WASHINGTON (Reuters) – When cardiologist Asad Qamar gave $50,000 earlier this year to the non-profit group established to promote President Barack Obama’s national agenda it was one of the group’s biggest single donations from the state of Florida. Shortly aft... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese consumers are responding to a powerful new marketing tactic that plays to a widespread fear of food contamination – the promise of safe groceries sold online. Pledging produce direct from the farm, vendors have found food is becomin... More »
WELLINGTON/COLOMBO (Reuters) – New Zealand-based dairy giant Fonterra Co-operative Ltd said on Sunday it had withdrawn milk powder under orders from the Sri Lankan authorities for showing traces of the toxic agricultural chemical dicyandiamide (DCD), although ... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China has started investigating French drugmaker Sanofi SA for allegedly bribing more than 500 Chinese doctors with about 1.7 million yuan ($277,600) of payments to raise sales, China’s Xinhua state news agency said on Saturday. Xinhua cite... More »
ALEPOCHORI, Greece (Reuters) – Paralyzed from the waist down, Lefteris Theofilou has spent nearly half his life bound to a wheelchair and recalls as if it were a dream the first time a solar-powered chair enabled him to swim on his own in the Greek sea. “It wa... More »
AUCKLAND (Reuters) – Students at a high school in New Zealand consumed protein drinks containing whey concentrate which had been recalled by dairy giant Fonterra, putting them at risk of botulism. But Fonterra, which has come under fire amid a widespread conta... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China said it will enhance monitoring of milk powder producers following a contamination scare at New Zealand’s Fonterra and “severely” punish any companies found to have quality or safety problems. The China Food and Drug Administration ca... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – When top U.S. meat packer Tyson Foods Inc abruptly announced it would stop buying cattle fed with a widely used drug that can add more than 30 pounds to the average steer, the implications for markets were clear: less meat, higher prices. T... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – GlaxoSmithKline raised its bet on using electrical signals in the body to target diseases on Thursday with the launch of a $50 million strategic venture capital fund. Britain’s biggest drugmaker hopes to have the first medicine that effectiv... More »
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra insisted that its customers were sticking to their supply contracts with the world’s largest dairy exporter for the moment, even as Singapore expanded its recall of milk formula products containing a tain... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Congress has won some partial relief for lawmakers and their staffs from the “Obamacare” health reforms that it passed and subjected itself to three years ago. In a ruling issued on Wednesday, U.S. lawmakers and their staffs will continu... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Information about the most famous and valuable human cells in the history of science is about to become a little harder for researchers to get. The National Institutes of Health announced on Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with ... More »
SHANGHAI/HONG KONG (Reuters) – China fined six companies including Mead Johnson Nutrition Co, Danone and New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra a total of $110 million following an investigation into price fixing and anti-competitive practices by foreign baby formul... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – A Japanese government official said an estimated 300 tons of contaminated water is leaking into the ocean per day from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged on Wednesday to step up government efforts to... More »
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – The chief executive of New Zealand’s Fonterra said his future was up to the board of the world’s biggest dairy exporter after human error resulted in some of its products being contaminated and shipped around the world. Theo Spierings, a... More »
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – Fonterra CEO Theo Spierings said on Wednesday that all stocks of contaminated dairy products made and exported by the company had been taken out of the market, and there was little or no risk to consumers. After visiting China earlier th... More »
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand’s finance minister said on Wednesday the result of dairy giant Fonterra’s latest auction suggests it has suffered little impact from a recent scare over contaminated products. Finance Minister Bill English told parliament the... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Actor Dustin Hoffman has undergone treatment for cancer, the Oscar-winner’s publicist confirmed on Tuesday. Hoffman’s publicist, Jodi Gottlieb, declined to say what kind of cancer or when the “Tootsie” star was diagnosed. The news was f... More »
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – Fonterra, the world’s largest dairy exporter, came under fire from the New Zealand government, farmers and financial regulators for its handling of a food contamination scare that has triggered product recalls and spooked parents from Ch... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The world’s first laboratory-grown beef burger was flipped out of a petri dish and into a frying pan on Monday, with food tasters declaring it tasted “close to meat”. Grown in-vitro from cattle stem cells at a cost of 250,000 euros ($332,000... More »
WELLINGTON/SYDNEY (Reuters) – For a country that markets itself to the world with the slogan “100% Pure”, New Zealand’s environmental credentials are not as impeccable as many would think. The majority of its rivers are too polluted to swim in. Its record on p... More »
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – Dairy giant Fonterra was hit by fresh infant formula recalls in China and Hong Kong on Tuesday, while New Zealand’s government fretted that the widening contamination scare would prompt China to extend a ban on whey protein powder to oth... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Children born to parents with a history of cigarette smoking are more likely to light up than kids of people who never smoked, according to a new U.S. study. Despite falling smoking rates across age groups, researchers found that ch... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A corner of west London will see culinary and scientific history made on Monday when scientists cook and serve up the world’s first lab-grown beef burger. The in-vitro burger, cultured from cattle stem cells, the first example of what its cr... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Five-year-olds who drink sugar-sweetened sodas, sports drinks or juices every day are more likely to be obese than those who have sugar-sweetened beverages less often, according to a new study. Although the link between sugary drink... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – India has partly revoked patents granted to Roche Holding AG for its breast cancer drug Herceptin, a spokesman for the drugmaker confirmed on Sunday. Swiss newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag reported that the Kolkata Patent Office had lifted divis... More »
MUMBAI (Reuters) – India’s patent appeals board has revoked a patent granted to GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s breast cancer drug Tykerb, which is a salt form of the original compound, lapatinib. However, the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) upheld a patent... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A top U.S. healthcare official on Thursday challenged claims by Republican lawmakers that the country’s healthcare reform law is causing workers to lose hours or benefits, saying she is aware of only isolated cutbacks. At a stormy House ... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – A law allowing marijuana to be used for medical purposes in Illinois was signed on Thursday by Governor Pat Quinn, making it the second most populous state in the country after California to permit medicinal use of the drug. “Over the years... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – France’s top court approved a law on Thursday making it easier to conduct research on human embryos and stem cells as long as strict rules are followed to prevent cloning. Predominantly Roman Catholic France has until now had tough curbs on e... More »
MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) – Uruguay’s lower house of Congress voted on Wednesday to create a government body to control the cultivation and sale of marijuana and allow residents to grow it at home or as part of smoking clubs. The use of marijuana is already legal i... More »
MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) – Legislators in Uruguay hotly debated on Wednesday a measure backed by leftist President Jose Mujica that would create a government body to control the cultivation and sale of marijuana and allow people to grow it at home or as part of sm... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House on Monday shot back at critics who claim Obamacare is leading to higher healthcare costs, slower job growth and rising numbers of part-time workers, saying the latest economic statistics show none of those effects. Nearly... More »
(Reuters) – Pfizer Inc, in what could be the prelude to spinning off its generics drug business, said it plans to separate its commercial operations into two units, mainly for patent-protected brands and a third for generics. Pfizer, the largest U.S. drugmaker... More »
(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed rules on Friday that would require food companies to verify that the products they import meet certain safety standards. The rules are the latest in a series proposed under the Food Safety Modernizatio... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Despite its high current death rate, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) that emerged in Saudi Arabia last year is unlikely to cause a SARS-like epidemic because it is not spreading as easily, scientists said on Friday. In the fulles... More »
(Reuters) – GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to pay $229 million to settle lawsuits brought by eight U.S. states related to improper marketing of its Avandia diabetes drug, the British drugmaker said on Wednesday. The company, in a regulatory filing, said the settle... More »
SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) – Women’s health group Planned Parenthood has agreed to pay the state of Texas $1.4 million to settle allegations of fraud in billing to a health program for the poor, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said on Wednesday. But a spokeswoma... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – When George Goldner went to feed his six pet pigs earlier this year, his 730-pound (331-kg) companion Nemo was acting strangely. Nemo had suddenly stopped eating and laid in the mud. So Goldner loaded Nemo into a trailer and drove more t... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – People who were recently released from prison are more likely to be admitted to a hospital than those who were never incarcerated, according to a new study. Researchers found one in 70 former inmates is hospitalized within the first... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Children of women who smoked cigarettes during pregnancy are more likely to have behavioral problems than those whose mothers didn’t light up, says a new analysis. “The evidence is emerging that smoking in pregnancy and the frequenc... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – Roche’s experimental leukaemia drug known as GA101 delayed disease progression in people with one of the most common forms of blood cancer longer than its top-seller Rituxan, the Swiss drugmaker said on Wednesday. Roche is hoping GA101 will ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Supreme Court ruling giving regulators the right to sue drugmakers for agreements that delay sale of cheaper generic pharmaceuticals should deter some of the most egregious deals and allow the agency to better fight others, Federal Tra... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – A U.S. citizen has been detained in China in connection with probes sparked by an unfolding corruption scandal in the drugs industry, as China widens the range of international firms and staff under the spotlight. Police have also questione... More »
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Bribery is the lubricant that helps keep China’s public hospitals running, and the health system would struggle to function without illegal payments to poorly paid doctors and administrators, say medical practitioners and industry experts.... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Consumers intrigued by the new model of accountable healthcare – which promises better-coordinated care that could save lots of money – are going to have to actively seek out participating providers. A tenet of accountable care is better q... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – What’s so funny about President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law? A website known for viral comedy videos popular with Americans under 30 – Funny or Die – has a few ideas and is enlisting celebrities to make something that catches th... More »
(Reuters) – A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked North Dakota’s new abortion law, the most restrictive in the country because it prohibits ending a pregnancy once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can be as early as six weeks after conception. ... More »
NEW DELHI/LONDON (Reuters) – The pesticide that killed 23 Indian schoolchildren last week is a nerve poison banned by many countries because of what the World Health Organization (WHO) describes as its “high acute toxicity”. As early as 2009, the United Nation... More »
(Reuters) – A U.S. federal judge has recommended that Coca-Cola Co face a class-action lawsuit accusing it of misleading consumers by overstating the health benefits of its Vitaminwater drink. In a decision made public on Thursday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Hoping to gain the high ground in an escalating war of words over Obamacare, the U.S. administration on Thursday forecast sharply lower than expected insurance costs for consumers and small businesses in new online state healthcare excha... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Pfizer Inc decided not to pursue a bid for Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc this week, according to two people familiar with the matter, leaving Amgen Inc in the front position to buy the cancer drugmaker. Shares of Onyx closed down 3.3 percent at... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fending off delays and a barrage of political criticism of his signature healthcare law, President Barack Obama on Thursday touted benefits Americans already are reaping from the law and vowed to work through setbacks to fully implement ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists have created an “intelligent” surgical knife that can detect in seconds whether tissue being cut is cancerous, promising more effective and accurate surgery in future. The device, built by researchers at London’s Imperial College,... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Fitness experts have long advised clients choosing a running shoe to forget fashion and consider the roll or pronation – the way the foot leans inward upon impact. Analyzing the roll of the foot remains standard practice among fitness and ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists have unraveled how a gene long associated with obesity makes people fat by triggering increased hunger, opening up potential new ways to fight a growing global health problem. A common variation in the FTO gene affects one in six ... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – Executives of British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline Plc in China have confessed to charges of bribery and tax law violations after initial questioning by Chinese police, China’s security ministry said on Thursday. The company is suspected of o... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – In a dry run of one of the biggest legal battles in public health, an advocate for Australia’s tobacco policies has delivered seemingly strong rebuttals of objections likely to be mounted in a landmark case at the World Trade Organization. T... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – Roche said it would stop developing aleglitazar, a diabetes treatment, due to undesired side effects and lack of effectiveness. “Roche is working with investigators to support the management of patients and their transition from aleglitazar ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A Philadelphia abortion doctor convicted of murdering three babies during late-term abortions pleaded guilty on Tuesday to selling prescription drugs out of his clinic, federal prosecutors said. Kermit Gosnell, 72, was sentenced in May to ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – GlaxoSmithKline has filed for U.S. approval of a two-drug combination against melanoma earlier than many industry analysts expected, using data from a mid-stage clinical trial. The move highlights a growing belief among drug companies that h... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – Novartis psoriasis drug secukinumab was superior to Amgen’s Enbrel in a late-stage study, the Swiss company said on Monday, putting it in line to become the first of a clutch of new treatments to gain market approval. A phase III trial invol... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Can’t take the heat? Fitness experts say one way for outdoor exercisers who dread the long, hot summer days of steamy runs and breathless aerobics during a heat wave is to embrace it. “It takes most healthy people 10 to 14 days to fully ac... More »
SHANGHAI/LONDON (Reuters) – GlaxoSmithKline said on Monday it was investigating new allegations that its staff had used improper tactics to market Botox in China, but had so far found no evidence of bribery or corruption. The move follows a claim that GSK staf... More »
RIYADH (Reuters) – Two more people have died of the SARS-like coronavirus MERS, Saudi Arabia’s Health Ministry said, bringing to 38 the number of deaths from the disease inside the country shortly before Islam’s Ramadan fast when many pilgrims visit. A two-yea... More »
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Sophie the Giraffe is a teething toy taking over the world one baby mouth at a time. The toy, handmade in France from Malaysian rubber sap, is the rage for parents of toddlers the world over, including China. But the knobby chew toy is pri... More »
(Reuters) – The Obama administration’s decision to delay a key provision of the healthcare law, by giving employers an extra year to offer insurance coverage, is not expected to significantly impact 2014 hiring since many big businees were prepared for the cha... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG said on Wednesday U.S. health regulators have granted priority review to its experimental leukemia treatment GA101. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) grants priority reviews to medicines that are co... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration said on Tuesday it would not require employers to provide health insurance for their workers until 2015, delaying a key provision of President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law by a year, to beyond the next el... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – About 550,000 people in Oregon do not have health insurance, and Aaron Karjala is confident the state’s new online insurance exchange will be able to accommodate them when enrollment under President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform begins ... More »
(Reuters) The blood clot preventer Eliquis, sold by Pfizer Inc and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co, proved as effective as widely used warfarin in treating a dangerous condition known as venous thromboembolism and caused far less bleeding, according to data from a lar... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – About 550,000 people in Oregon do not have health insurance, and Aaron Karjala is confident the state’s new online insurance exchange will be able to accommodate them when enrollment under President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform begins ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Doctors could save three million more lives worldwide by 2025 if they offer AIDS drugs to people with HIV much sooner after they test positive for the virus, the World Health Organization said on Sunday. While better access to cheap generic ... More »
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry on Wednesday launched another battle to pass sweeping abortion restrictions after a marathon speech by a Democrat lawmaker briefly halted a bill critics say could shut most abortion clinics in one ... More »
(Reuters) – Coca-Cola Co (KO.N ) announced plans on Wednesday to introduce a cola that is sweetened with sugar and the naturally occurring, no-calorie sweetener stevia, the latest move in the high-stakes race to turn around the soda industry. Coca-Cola Life wi... More »
VIENNA (Reuters) – Legalizing drugs was no “silver bullet” that would make organized crime disappear, President Barack Obama’s drugs policy chief said on Wednesday, as Latin American countries explore relaxing penalties for the personal use of narcotics. Gil K... More »
(Reuters) – Ohio’s Republican governor, John Kasich, is no fan of President Barack Obama’s health reform law. But he has become an unlikely proponent of one element of Obamacare – expansion of Medicaid healthcare coverage for the poor – and he has a warning fo... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss drugmaker Novartis said its drug omalizumab significantly improved itch in patients with a severe form of hives, according to a late-stage study. The second of three late-stage studies found that more than one third of patients with ch... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday it would allow two new cigarettes from Lorillard Inc onto the market, marking the first time the agency has exercised its power to regulate tobacco products. The FDA, which got that author... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Sandoz, the generics unit of Novartis, has launched a late-stage trial with its biosimilar version of Amgen’s Enbrel, consolidating its leading position in developing cheaper copies of complex biotech drugs. With the start of the major study... More »
MUMBAI (Reuters) – Shares of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd fell as much as 2.3 percent on Monday after newspaper Business Standard reported the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had raised concerns about a plant in northern India, citing unidentified sources. Busin... More »
RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia said another person had died of the SARS-like coronavirus MERS and six new cases were registered, as international experts said on Saturday countries should standardize their approach to treating the disease. The latest cases br... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – An improved version of Sanofi’s blockbuster insulin Lantus is better than the older drug at controlling blood sugar lows at night, a common side effect in diabetics treated with insulin, according two late-stage tests published on Saturday. T... More »
(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Theravance Inc’s antibiotic lung drug to treat a type of bacterial pneumonia affecting hospitalized patients, particularly those on ventilators. The drug, Vibativ, will reach the market in the third qu... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Call them Obamacare’s army. From the chief actuary at the California health insurance exchange that President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law established to the legions of call center staffers who will help people trying to buy insura... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss pharmaceuticals company Novartis said on Friday U.S. regulators have given breakthrough therapy status to an investigational treatment for patients with acute heart failure, potentially fast tracking its development and approval. The U... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Teenagers are more likely to have hearing loss if their mothers smoked during pregnancy, according to a new study that included audio tests of close to 1,000 youth. Researchers said that although the link was “relatively modest,” ev... More »
(Reuters) – Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc said it expects a delay in human trials of one of its experimental hepatitis C drugs after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked for additional safety data, sending its shares down 21 percent after the bell. Clinica... More »
(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday expanded its approval of the so-called “morning after” contraceptive pill to include all women of child-bearing age to comply with an order from a U.S. District court. The FDA said the Plan B One-St... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Tacking regular exercise on to a diet program for obese kids and teens typically doesn’t help them lose any more weight, a new review of past data suggests. “Changing diet, improving diet, reducing calories is enormously important f... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Shares of U.S. hospital operators have been on a tear this year, on average posting triple the gains of the broader stock market, as investors tallied up the benefits of President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform. While some on Wall Street ... More »
In Ukraine, the issue of acceptable maximum age of women who want to use in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure came up. After the case, when 66-year-old Swiss woman used IVF in Ukrainian clinic and gave birth to twins media war has broke out in the world comm... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Four more people have died and three more have fallen ill in Saudi Arabia from the new SARS-like coronavirus MERS-CoV, the Saudi Health Ministry said on Monday. The ministry said the four deaths were among previously registered cases. The new... More »
PHOENIX (Reuters) – Arizona’s Republican Governor Jan Brewer signed a law on Monday to expand Medicaid, embracing a key part of Democratic President Barack Obama’s healthcare plan in a hard-won policy victory over conservatives in her own party. Brewer, a feis... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – For modern, harried lifestyles focused on getting and spending, fitness experts say tai chi, the ancient Chinese slow-moving exercise, can be an ideal way for anyone to stay fit. A staple in senior citizen centers and a common dawn sightin... More »
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s Congress will discuss legislation next week that would prohibit bottle feeding of infants to try to encourage breast feeding and reduce the use of baby formula, said a lawmaker of the ruling Socialist Party. Legislator Odalis Mo... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday prohibited patents on naturally occurring human genes but allowed legal protections on synthetically produced genetic material in a compromise ruling hailed as a partial victory for patients and... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Forget abandoning carbohydrates or detoxing. The new dieting craze sweeping Britain and taking off in the United States lets people eat whatever they like – but only five days a week. “The Fast Diet”, also known as the 5:2 diet, is the brain... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Puffing on slim metal tubes loaded with pale yellow liquid, two London businessmen say they have between their lips a cure for what the U.N. calls “one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced”. Electronic cigarettes are... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – A looming crisis in Asia as women delay giving birth, leading to low fertility rates that have dire implications for economic growth, is opening huge opportunities for the fast-growing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) industry. The successful de... More »
