LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s biggest drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline said on Thursday it had filed for European approval of its new once-weekly diabetes drug albiglutide, as tries to gain a foothold in a crowded market. Albiglutide, used to treat type 2 diabetes, be... More »
JACKSON, Mississippi/CHICAGO, Illinois (Reuters) – The doctor who cured an HIV infected baby for the first time is happier talking to children than to adults and is finding all the attention since the news came out a little overwhelming. Dr. Hannah Gay and col... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Eli Lilly and Co will maintain its dividend despite the erosion of its earnings by generic copies of blockbuster drugs and should be well placed by the end of 2013 to assess the potential of its future medicines, its chief executive said. ... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – Roche said on Tuesday it clinched European approval for its breast cancer drug Perjeta, fuelling the company’s hopes that the drug will become the standard of care for an aggressive, incurable form of the disease. Roche aims to combine Perje... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – The remarkable case of a baby being cured of HIV infection in the United States using readily available drugs has raised new hope for eradicating the infection in infants worldwide, but scientists say it will take a lot more research and mu... More »
(Reuters) – Monster Beverage Corp, defending its Monster Energy drinks from mounting criticism about potential health risks, said on Monday its medical investigators found no evidence that the drinks caused the death of a 14-year-old girl. The family of Maryla... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Can crunches create six-pack abdominal muscles? Do weight-lifting women risk bulging biceps? Is stretching always a good idea? Experts say disentangling folklore from fact is not easy in fitness, where misconceptions are as pervasive as pu... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – The proportion of patients who have blocked arteries show up during a stress test has dropped “enormously” over the past two decades, according to a new study. However, researchers disagreed about why that might be the case – whethe... More »
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Trying to prevent HIV infection through vaginal gels or daily tablets has proven ineffective in the southern African region ravaged by the disease because people did not use the medicines properly, a study released on Monday said. A gr... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – A baby girl in Mississippi who was born with HIV has been cured after very early treatment with standard HIV drugs, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday, in a potentially ground-breaking case that could offer insights on how to eradicate HIV... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – The European Commission has approved Novartis’ drug Ilaris for patients with an often painful form of inflammatory arthritis, the drugmaker said on Friday. Novartis said the EU had approved the drug also known as ACZ885 for patients with acu... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists from a British cancer charity are teaming up with technology gurus from the likes of Amazon, Facebook and Google to design and develop a mobile game aimed at speeding the search for new cancer drugs. The project, led by the charit... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Food and Drug Administration kicked off a series of public meetings on Thursday to explain its proposed new rules for improving the safety of the nation’s food supply – and gain feedback on the potential regulations. The rules offer ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – A calculation based on results from a large lung cancer screening trial projects that 12,000 deaths a year among the highest-risk smokers and ex-smokers in the U.S. could be avoided with a national screening program. The National Lu... More »
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court made it easier on Wednesday for shareholders to bring class-action lawsuits, breaking a recent line of decisions that had made it harder to sue corporate defendants collectively and perhaps obtain greater ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – GlaxoSmithKline’s HIV/AIDS drugs business is to share intellectual property rights on children’s medicine in a patent pool designed to make treatments more widely available in poor countries. ViiV Healthcare, majority-owned by GSK, is the se... More »
(Reuters) – Tenet Healthcare Corp (THC.N ) said on Tuesday it expects the U.S. healthcare reform law to have a positive impact on its earnings in 2014 as uninsured patients start to obtain coverage through the new health insurance exchanges. Tenet, the No. 3 f... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – For heavy drinkers in treatment for domestic violence problems, an extra therapy session targeting alcohol abuse may help to speed overall improvement in violent behavior, according to a new study. Alcohol can lower inhibitions and ... More »
(Reuters) – The Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday it has stopped all pediatric clinical trials of Amgen Inc’s Sensipar after the death of a 14-year-old patient taking part in a study of the drug. Sensipar, which is approved for adults, is used to lo... More »
* Says will give third-party researchers access to trial data * Follows GSK decision to publish reports and data * Drugmakers under pressure to increase transparency ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding has agreed to expand access to its clinical t... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – Nestle has agreed to buy U.S. medical foods company Pamlab, the latest in a string of recent acquisitions as the world’s biggest food group expands in health and nutrition. Nestle Health Science, which was set up in 2011 as the Swiss-based f... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Michael Weitz was out of options. The Californian had endured chemotherapy, radiation and surgery but his lung cancer still spread to his bones and brain. With time running out, the emergency room physician entered a Phase I study – the ea... More »
(Reuters) – Diversified healthcare company Johnson & Johnson, which makes consumer products like the Neutrogena-brand line, said on Monday that Venezuela’s February 13 devaluation of its currency would cut first quarter profit by 4 cents per share. The company... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – German authorities are investigating possible large-scale fraud by organic egg producers amid increased concern over food industry practices following Europe’s horse meat scandal. The northern state of Lower Saxony, a major agricultural hub,... More »
(Reuters) – On any given day in the United States, 18 percent of men and 11 percent of women drink more alcohol than federal guidelines recommend, according to a study that also found that 8 percent of men and 3 percent of women are full-fledged “heavy drinker... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Less than half of adults received health insurance through their employer in 2012, but the market showed signs of stabilizing after three years of decline, according to a poll released on Friday. The Gallup survey said employer-sponsored... More »
(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday said it has notified healthcare professionals of a Class I recall, the most serious type, of an orthopedic device made by Johnson & Johnson. The device, called LPS Diaphyseal Sleeve, is used in recons... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The European Medicines Agency recommended approval of Hexyon, a new 6-in-1 pediatric vaccine from Sanofi Pasteur MSD, a joint venture between Merck and Sanofi, the companies said on Friday. The new vaccine protects against diphtheria, tetanu... More »
DUBLIN (Reuters) – Irish drugmaker Elan will return $1 billion to shareholders, giving them an immediate boost from the sale of its stake in multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment Tysabri to partner Biogen Idec. Elan shares climbed over 4 percent following the anno... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – A U.S. government analysis of this season’s flu vaccine suggests it was effective in only 56 percent of people who got the shot, and it largely failed to protect the elderly against an especially deadly strain circulating during flu season.... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Men are more likely to strain a hamstring playing college soccer than women, according to a new analysis of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) injury records. The findings also suggest that games – as compared to practi... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – American adults have made a little progress in recent years in cutting back on calories from fast food, but children are still consuming too much fat, U.S. health researchers say. French fries, pizza and similar items accounted for about... More »
TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) – Florida Governor Rick Scott backed a limited expansion of healthcare coverage for the poor on Wednesday, joining six other Republican governors who have agreed to the measure under President Barack Obama’s landmark reform law. ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. aluminum can sales are set to slow in 2013 for a third straight year as more consumers ditch sodas for healthier options such as water and iced teas, traditionally bottled in plastic or glass. The loss of market share in the fizzy dri... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is expected to get the top safety rating for mad cow disease in spring, under a recommendation from international livestock health experts that was greeted on Wednesday as a sure-fire boost to U.S. beef exports. Agricul... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – China wants a third party to verify beginning March 1 that U.S. pork shipped to the country is free of a feed additive used to promote lean muscle growth, a U.S. Meat Export Federation spokesman told Reuters. The reasons for China’s timing ... More »
(Reuters) – Gilead Sciences Inc said it has agreed with Israel’s Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd to settle a lawsuit relating to patents protecting Viread, a treatment for HIV infection and chronic hepatitis B. As per the agreement, Gilead said Teva will b... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – About one-third of chemotherapies are used to fight cancers that drug regulators never approved them to treat, says a new study. Chemotherapies – drugs that kill rapidly dividing cells – are approved by the Food and Drug Administrat... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration said on Tuesday that it will operate federal online health insurance marketplaces in 26 of the 50 U.S. states with little or no input from local state officials. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services a... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Take another sip of that Diet Coke – a new study suggests diet soda drinkers don’t eat any more sugary or fatty foods than people who stick with water instead. Some researchers have proposed drinks sweetened with fake sugar might di... More »
(Reuters) – Managed care provider Wellcare Health Plans Inc’s fourth-quarter profit edged past analysts’ estimates on growth in its Kentucky Medicaid health plan that previously dragged on the results of several insurers. The company’s shares jumped 12 percent... More »
(Reuters) – A unit of Express Scripts Holding Co has sued Ernst & Young and one of the accounting firm’s former partners for stealing trade secrets and corporate data to boost Ernst & Young’s own healthcare business. The lawsuit, filed on February 14 in state ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The discovery of horsemeat in products sold as beef has shocked many British consumers into buying less meat, a survey showed on Monday. The furor, which erupted in Ireland last month and then spread quickly across Europe, has led to ready m... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. regulators gave priority review status to an experimental GlaxoSmithKline drug for HIV/AIDS, which industry analysts view as a possible multibillion-dollar-a-year seller. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration awards certain drugs priori... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – A more thorough dialysis technique may help prevent deaths due to heart conditions and infections in people with advanced kidney disease, according to a new study. Known as hemodiafiltration, that method is better able to clean the ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – People who eat a lot of low-fiber and processed foods that quickly spike blood sugars may, not surprisingly, have a significantly higher risk of the most common form of diabetes, according to a new study. “By raising blood sugar and... More »
(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first artificial retina, an implanted device that replicates some of the function of the retina, helping to restore vision to people blinded with a rare genetic disorder, the agency said Thursd... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration on Thursday assured U.S. lawmakers that it is on track to enroll millions of people in new state health insurance markets, but it quickly came under fire from Republicans and Democrats about how costly the covera... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – An investigation has identified a French meat-processing firm as a likely culprit in the horsemeat scandal that has enraged consumers across Europe and implicated traders and abattoirs from Cyprus to Romania. Separately, British police invest... More »
(Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s decision to spotlight drug rebates as a way to save money on Medicare is likely to be opposed by the pharmaceutical industry, which could potentially lose billions of dollars in profits. In his annual State of the Union spe... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission has proposed increased DNA testing of meat products to assess the scale of a scandal involving horsemeat sold as beef that has shocked the public and raised concern over the continent’s food supply chains. “The test... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republicans in the House of Representatives will seek a permanent solution to scheduled steep cuts in physician payments from the federal Medicare health insurance plan for retirees and disabled people, a House committee chairman said on... More »
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Slower government approval for testing new medicines is threatening India’s aspirations to be a fast-growing, low-cost hub for clinical trials, and has prompted some drugs firms to shift operations elsewhere, adding to their costs.... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – For pharmaceutical companies, Africa is changing. Not only is the continent’s economic growth grabbing attention in boardrooms but the shifting nature of its disease burden is luring Big Pharma, as new opportunities open up for treating chron... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama has ruled out raising the age that Americans become eligible for Medicare, the government health insurance program for seniors, as a way to reduce the government’s deficit, a White House spokesman said on Monday. R... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Tesco, Britain’s biggest retailer, said on Monday it had found horse DNA exceeding 60 percent in some of its own-brand frozen spaghetti bolognese meals withdrawn from stores last week. Tesco said tests carried out since pulling the product l... More »
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – U.S. regulators refused to approve Novo Nordisk’s new long-acting insulin Tresiba until it conducts extra tests for potential heart risks, dealing a major blow to a key product for the Danish drugmaker. Shares in Novo, the world’s leadin... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Roman Catholic bishops on Thursday rejected the Obama Administration’s latest bid for compromise over a hotly disputed health policy that requires employees at religiously affiliated institutions to have access to insurance coverage... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Mounting evidence of a link between GlaxoSmithKline’s Pandemrix flu shot and a spike in narcolepsy cases among children in Europe is putting one of the vaccine’s key ingredients, AS03, under intense scrutiny. The ingredient is one of a class... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Frequent blood sugar testing was strongly associated with better diabetes control in a large new study that concludes public and private insurers should not be limiting test strip supplies. Particularly for people with type 1 diabet... More »
(Reuters) – Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on Wednesday endorsed an expansion of health coverage for the poor under President Barack Obama’s reform law, joining five other Republican governors who have agreed to widen the Medicaid program in their states. Snyde... More »
WASHINGTON/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The medical marijuana shop next to a tattoo parlor on a busy street in Los Angeles looks much like hundreds of other pot dispensaries that dot the city. Except for one thing: On the glass door – under a green cross signaling ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – GlaxoSmithKline plans to cut costs in its struggling European drugs division and promised investors a return to growth this year, after failing to deliver a hoped-for sales and margin recovery in 2012. Britain’s biggest drugmaker said a new ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, which paid $3 billion last year to settle charges that it gave misleading information on its medicines, said on Tuesday it would publish more of its clinical research data. When the company agreed to the fi... More »
TACOMA, Washington (Reuters) – The U.S. Army, grappling with a spike in military suicides, plans to take steps to improve soldiers’ resilience to mental health problems to combat such deaths as well as depression, substance abuse, and violent behavior, Army Se... More »
(Reuters) – The Obama administration on Monday proposed eliminating certain obsolete Medicare regulations, a move it said would save hospitals and other healthcare providers an estimated $676 million a year, or $3.4 billion over five years. The Department of H... More »
(Reuters) – Health regulators have approved a generic version of the cancer drug Doxil in a move that could ease a months-long shortage that has threatened the lives of thousands of patients. The Food and Drug Administration said on Monday it approved a versio... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – A highly anticipated study of the first new tuberculosis vaccine in 90 years showed it offered no added benefit over the current vaccine when it came to protecting babies from TB infections, a disappointing but not entirely unexpected outco... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – After nearly 100 years, researchers could be on the verge of finding a vaccine that would eradicate tuberculosis infections, a scourge that kills 1.4 million people a year. Global health experts are eagerly awaiting clinical trial results, ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Regular yoga classes could help people with a common heart rhythm problem manage their symptoms while also improving their state of mind, a new study suggests. According to the American Heart Association, about 2.7 million people in... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – New research suggests that obese kids – adolescent girls, in particular – are more likely to be diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) than normal-weight youth. That doesn’t prove carrying around some extra weight in childhood cause... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – A nutritional supplement called myo-inositol may help protect women at risk for gestational diabetes, according to a small pilot study. Previous studies have shown that inositol supplements may help restore fertility in polycystic o... More »
(Reuters) – Health regulators approved Merck & Co’s nonprescription version of Oxytrol to treat overactive bladder in women ages 18 and older, the agency said on Friday. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said the over-the-counter version of Oxytrol would b... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian lawmakers on Friday backed a law which would ban smoking in bars, cafes and other public spaces to promote healthier living in the world’s largest tobacco market after China. Supported by President Vladimir Putin, who likes to presen... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. mental health system has huge gaps that prevent millions of people with psychological problems, including children and teens, from receiving effective treatment that could prevent tragic consequences, experts told U.S. lawmakers... More »
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – The jury is still out on the benefits of increasing “good” HDL cholesterol, but the strategy remains worth pursuing, despite recent setbacks, the chief executive of said on Thursday. Confidence in the HDL thesis suffered a fresh ... More »
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – Obesity, a major factor in diabetes and heart disease, imposes costs on both public and private sectors and is a drag on economic growth, but business leaders meeting in Davos can’t agree on what they can or should do to address ... More »
(Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court rejected on Tuesday a bid by a group of 18 hospitals to reopen a specialized group of Medicare reimbursement claims that are up to 25 years old. The hospitals, which are entitled to extra compensation for treating a large num... More »
(Reuters) – A high body count is not the only meaningful number attached to a pandemic. The potential cost of a global outbreak of the flu or some other highly contagious disease, however ghoulish to calculate, is essential for government officials and busines... More »
(Reuters) – The number of seizure patients in a northern Japanese fishing community devastated by the March 11, 2011 tsunami spiked in the weeks following the disaster, according to a Japanese study. The study, published in the journal Epilepsia, looked at 440... More »
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Just weeks after Chinese authorities cleared Yum Brands Inc and McDonald’s Corp of charges they had served chicken laced with excessive chemicals, local media are again attacking the iconic American firms, while barely reporting on the cha... More »
LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Drugmakers are betting that a new wave of medicines for cancer, diabetes, heart disease, multiple sclerosis and hepatitis will shape up as tomorrow’s blockbusters in the coming 12 months. With the industry regaining some of its swag... More »
(Reuters) – New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a public health emergency on Saturday, giving pharmacists permission to administer flu vaccinations to more people as officials seek to stem the worst flu outbreak in that state in several years. Cuomo’s orde... More »
(Reuters) – Influenza has officially reached epidemic proportions in the United States, with 7.3 percent of deaths last week caused by pneumonia and the flu, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday. The early start and fast spread of... More »
(Reuters) – The Supreme Court agreed to consider whether the government can require groups that receive federal funding for overseas HIV/AIDS programs to have explicit policies that oppose prostitution and sex trafficking. The case is one of six that the court... More »
(Reuters) – Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said on Friday that he will file legislation to overhaul benefits for public retirees, including a proposal to double the number of years an employee would have to serve to be eligible. The bill would require mo... More »
(Reuters) – This year’s U.S. flu season has created shortages of the Tamiflu treatment for children and of the most widely used flu vaccine, their manufacturers said. Roche Holding AG told Reuters late on Wednesday that it had a shortage of the liquid form of ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – When it comes to protecting millions of people from deadly infectious diseases, Mark Kendall thinks a fingertip-sized patch covered in thousands of vaccine-coated microscopic spikes is the future. A biomedical engineer with a fascination for... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A day after an exhaustive national report on cancer found the United States is making only slow progress against the disease, one of the country’s most iconic – and iconoclastic – scientists weighed in on “the war against cancer.” And he d... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Belgian biopharmaceutical company Galapagos said on Wednesday it had delivered a fifth pre-clinical drug candidate to GlaxoSmithKline, triggering a milestone payment. Galapagos did not specify the amount of the payment, which is the result... More »
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A federal magistrate judge on Monday ruled that a medical-marijuana dispensary that bills itself as the world’s largest can continue to operate, at least for now, in Oakland and San Jose despite a bid by federal prosecutors to shut it... More »
(Reuters) – More competition between medical centers that perform liver transplants may mean sicker patients get lower-quality donor organs, according to a U.S. study. When more than one center has patients on the same donor list, the centers have an incentive... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama could seek common ground with Republicans in the looming battle over Medicare spending by broadening the debate over entitlement reform to encompass the spiraling healthcare costs that confront a wide range of Amer... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. regulators proposed new food safety rules on Friday that aim to make food processors and farms more accountable for reducing foodborne illnesses that kill or sicken thousands of Americans annually. The new rules, required by the Food Safety Mo... More »
MUMBAI (Reuters) – Private equity funds quadrupled their investment in India’s primary healthcare, betting the sick and ailing will stop seeing family doctors in often cramped and dingy quarters and check into modern chains sprouting up across Asia’s No.3 econ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The Western world’s first drug to fix faulty genes promises to transform the lives of patients with an ultra-rare disease that clogs their blood with fat. The only snag is the price. The gene therapy for lipoprotein lipase deficiency (LPLD),... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Women who walk at least three hours every week are less likely to suffer a stroke than women who walk less or not at all, according to new research from Spain. “The message for the general population remains similar: regularly engag... More »
(Reuters) – An experimental drug to combat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly called Lou Gehrig’s disease in the United States, failed to work in an important trial and Biogen Idec said it would stop development of the treatment. The drug, dexpramipexole,... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – French health regulators are studying limiting the use of contraceptive pills that carry health risks and will stop reimbursing prescription costs of some types from March, after a woman sued drugmaker Bayer over alleged side-effects. An inqu... More »
