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African 'green revolution' should focus on small farmers, U.N. report says

Investments in agricultural technology should be directed to Africa's smallholder farmers in an effort to increase food security after decades of low funding, the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said in a report on Wednesday, Reuters reports (Lynn, 5/19).

21 May 2010

Strata Health Solutions, Medworxx announce partnership agreement

Strata Health Solutions Inc. a leader in delivery of patient flow technology to global health organizations and Medworxx Inc., provider of healthcare solutions for patient flow, compliance and education announced today a partnership agreement that will provide a full view of the patient flow cycle, both inside and outside of the hospital.

21 May 2010

Abbott to acquire Piramal's Healthcare Solutions business

Abbott announced a definitive agreement with Piramal Healthcare Limited to acquire full ownership of Piramal's Healthcare Solutions business (Domestic Formulations), a leader in the Indian branded generics market, for an up-front payment of $2.12 billion, plus $400 million annually for the next four years, giving Abbott the No. 1 position in the Indian pharmaceutical market.

21 May 2010

Long-term data demonstrates clinical benefits of Exelixis XL184 for medullary thyroid cancer

Exelixis, Inc. today reported long-term results in a cohort of 37 medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) patients who participated in the phase 1 study of XL184. Dr. Razelle Kurzrock from the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX will present the data in a Clinical Science Symposium (Abstract #5502) on Monday, June 7 at 10:15 AM at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago.

21 May 2010

Media examines recent Oxfam report on impact of aid to developing countries

In a recent report, Oxfam "outlines how aid has contributed to economic growth in poor countries by getting 33 million more children into school, boosting access to HIV drugs tenfold, funding tens of millions of anti-malaria bed nets, and building up health services," Reuters AlertNet reports (Rowling, 5/20).

21 May 2010

British Columbia first in Canada to include Prevnar 13 in routine child immunization program

British Columbia is leading the way in vaccinations to protect children from serious disease. The province is the first in Canada to include Prevnar 13, the vaccine that provides the broadest coverage available against Streptococcus pneumoniae that may cause invasive pneumococcal disease, in the routine child immunization program.

21 May 2010

Dementia patients treated with neuroleptic drugs instead of anti-dementia medication: Study

Demented patients are often treated nonspecifically with psychoactive medications. Neuroleptic drugs are given even when they are not specifically indicated, as Tomislav Majic and his colleagues from the Charité Hospital, Berlin, show in the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2010; 107[18]: 320-7).

21 May 2010

Studies identify new chemical compounds that could lead to development of new malaria drugs

Researchers have identified thousands of chemical compounds that could be used to develop new malaria drugs, two studies published in the journal Nature on Wednesday show, the Wall Street Journal reports.

21 May 2010

Aetna Foundation grants $331,133 for "Advancing Value-Based Purchasing in the U.S. Health System" project

As a nation we spend nearly $7,300 per person on health care each year - but are we getting the best possible value for our dollars? Exploring promising innovative approaches to getting high quality from health care purchases while ensuring that our annual $2.3 trillion in public and private health care spending is going as far as it should - in terms of top quality care, improved health outcomes and minimal waste - will be part of new work undertaken by the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at Brookings and supported by the Aetna Foundation.

21 May 2010

COTI reports positive results from first phase of HIV integrase inhibitor discovery program

Critical Outcome Technologies Inc. today announced positive results from the first phase of its HIV integrase inhibitor discovery program. These results provide novel intellectual property to the Company and further validation of the CHEMSAS® drug discovery technology.

21 May 2010

Not all small businesses will get tax benefits promised in health law

Tax credits to help small business pay for employee health coverage fall short of the "broad eligibility" White House officials promoted, The Associated Press reports. The credit was said to apply to firms "with fewer than 25 workers and average annual wages under $50,000 that provide health coverage," like Zach Hoffman's office supply company where 24 employees earn an average of $35,000.

21 May 2010

AORN develops new Comprehensive Surgical Checklist

The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) has developed a comprehensive surgical checklist to help reduce the number of wrong-site surgeries and other preventable mistakes that occur in U.S. operating rooms. The new AORN Comprehensive Surgical Checklist includes the safety checks outlined in the World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist, and also meets the safety checks included in The Joint Commission Universal Protocol that meet the accreditation requirements.

21 May 2010

MEDSEEK first-quarter net revenue up 38%

MEDSEEK, the industry's only provider of the eHealth ecoSystem, today announced the continuation of its record-setting pace in 2009 with the announcement of a first quarter net revenue increase of 38 percent over the same period last year.

21 May 2010

Lawmakers agree to extend COBRA benefits, delay Medicare cuts and give states more money for Medicaid

Democratic committee leaders unveiled a tax extensions package today that would continue to allow laid-off employees "to get subsidies to buy health insurance through the COBRA program" and would also "spare doctors from a scheduled 21 percent cut in Medicare payments," The Associated Press reports. It would also give states money to cover Medicaid costs (Ohlemacher, 5/20).

21 May 2010

Biocept granted US patent for cell separation technology using microfluidic device

Biocept, Inc., an emerging leader in rare cell capture, announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a patent for Biocept's cell separation technology using a microfluidic device. U.S. patent #7,695,956 entitled "Device for Cell Separation and Analysis and Method of Using" protects Biocept's microflow device to isolate cells from a bodily fluid using a flow path where straight-line flow is interrupted by transverse posts arranged in a random pattern.

21 May 2010

Narrow-band imaging could be novel tool for in vivo assessment of mucosal angiogenesis

Angiogenesis plays a crucial role in neoplastic and non-neoplastic chronic inflammatory disorders, including inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Several reports have shown that blockade of angiogenesis in preclinical models of IBD is a promising new therapeutic approach. Visualize angiogenesis in vivo may represent the first step for such a therapeutic approach. Narrow-band imaging (NBI) is a new endoscopic technology that highlights mucosal surface structures and microcapillaries.

21 May 2010

Medco: Big jump in kids' prescription drug use last year

Children's prescription drug use rose "several times faster" than adult use last year, "due in part to swine flu drugs and Type 2 diabetes medications, according to Medco Health Solutions Inc," The Associated Press reports. The "pharmacy benefits manager said a 5 percent increase in prescription drug use for children contributed to a 10.8 percent spending increase last year. In contrast, overall prescription drug use rose 1.3 percent, and drug spending climbed 3.7 percent. Medco released its annual drug trend report Wednesday" (Murphy, 5/19).

21 May 2010

AMT reports positive preclinical data from cholesterol targeting AAV gene therapy study

Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics a world leader in gene therapy, today reported positive preclinical data from a study using an AAV gene therapy product to lower cholesterol.

21 May 2010

Ariz. tax hike only a band-aid, and other state tales of budget woes

The Wall Street Journal: States are being squeezed by "shrinking state budgets and rising health-care costs" and often vulnerable residents are paying the price. Barbara Hickey, 67 of Florence, S.C., is one of them. She is confined to a motorized wheelchair, lives alone and "relies on certified nurse's assistants to get her in and out of bed, bathed, clothed and fed."

21 May 2010

McMaster University announces affiliation agreement with Centre for Drug Research and Development

McMaster University and the Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) today announced that McMaster University has signed an affiliation agreement with CDRD that will facilitate seamless collaboration by and between McMaster's academic investigators and the industry experienced drug development professionals at CDRD.

21 May 2010

Medical News

African 'green revolution' should focus on small farmers, U.N. report says

Strata Health Solutions, Medworxx announce partnership agreement

Abbott to acquire Piramal's Healthcare Solutions business

Long-term data demonstrates clinical benefits of Exelixis XL184 for medullary thyroid cancer

Media examines recent Oxfam report on impact of aid to developing countries

British Columbia first in Canada to include Prevnar 13 in routine child immunization program

Dementia patients treated with neuroleptic drugs instead of anti-dementia medication: Study

Studies identify new chemical compounds that could lead to development of new malaria drugs

Aetna Foundation grants $331,133 for "Advancing Value-Based Purchasing in the U.S. Health System" project

COTI reports positive results from first phase of HIV integrase inhibitor discovery program

Not all small businesses will get tax benefits promised in health law

AORN develops new Comprehensive Surgical Checklist

MEDSEEK first-quarter net revenue up 38%

Lawmakers agree to extend COBRA benefits, delay Medicare cuts and give states more money for Medicaid

Biocept granted US patent for cell separation technology using microfluidic device

Narrow-band imaging could be novel tool for in vivo assessment of mucosal angiogenesis

Medco: Big jump in kids' prescription drug use last year

AMT reports positive preclinical data from cholesterol targeting AAV gene therapy study

Ariz. tax hike only a band-aid, and other state tales of budget woes

McMaster University announces affiliation agreement with Centre for Drug Research and Development

Pioneering Live Cell Imaging - Yokogawa's Impact and Innovations

Revolutionizing Life Science: An Interview with SCIEX on ASMS, the SCIEX 7500+ System, and AI-Driven Quantitation

From Discovery Biology to ELRIG Chair

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