Today's Reuters Health News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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FDA adds diabetes, memory loss warnings to statins
Tue,28 Feb 2012 10:14 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - U.S. health regulators will add warnings to the labels of widely used cholesterol lowering drugs, such as Lipitor, to indicate that they may raise levels of blood sugar and could cause memory loss. The Food and Drug administration announced the changes to the safety information on the labels of statins such as Pfizer Inc's Lipitor, AstraZeneca's Crestor and Merck & Co's Zocor. Statins have been shown to significantly reduce the risk of heart attack and heart disease, and the FDA said the new information should not scare people into stopping taking the drugs. ... Full Story | Top |
Statin use tied to lower depression risk: study
Tue,28 Feb 2012 05:47 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - People with heart disease who take cholesterol-lowering statins, among the most widely used medications around the world, may have a lower risk of depression than those who don't take the drugs, according to a U.S. study of nearly a thousand people. It's still not clear whether the medications themselves have anything to do with the difference in mood among users, said Christian Otte, at the Charite University Medical Center in Berlin, who led the study. But the results do support the hypothesis that clogged-up blood vessels in the brain could play a role in depression. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. backs Fresenius buy of Liberty with clinic sales
Tue,28 Feb 2012 05:11 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - German healthcare conglomerate Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co has won U.S. antitrust approval to buy Liberty Dialysis Holdings Inc, provided it sells 60 dialysis clinics, the Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday. Fresenius has more than 1,800 outpatient dialysis clinics in the United States that serve some 130,000 patients while Liberty has 260 dialysis centers that serve some 19,000 patients, the FTC said. The FTC said the outpatient dialysis clinics to be sold were in 43 U.S. markets. ... Full Story | Top |
Doctors: don't push young ballplayers too much
Tue,28 Feb 2012 05:10 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - Baseball and softball are some of the safest sports for children to play, but parents and coaches should make sure young players are properly trained and keep from pushing them too hard, according to new guidelines from U.S. pediatricians. The American Academy of Pediatrics, or AAP, said in the journal Pediatrics that one of the biggest risks is that kids are stressing their arms too often and learning new skills before their bodies are ready for them. "Moderation is key here. ... Full Story | Top |
Cancer seen killing 1.3 million EU citizens in 2012
Tue,28 Feb 2012 04:30 PM PST
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Almost 1.3 million people will die of cancer in the European Union this year, but death rates from the disease are on a steady decline, according to new research released on Wednesday. A study of all types of cancer across the 27-country EU bloc found that more men than women are likely to die from the disease, and that "substantial reductions" in the number of deaths from breast cancer would lower death rates for women. Despite this, breast cancer remains the leading cause of female cancer deaths in the bloc. ... Full Story | Top |
US backs Fresenius buy of Liberty with clinic sales
Tue,28 Feb 2012 03:15 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - German healthcare conglomerate Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co has won U.S. antitrust approval to buy Liberty Dialysis Holdings Inc, provided it sells 60 dialysis clinics, the Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday. Fresenius has more than 1,800 outpatient dialysis clinics in the United States that serve some 130,000 patients while Liberty has 260 dialysis centers that serve some 19,000 patients, the FTC said. The FTC said the outpatient dialysis clinics to be sold were in 43 U.S. markets. ... Full Story | Top |
Ohio school shooter confesses as death toll climbs
Tue,28 Feb 2012 03:01 PM PST
Reuters -  CHARDON, Ohio (Reuters) - The 17-year-old boy held in a shooting rampage at an Ohio high school has confessed to opening fire on fellow students he picked at random, prosecutors said on Tuesday, as two more teenagers died, bringing the death toll to three. Prosecutors identified the shooter as T.J. Lane and said he has admitted to taking a knife and a .22-caliber pistol into the cafeteria at Chardon High School in a town 35 miles east of Cleveland on Monday and firing 10 rounds. Students Demetrius Hewlin and Russell King Jr. ...
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Venezuela says Chavez fine after Cuba surgery
Tue,28 Feb 2012 02:42 PM PST
Reuters -  CARACAS (Reuters) - Surgeons removed a lesion from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's pelvis and the socialist leader is in "good physical condition" after the operation, his vice president said on Tuesday. Chavez, 57, had new surgery in Cuba despite his previous insistence that he had been cured of cancer after two procedures by doctors in Havana last year. The latest health setback has fueled fresh doubts about Chavez's health, his ability to campaign for re-election in October and his fitness to govern the South American nation for another six-year term if he wins. ...
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Spine implant maker fined for unapproved devices
Tue,28 Feb 2012 02:32 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - A spinal implant manufacturer and its chief executive have reached a $1 million settlement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for selling unapproved devices. The settlement requires privately held Globus Medical Inc of Audubon, Pennsylvania, to pay a $550,000 penalty and David Paul, its CEO, to pay $450,000, FDA said in a statement. During a September 2010 inspection, FDA investigators learned the company had marketed its NuBone Osteoinductive Bone Graft product without proper regulatory approval. ... Full Story | Top |
Pills as good as stents for some patients: study
Tue,28 Feb 2012 02:31 PM PST
Reuters - CHICAGO (Reuters) - Treating stable heart patients with a handful of pills works just as well as propping open blocked heart arteries with a stent, U.S. researchers said on Monday, adding to evidence that less-invasive, less-costly drug treatment works as well as implanting a medical device in such patients. Stents, made by companies such as Boston Scientific Corp, Abbott Laboratories and Medtronic Inc, are still the preferred treatment for opening up blocked heart arteries in patients rushed to the hospital with an acute heart attack. ... Full Story | Top |
Egyptian middleman bought fake Avastin from Turkey
Tue,28 Feb 2012 02:31 PM PST
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - Fake versions of the multibillion-dollar cancer drug Avastin were purchased in Turkey before being traded by middlemen across the Middle East and Europe to the United States, an Egyptian businessman involved said on Tuesday. Milad Kamal Ayad, who works on commission for Egyptian firm SAWA, told Reuters he sourced 167 packets of Avastin from Turkey, via a Syrian businessman also based in Egypt, for Swiss-based Hadicon AG. The drug, found to be counterfeit, eventually reached clinics in California, Texas and Illinois. ... Full Story | Top |
Clamor for obesity pill may test FDA limits
Tue,28 Feb 2012 02:30 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. drug regulators may have a hard time stopping millions of overweight Americans from taking a new obesity drug that many are likely to view as a miracle pill for slimming waistlines, despite its safety risks. Regulators and doctors are hoping they can limit the pill, called Qnexa, to only those patients that need it most, helping fight the nation's obesity epidemic while avoiding exposing people to unnecessary risks of birth defects and heart problems. ... Full Story | Top |
FDA adds diabetes, memory loss warnings to statins
Tue,28 Feb 2012 02:29 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - Health regulators are adding warnings to the labels of widely used cholesterol lowering drugs, such as Lipitor, to say they may raise levels of blood sugar and could cause memory loss. The Food and Drug Administration announced on Tuesday the changes to the safety information on the labels of statins such as Pfizer Inc's Lipitor, AstraZeneca's Crestor and Merck & Co's Zocor that are taken by tens of millions of people. ... Full Story | Top |
Fake Avastin had salt, starch, chemicals: Roche
Tue,28 Feb 2012 02:21 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - Counterfeit versions of the cancer drug Avastin found in Europe and the United States earlier this month contained salt, starch and a variety of chemicals, but none of the life extending medicine or any other biotech drug, Roche said. The Swiss drugmaker said on Monday that British health regulators sent it a small number of vials of the counterfeit Avastin to it for analysis. Roche analyzed three of the vials and found that they contained none of the injectable cancer medicine's active ingredient or any protein or biologic drug, the company said. ... Full Story | Top |
Statin use tied to lower risk of depression: study
Tue,28 Feb 2012 02:20 PM PST
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with heart disease who take cholesterol-lowering statins may have a lower risk of depression than those who don't take the drugs, according to a new study from California. It's still not clear whether the popular medications have anything to do with the brighter mood among users. But the results do support the hypothesis that clogged-up blood vessels in the brain could play a role in depression, said Dr. Christian Otte. ... Full Story | Top |
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