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| EU approves Novartis drug for gout Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 10:35 PM PST  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 acute gouty arthritis who could not tolerate other treatment options. Ilaris, which blocks a protein called interleukin-1 beta that is thought to increase inflammation, is already sold for treating cryopyrin-associated periodic syndromes, a rare inflammatory disorder. In 2011, U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: The big U.S. budget cuts: Will the bite match the bark? Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 10:02 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Delays of four hours or more at airports. Exasperating wait times for people, and goods, crossing America's borders. Reduced paychecks for thousands of civilians employed by the Pentagon. The U.S. Coast Guard, crippled in its patrols of U.S. waters. Meat shortages, thanks to cutbacks in food inspections. Teachers of low-income children and special-education students losing their jobs. These are just samples of the possible consequences of impending across-the-board U.S. government budget cuts as described by officials in President Barack Obama's administration. ... Full Story | Top |
| Old age far from gentle for Japan's greying homeless Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 08:44 PM PST  TOKYO (Reuters) - Kyoko Machiya should be enjoying life with grandchildren. Instead, the 64-year-old's home is a makeshift structure of boxes covered with blue plastic in a Tokyo park. Homelessness in Japan is a decades-old issue, yet it has a worrying new twist. A vast majority of the homeless are now ageing, a reflection of the overall greying of Japanese society that poses new problems for policy makers. Machiya, a tiny woman with weathered skin and greying hair, tried a shelter once but eventually moved out. ... Full Story | Top |
| WHO, Islamic leaders summit to stop polio worker attacks Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 08:12 PM PST  CANBERRA (Reuters) - Top World Health Organisation officials and Islamic leaders will meet in Egypt next week in an effort to stop attacks on polio workers, which are hampering the eradication of the virus in some countries with large Muslim populations. "Shooting health workers who are protecting kids from this crippling disease is against the Koran and everything Islam stands for," WHO's Assistant Director-General Bruce Aylward told Reuters in Canberra said on Friday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Los Angeles asks Supreme Court to overturn ban on Skid Row seizures Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 05:55 PM PST  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to allow police and city workers to seize or destroy property that homeless people leave unattended on sidewalks, saying Skid Row homeless encampments presented a public-health risk. The greater Los Angeles area has one of the nation's largest populations of homeless people, and the city's legal fight is seen as having implications for how other municipalities deal with transients. ... Full Story | Top |
| FDA approves once-monthly Abilify for schizophrenia Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 05:06 PM PST (Reuters) - Regulators on Thursday approved a once-monthly injectable form of Abilify, the blockbuster treatment for schizophrenia, which will be sold by Japanese drugmaker Otsuka and Danish drug group Lundbeck. In July 2012, the Food and Drug Administration declined to approve the medicine, Abilify Maintena, citing deficiencies from an inspection of a third-party supplier of sterile water. Otsuka and Lundbeck resubmitted their marketing application soon afterward, after working with an alternative supplier. ... Full Story | Top |
| Trial plaintiff says J&J hips defective, company says not liable Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 04:48 PM PST (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson's DePuy unit was well aware of defects in its all-metal hips when plaintiff Loren Kransky was implanted with one of the devices in 2007, lawyers for the 65-year-old man said in closing trial arguments. The lawsuit filed by the retired Montana prison guard is the first to reach court out of more than 10,000 filed against J&J in the wake of its 2010 recall of the ASR artificial hips. ... Full Story | Top |
| Facebook, Google tech gurus to design cancer research game Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 04:10 PM PST  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 charity Cancer Research UK, should mean that anyone with a smart phone and five minutes to spare will be able to investigate vital scientific data at the same time as playing a mobile game. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hardline Arizona sheriff suffers broken shoulder in fall Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 03:43 PM PST  PHOENIX (Reuters) - A controversial 80-year-old Arizona lawman, who styles himself as America's toughest sheriff and is known for targeting illegal immigrants, broke his left shoulder on Thursday after taking a spill in downtown Phoenix, authorities said. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was being treated for the shoulder fracture at a local hospital and will not require surgery, said sheriff's spokeswoman Lisa Allen. It was not clear if he will remain overnight. "He's feeling fine," Allen said in a telephone interview from the hospital. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Dakota extends abortion wait period for weekends, holidays Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 03:41 PM PST (Reuters) - The South Dakota Senate on Thursday passed a bill affecting abortion waiting times that could potentially make them the longest in the country. The bill, passed by a 24-9 vote in the Republican-controlled Senate, would exclude weekends and holidays from the calculation of a 72-hour waiting period for an abortion. The bill was passed by the state House last week. It will go to Governor Dennis Daugaard, a Republican, next week, his spokesman, Tony Venhuizen, said. Venhuizen said he could not say if the governor would sign the bill. ... Full Story | Top |
| Arkansas bans most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 03:16 PM PST LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) - Arkansas joined seven other U.S. states on Thursday in banning most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy as the Republican-controlled state Senate voted to override a veto of the legislation by Democratic Governor Mike Beebe. Arkansas senators also gave final approval to a proposal that would ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat could be detected by a standard ultrasound, or about 12 weeks into pregnancy, and forwarded that bill to Beebe. ... Full Story | Top |
| Trade group identifies medical device makers passing on federal tax Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 03:07 PM PST (Reuters) - Some medical device manufacturers are trying to pass on the cost of the new federal tax on medical devices to hospitals, and a trade group on Thursday said it has launched a website to identify those companies publicly. Congress imposed the 2.3 percent tax on the manufacturers as part of the Affordable Care Act. It is expected to collect more than $30 billion over the next decade to help extend healthcare coverage to millions of Americans who would otherwise be uninsured. ... Full Story | Top |
| Armstrong's charity says bowed, not crippled by doping scandal Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 02:53 PM PST  CHICAGO (Reuters) - A top official with the cancer charity founded by disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong acknowledged on Thursday that the athlete's doping scandal had tarnished its reputation and created "headwinds that were not only stiff but heartbreaking." But Andy Miller, executive vice president of the Livestrong Foundation, said the group was "bigger than its founder" and insisted its fund-raising and outreach programs for those diagnosed with cancer had not been irreparably damaged by the scandal. "It's been a difficult year," Miller told the group's annual convention in Chicago. ... Full Story | Top |
| "How to Survive a Plague" miniseries being developed by ABC Studios Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 02:45 PM PST  LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - David France's 2012 documentary "How to Survive a Plague" has been optioned by ABC Studios, which is planning to develop the film into a dramatic miniseries. The film, which was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Documentary Feature Film category, chronicled the early days of AIDS activism by the coalitions ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group). France, who wrote and directed the film, will executive produce the miniseries project, along with Howard Gertler (who produced the film) and John Lyons. ... Full Story | Top |
| Walmart says price cuts helped shoppers save billions on produce Thursday, Feb 28, 2013 02:31 PM PST  (Reuters) - Walmart shoppers have saved $2.3 billion by buying produce at its stores in the first two years of its push to sell more healthful fare and more of it, the largest U.S. grocer said on Thursday. Walmart U.S., the largest division of Wal-Mart Stores Inc , also said it has exceeded its goal of reducing the amount of sugar in some products. Walmart said in January 2011 that it wanted to improve the nutritional value of the food it sells, make healthier fare less expensive and make it easier for Americans to access such goods. ... Full Story | Top |
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