss drugmaker Roche will pay up to 500 million Swiss francs ($548 million) for an experimental antibiotic, marking a rare foray by a major pharmaceutical firm into the battle against so-called “superbug” infections found in hospitals. The ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The glitch-ridden website used to sign up for insurance under President Barack Obama’s healthcare law will be down for “extended maintenance” overnight on Saturday, the Department of Health and Human Services said. The website has been p... More »
(Reuters) – The hundreds of thousands of Americans whose individual insurance policies will be canceled as Obamacare takes full effect next year are experiencing a disruptive element of healthcare reform, the head of health insurer Cigna said on Thursday. In t... More »
(Reuters) – Insurer Cigna Corp said on Thursday it expects to increase its 2014 earnings from 2013, reflecting its smaller exposure to uncertainty around private Medicare and the rollout of individual insurance on new exchanges around the country. Cigna, which... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – AstraZeneca is being investigated by U.S. authorities over a major clinical trial that was used to win marketing approval for its new heart drug Brilinta, casting fresh doubts over the medicine. Brilinta sales have been a disappointment sinc... More »
