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| Drug 'Molly' is taking a party toll in the United States Saturday, Sep 28, 2013 12:13 AM PDT  By Victoria Cavaliere NEW YORK (Reuters) - Artist and therapy student Anna and her friends marked a birthday in New York recently with a familiar ritual: They pumped up the electronic music, danced, and celebrated with a special guest called Molly. "It was a group of about 12 people at someone's house and we were all just celebrating," Anna recalled. "Somebody had it and, and you know, it was a pretty electronic music kind of crowd. ... Full Story | Top |
| Achillion stock plunges as FDA maintains clinical hold on hep C drug Friday, Sep 27, 2013 05:48 PM PDT (Reuters) - Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration decided not to lift a clinical hold it had placed on the firm's hepatitis C drug, sovaprevir, leaving an uncertain fate for the company's most promising drug. The news caused Achillion's shares to plunge 45 percent in after-market trade on Friday. The FDA asked the company to halt development of sovaprevir in June, after detecting elevated liver enzymes, an indication of liver damage, in multiple patients who were given the drug in a clinical study. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama urges feuding Congress to avoid shutdown Friday, Sep 27, 2013 04:05 PM PDT  By Rachelle Younglai and Thomas Ferraro WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama sternly warned the Congress on Friday against a government shutdown on October 1 as lawmakers struggled to pass an emergency spending bill that Republicans want to use to defund Obama's healthcare reform law. While there was still a chance of averting a shutdown, time was running out as House of Representatives Republicans fought with each other over the next steps. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama: Government shutdown won't delay healthcare exchange launch Friday, Sep 27, 2013 03:20 PM PDT  By Lewis Krauskopf (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Friday that the new state insurance exchanges created by his healthcare reform law will launch as scheduled on Tuesday even if the federal government shuts down due to Republican efforts to defund Obamacare. The new online health exchanges at the heart of Obama's Affordable Care Act are set to open for enrollment on October 1 after years of political attack, offering subsidized health coverage for millions of uninsured Americans. ... Full Story | Top |
| House Republican says has big support for Obamacare delay Friday, Sep 27, 2013 02:58 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A conservative Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday said that he and 61 colleagues will push for a one-year delay in Obamacare as part of a government funding measure the chamber will consider this weekend. This significant level of support for the proposed amendment by Representative Tom Graves of Georgia could indicate that Republicans cannot simply pass a straight-forward funding bill to keep the government open beyond September 30, which President Barack Obama is insisting upon. (Reporting By David Lawder; Editing by Sandra Maler) Full Story | Top |
| Kids of gay and lesbian parents lag on insurance Friday, Sep 27, 2013 01:32 PM PDT By Kathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Kids with same-sex parents are less likely to have private insurance than those with opposite-sex married parents, according to a new study. But some of those differences go away when states allow same-sex marriage or civil unions, researchers found. The connection isn't surprising but is important, lead author Gilbert Gonzales, from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, said. Evidence links insurance coverage with better general health among children, including fewer deaths, he told Reuters Health. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. physician payments vary widely, mysteriously: study Friday, Sep 27, 2013 01:12 PM PDT By Kathleen Raven NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Private insurance companies across the U.S. pay doctors dramatically different amounts for the same routine office visits and services, according to a new study. Physicians at the high end of the reimbursement spectrum get more than twice as much as those at the low end for the same service, with little apparent reason for the difference, researchers say. ... Full Story | Top |
| Immune drugs hold hope of "clinical cure" for deadly skin cancer Friday, Sep 27, 2013 12:27 PM PDT By Kate Kelland AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A new generation of drugs designed to trigger the immune system to fight cancer is offering the prospect of a "clinical cure" for some melanoma skin cancer patients who until a few years ago were more likely to be facing a swift death. Cancer specialists gathering for a European conference at the weekend said the so-called immunotherapy drugs, a class led by Bristol-Myers Squibb's Yervoy, or ipilimumab, have transformed an area of oncology in which until recently doctors barely had time to get to know their patients. ... Full Story | Top |
| Possible China partner for Peugeot no worry for GM Friday, Sep 27, 2013 12:13 PM PDT  By Ben Klayman NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Motors Co , which has been seeking to fix its ailing European operations, believes a crucial partnership in France would survive even if the French partner ties up with China's Dongfeng Motor Group Co Ltd , a top GM executive said on Friday. Reuters reported in June that the founding family of PSA Peugeot Citroen had offered to give up control of the automaker as it tried to revive plans for a closer tie-up with GM backed by a fresh capital injection. "We're not PSA's only partner ... ... Full Story | Top |
| FDA warns Pfizer's drug Tygacil raises risk of death Friday, Sep 27, 2013 10:38 AM PDT (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc's antibacterial drug Tygacil increases the risk of death whether used as authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or for unapproved conditions, the agency warned on Friday. Pfizer must place a warning inside a black box on the drug's label, indicating the risk is of the most serious nature. The FDA said the drug, which is usually given intravenously, should only be used when alternative treatments are not suitable. The drug is approved to treat complicated skin and abdominal infections and community-acquired bacterial pneumonia. ... Full Story | Top |
| Planned Parenthood sues Texas over abortion restrictions Friday, Sep 27, 2013 10:33 AM PDT (Reuters) - Planned Parenthood, the largest U.S. abortion provider, filed a lawsuit in federal court on Friday challenging part of a new Texas law which the group said will dramatically reduce access to safe abortions, especially in rural areas of the huge state. The lawsuit does not challenge two other restrictions that would prohibit abortion 20 weeks or more after the date of fertilization, except to save the life of the mother, and would require major upgrades to most abortion clinics to meet hospital surgical standards. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. clears Arkansas Medicaid expansion proposal Friday, Sep 27, 2013 10:25 AM PDT (Reuters) - The U.S. government approved Arkansas' proposal to use federal money targeted for expanding the Medicaid health program for the poor to help low-income residents buy private insurance under President Barack Obama's healthcare law. The request was approved by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency said on Friday. It will allow more than 200,000 uninsured state residents to receive government help to access health coverage. ... Full Story | Top |
| Teen health program fights obesity, depression Friday, Sep 27, 2013 09:35 AM PDT By Anne Harding NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A skills-building program offered as part of high school health classes may help prevent obesity, depression and drinking among teenagers, a new study suggests. "Our hope is that schools after seeing these outcomes will say, 'Hey, we want to implement this in our curriculum,'" Bernadette Melnyk, from The Ohio State University in Columbus, told Reuters Health. "We're talking about 15 hours in a high schooler's education that can have some pretty profound positive (outcomes). ... Full Story | Top |
| EU lawmakers back strict new approval system for medical devices Friday, Sep 27, 2013 09:16 AM PDT By Charlie Dunmore BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union lawmakers backed a strict new approval system for high-tech medical devices on Wednesday, raising industry fears of added delays in getting new products to market that could dull Europe's competitive edge. Members of the European Parliament's environment committee voted in favor of a new pre-market authorization system of randomized clinical trials for implantable devices, covering everything from hip replacements to artificial heart valves. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. approves first artificial pancreas system for diabetics Friday, Sep 27, 2013 08:44 AM PDT (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first artificial pancreas system for diabetics that reads blood sugar levels and automatically shuts off the flow of insulin. The device, made by Medtronic Inc, could help the 3 million Americans living with type 1 diabetes better manage their disease, which causes the immune system to destroy cells in the pancreas that make insulin. Patients suffering from type 1 diabetes, the inherited version of the disease, have to regularly monitor their blood sugar levels and take insulin several times a day. ... Full Story | Top |
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