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Ryan: Major changes for Medicare, Medicaid in GOP's 2012 budget

Even as Congress faces a showdown this week on 2011 federal spending, both parties are gearing for the 2012 budget battle.

4 Apr 2011

Optimer reports grant of inducement stock options

Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that on March 31, 2011 the Compensation Committee of its Board of Directors approved the grant of inducement stock options to purchase an aggregate of 258,000 shares of common stock to 7 new employees.

2 Apr 2011

ASHIM announces affordable alternative Mini-Med Health Plans

The American Society of Health Informatics Managers (ASHIM) announced Mini-Med Health Plans for members and their families. This offering aids those ASHIM members struggling with current health care costs.

1 Apr 2011

Vertex announces final results from Phase 3 REALIZE study against HCV

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated today announced final results from its pivotal Phase 3 REALIZE study that evaluated people with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C whose prior treatment with pegylated-interferon and ribavirin was unsuccessful either because they relapsed, had a partial response or had a null response.

1 Apr 2011

Vertex announces interim results from VX-222 ongoing Phase 2 study against hepatitis C

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated today announced interim results from an ongoing Phase 2 study designed to assess the safety and tolerability of 12-week response-guided treatment regimens with its polymerase inhibitor, VX-222, and its protease inhibitor, telaprevir, in combination with pegylated-interferon and ribavirin in people with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C who were new to treatment.

31 Mar 2011

Pacira reports net loss of $7.0 million for quarter ended December 31, 2010

Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc., an emerging specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full-year ended December 31, 2010, provided an update on the execution of its pre-commercial and launch strategies for EXPAREL and established 2011 financial guidance.

31 Mar 2011

FDA grants orphan drug status to America Stem Cell's ASC-101

America Stem Cell, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Orphan Drug Designation to ASC-101 to improve homing to bone marrow in patients receiving hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

30 Mar 2011

SCOLR Pharma total revenue decreases 34% to $618,000 for 2010

SCOLR Pharma, Inc. today reported financial results for the twelve months ended December 31, 2010, and also provided updates on a number of key corporate objectives.

30 Mar 2011

Cardinal Health, APhA partner to prevent prescription medication abuse

During the American Pharmacists Association's Annual Meeting and Exposition in Seattle, the Cardinal Health Foundation and APhA announced a partnership to encourage pharmacists and student pharmacists to take an active role in preventing the abuse and misuse of prescription medications.

29 Mar 2011

Cleveland Clinic, Elsevier to offer physicians with evidence-based clinical content

Elsevier, a world leader in health care and medical publishing and online solutions, today announced a strategic relationship between First Consult and Cleveland Clinic to provide physician-author support of content for First Consult, an evidence-based resource integrated into the clinical workflow to deliver trusted medical information at the point-of-care.

28 Mar 2011

'Dispense as written' prescriptions cost the health care system $7.7 billion annually

Approximately five percent of prescriptions submitted by CVS Caremark Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM) members in a 30-day period during 2009 included a "dispense as written" (DAW) designation.

25 Mar 2011

HealthSpring prices underwritten public offering of common stock

HealthSpring, Inc. announced today that it has priced its underwritten public offering of 7,500,000 shares of its common stock. The shares were resold by the underwriters at a price of $35.95 per share. The Company has also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,125,000 shares of common stock.

25 Mar 2011

FTC: Granting pharmacists authority over PBMs may increase drug prices, reduce competition

In a letter to Mississippi State Representative Mark Formby this week, the Federal Trade Commission warns that a bill shifting regulatory authority over pharmacy benefit managers from the Mississippi Insurance Commissioner to the Board of Pharmacy "may increase pharmaceutical prices and reduce competition."

24 Mar 2011

New Deloitte report: Consumers spend $363 billion on health care

As health care reform marks its one-year anniversary, a new Deloitte report reveals that consumers are spending $363 billion, or 14.7 percent more, on health care than traditionally reported in official government accounts.

23 Mar 2011

UCSD selects Millennium Labs, Research Institute for NIAAA granted study

Millennium Laboratories, a leading provider of therapeutic drug monitoring, research and healthcare education, and the Millennium Research Institute, a national non-profit research center, announced today they have been selected by the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine to provide laboratory services, including research and analysis, for a new UC San Diego study funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the National Institutes of Health.

22 Mar 2011

PSN system can reduce psychiatric medication errors

Coupling an electronic prescription drug ordering system with a computerized method for reporting adverse events can dramatically reduce the number of medication errors in a hospital's psychiatric unit, suggests new Johns Hopkins research.

22 Mar 2011

Information technology could reduce psychiatric drug errors

21 Mar 2011

Shire announces FDA PDUFA date for FIRAZYR NDA in treatment of acute attacks of hereditary angioedema

Shire plc, the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has assigned a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) date of August 25, 2011 for the review of the New Drug Application (NDA) for FIRAZYR(R) (icatibant) for the treatment of acute attacks (Types I and II) of hereditary angioedema (HAE). This 6 month review timeline is consistent with review as a Class II resubmission.

21 Mar 2011

Research roundup: Successful medical homes; shortage of HIV doctors; boosting use of $4 generic drugs

Every Friday, Jennifer Evans compiles this selection of recently-released health policy studies and briefs.

19 Mar 2011

Roundup: Texas attacks health law as Calif., Ind. hospitals cope with law's effects

At today's meeting of the House Select Committee on State Sovereignty, Republican lawmakers laid out a dozen bills — and a handful of different strategies — to prevent implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in Texas, and allow the state to operate Medicaid its own way.

19 Mar 2011