Today's Reuters Health News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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Most new moms don't meet own breastfeeding goals
Sun,3 Jun 2012 09:39 PM PDT
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Two thirds of new mothers who intended to breastfeed exclusively for several months or more didn't meet their own goals in a new study. Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that several factors influenced whether mothers of newborns would stick to their plan to breastfeed only, including actions by hospital staff in the first hours and days after delivery. "We do know the hospitals have an important role to play. ...
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Boehringer plans to challenge lung cancer drugs
Sun,3 Jun 2012 09:10 PM PDT
Reuters - CHICAGO (Reuters) - German drug company Boehringer Ingelheim said on Monday it would test its experimental lung cancer drug directly against AstraZeneca's Iressa and Roche's Tarceva pill, after it showed promise in a late-stage drug trial. A study showed Boehringer's afatinib drug prolonged the time lung cancer patients survived without a worsening of their condition by 4.2 months on average when compared with a control group on standard chemotherapy. Results of the study were presented at the annual congress of the American Society for Clinical Oncology in Chicago on Sunday. ... Full Story | Top |
Costly newer drugs no better in breast cancer study
Sun,3 Jun 2012 09:07 PM PDT
Reuters -  (Reuters) - A pair of newer drugs proved no better, and by some measures inferior, to the older and cheaper chemotherapy agent paclitaxel in patients with locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer, according to results of a late stage study. Weekly dosing of paclitaxel appeared to result in significantly longer progression-free survival, or how long it takes for the disease to worsen, than Bristol-Myers Squibb's Ixempra, researchers found. Paclitaxel therapy also led to fewer toxic side effects than Celgene Corp's Abraxane, the 799-patient study found. ...
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Bayer says drug shows promise vs. gastrointestinal cancer
Sun,3 Jun 2012 09:03 PM PDT
Reuters - FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German drugmaker Bayer said trials showed its potential blockbuster regorafenib prolonged the lives of patients with an aggressive type of gastrointestinal cancer without their tumors worsening, and it will seek approval for wider use of the drug. The 199-patient late-stage trial showed the drug prolonged the lives of patients with metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumors, or GIST, by almost four months on average without a worsening of their condition, Bayer said. The median survival period without tumor growth among patients on regorafenib was 4. ... Full Story | Top |
Study questions fruit sugar role in hypertension
Sun,3 Jun 2012 05:36 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - Sweet drinks have been linked to a slightly higher risk of developing high blood pressure, but a U.S. study finds that fruit sugar may not be the culprit as found in earlier research. Researchers followed more than 200,000 men and women for up to 38 years and found that regularly consuming sweetened drinks, either containing sugars or artificially sweetened, was associated with a rise of about 13 percent in the risk of developing high blood pressure. ... Full Story | Top |
Stanford genome pioneer wins Lemelson-MIT prize
Sun,3 Jun 2012 05:00 PM PDT
Reuters -  BOSTON (Reuters) - Stephen Quake, a prolific inventor whose creative application of physics to biology has lead to multiple developments in drug discovery and genome analysis, has won the prestigious $500,000 Lemelson-MIT prize for outstanding innovators. Quake, a professor of bioengineering and applied physics at Stanford University and investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, has applied the technological principles of the integrated circuit - a chip made of semiconductor material found in almost every modern electrical device - to biology. ...
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New animal disease facility stalled by budget, politics
Sun,3 Jun 2012 12:20 PM PDT
Reuters -  MANHATTAN, Kansas (Reuters) - The site of a proposed facility to fight animal diseases, including those which could be spread by bioterrorists, is little more than a parking lot today because of safety and budget concerns. Construction of an ambitious National Bio and Agro-Defense Center in this Kansas university town is on hold due to the federal budget crunch and concerns about risks to livestock and human populations, especially in the event of natural disaster. ...
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FDA to let women try new breast drugs earlier
Sun,3 Jun 2012 09:00 AM PDT
Reuters - CHICAGO (Reuters) - Regulators are moving the goal posts in testing new drugs for breast cancer in the hopes of giving more women with aggressive, early-stage cancers the chance to try breakthrough drugs while they have the best shot at a cure. A new guidance document issued this week by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will allow drug companies to test their medications for a few months on women with highly aggressive breast cancers before they have surgery, instead of waiting until the drug has been proven first in gravely ill patients. ... Full Story | Top |
Factbox: Health benefits Americans could lose in court ruling
Sun,3 Jun 2012 07:27 AM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling by the end of this month on the fate of President Barack Obama's healthcare law. Following are some of the provisions already in effect under the law that Americans would lose immediately if it were to be overturned. Other provisions not listed below would come into force in 2014 if the court were to leave the law in effect. Young adult children being allowed to remain on their parents' medical insurance coverage through age 26. ... Full Story | Top |
Looming court ruling worries some with health woes
Sun,3 Jun 2012 07:27 AM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Texan Sam Lovett had no health insurance in August 2010 when an emergency hospital stay brought the news from his doctors that his liver was failing and he could die within less than a year without a transplant. The small distribution center where he worked did not provide health insurance. Lovett, 43, who lives near Comfort, Texas, was not able to buy private coverage on his own because of his already bad health. Though he had the resources to cover routine medical bills, he now needed a $400,000 organ transplant and no doctor or clinic would take him without insurance. ... Full Story | Top |
Thousands protest at Turkey anti-abortion law plan
Sun,3 Jun 2012 06:52 AM PDT
Reuters - ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Thousands of people took to the streets of Istanbul on Sunday to protest against plans by Turkey's prime minister to bring in a new law on abortion, a practice he has called "murder". Women of all ages held aloft banners with slogans including "My body, my choice" and "I am a woman not a mother, don't touch my body" as they marched to the city's Kadikoy Square. ... Full Story | Top |
Follow-up Avastin shown to benefit colon cancer patients
Sat,2 Jun 2012 09:03 PM PDT
Reuters - CHICAGO (Reuters) - Colorectal cancer patients treated with a follow-up round of Avastin fare better than those given chemotherapy alone after their disease has worsened, according to results of a large clinical trial. Avastin, sold by Roche, is approved as a first-line or second-line treatment for colorectal cancer, but not for both. Sales of the drug, also known as bevacizumab, totaled $5.3 billion Swiss francs ($5.5 billion) last year. ... Full Story | Top |
Armed antibody delays spread of certain breast cancers
Sat,2 Jun 2012 09:02 PM PDT
Reuters - CHICAGO (Reuters) - A study of Roche's experimental "armed antibody" found it extended the length of time breast cancer patients lived without their disease getting worse, marking the second successful pivotal trial in this new class of cancer drugs. The drug, TDM-1, uses Roche's antibody drug Herceptin to deliver a potent cell-killing payload developed by ImmunoGen directly into cancer cells, with the aim of boosting drug response while lowering the risk of side effects. ... Full Story | Top |
Marijuana initiative could make or break Obama in Colorado
Sat,2 Jun 2012 02:06 PM PDT
Reuters -  DENVER (Reuters) - Throughout his presidency, Barack Obama hasn't exactly been a friend to marijuana users. Sure, he has acknowledged smoking pot as a young man, but he has disappointed marijuana advocates by opposing its legalization, regulation and taxation like alcohol. And the Justice Department's occasional crackdown under his administration on medical marijuana dispensaries, which 17 states and the District of Columbia allow, has angered others. ...
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J&J hormone-blocking pill slows prostate cancer spread
Sat,2 Jun 2012 11:20 AM PDT
Reuters - CHICAGO (Reuters) - A trial of Johnson & Johnson's Zytiga in certain prostate cancer patients showed that it doubled the amount of time they lived without the disease getting worse, potentially offering new hope for patients who see their cancer return. The trial, involving 1,088 patients who had stopped responding to traditional hormonal drugs but had not been treated with chemotherapy, found that Zytiga slowed the spread of the disease by 58 percent. ... Full Story | Top |
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