Study: C-Reactive Protein Doesn’t Cause Heart Disease

Developing therapies that target C-reactive protein likely won't be effective, researchers say.

Candidates Aplenty for Spending on Comparative Effectiveness

The Institute of Medicine has come up with the 100 health topics it thinks should receive funding priority.

After Genetech Deal, Roche Says ‘So Long, PhRMA; Hello, BIO’

PhRMA will feel the loss of Roche through a dip in its revenues. Membership fees are based on a company’s annual sales, and Roche is a big contributor.

Geron, GE Healthcare Strike Stem-Cell Deal

The collaboration aims to use human embryonic stem cells to discover and develop new drugs.

Contaminated Sample of Nestle Cookie Dough Found

The contaminated sample was found at a plant in Virginia.

New Cancer Drugs: Most Not Worth the Cost?

Cancer drugs with limited benefits shouldn't be developed if they cost more than $20,000, say authors of a new study.

Abbott Ordered to Pay Hefty Damages to J&J

The damages are among the largest ever issued in a U.S. patent case.

Acetaminophen Worries: The End of NyQuil as We Know It?

The FDA is looking at ways to reduce the number of patients who accidentally overdose on the popular painkiller.

Grassley Pushes Tax on Health Benefits; Axelrod Won’t Rule It Out

The health-reform dance continues in Washington.

Why Industry May Back Limits on Junk Food in Schools

Many food companies now offer healthier products. Plus, a single set of federal rules would be easier to deal with than a patchwork of state laws.

A U.S. Generics Shop Looks to India for Biotech

Generic biotech drugs are coming to the U.S. But even in generic form, biologicals are far more complicated to manufacture than traditional drugs.

Study: Sanofi’s Lantus Insulin Has Possible Cancer Link

The French drug giant, whose stock fell more than 7%, said "no definitive conclusions can be drawn" from the data.

States Should Plan for H1N1 Vaccinations as Numbers Continue to Rise

More than 27,000 cases of the H1N1 virus have been identified in the U.S.

After Jackson’s Death, Tracking Causes of Sudden Cardiac Arrest

Most sudden cardiac deaths aren't caused by clogged arteries but by a disruption in the heart's electrical rhythm.

Schwarzenegger Pulls Back on Prison Health Improvements

The governor says the $1.9 billion price tag is too high at a time where the state is cutting other services.

Nestlé Said No to FDA Inspectors in Past

Food companies aren't required by law to give the FDA access to its records in many cases, but that could change.

NY State Sets Payments to Egg Donors for Stem-Cell Research

While in-vitro fertilization clinics usually pay donors, researchers who work with stem cells for therapeutic cloning face unclear payment rules.

China, Fighting ‘Porn,’ to Restrict Medical Information on Internet

Those who violate the policy restricting sexual-related Web content could be fined as much as $4,400.

Farrah Fawcett’s Death Spotlights Rare Cancer Type

Anal cancer strikes 1 in 624 Americans while colorectal cancer strikes 1 in 19.

Incoming Boston Scientific CEO Plans to Diversify Lineup

Jim Tobin is retiring after 10 years in the CEO post and will be succeeded by Ray Elliott, a company board member.

Sanofi to Dive Further into Generic Drug-Making Pool

The French giant faces the loss of patent protection on key products, including its lucrative anti-clotting drug Plavix.

Once Again, Washington Pledges to Fight Medicare Fraud

The U.S. spends $800 billion a year on Medicare and Medicaid, $60 billion of which is estimated to be lost to fraud.

Separating Fact from Fiction on Health-Care Reform

President Obama fielded questions from the public in a town hall meeting last night.

Former Exec: Insurers ‘Confuse Their Customers,’ ‘Dump the Sick’

A former Cigna executive unloaded on the industry in Senate testimony.

The Key to the Mediterranean Diet: Wine, Of Course

Researchers are untangling which elements of the diet may extend lives.

Unions Fight Over Health-Care Workers

As is often the case with this sort of schism, the new would-be rivals are former insiders.

Massachusetts Makes Cuts to Universal Health Plan

The plan has been discussed as a model for national health reform.

Research Piles Up on Links Between Cancer and Obesity

One study shows obesity later in life is associated with a lower survival rate in pancreatic cancer patients, but obesity earlier is tied to a higher risk for the cancer.

‘Pay-for-Delay’ Deals Cost Consumers $3.5 Billion a Year

The win-win situations for branded and generic companies are anticompetitive, says FTC chief.

Boston Scientific Gets Good Data on Heart-Tuning Device

Rates of death and need for further interventions were reduced 29% in patients receiving cardiac resynchronizers compared with traditional cardiac defibrillators.

The ABCs of Vitamin D: What Are its Real Benefits?

A $20 million government-funded trial is going to study whether the vitamin and fish oil lower the risk of cancer, heart disease or stroke in healthy individuals.

Pharma’s Doughnut Deal Could Slow Seniors’ Shift to Generics

Many Medicare recipients are likely to stick with branded medicines rather than switch to cheaper copycat drugs.

AARP Wins One With Pharma Pledge on Medicare Doughnut Hole

The drug industry had focused on low-income seniors but AARP wanted relief for all beneficiaries,

Walgreens, Express Scripts Fight Over ‘Blitzkrieg’ Audits

Dueling lawsuits show how tensions can flare between drug-store chains and pharmacy benefit managers.

Keep Getting MRSA? Check the Family Pet

Dogs and cats can be a reservoir for the nasty, drug-resistant bug.

Surgery Residents Exceed Work Limits at Mass General

Work limits for medical residents were created in the name of patient safety, but they remain unpopular with many doctors.

Steve Jobs News Highlights Liver Transplants

The report that Apple's chief had a liver transplant prompted a few interesting stories taking a broader look at the procedure.

Splitting the Medicare Drug Benefit’s Doughnut Hole

An $80 billion deal announced in Washington this weekend points to one of the odder features of Medicare Part D.

Nestle Recalls Cookie Dough After FDA Issues Illness Warning

The agency warned of possible E. coli contamination in Toll House cookie dough.

Nestlé Recalls Cookie Dough After FDA Issues Illness Warning

The agency warned of possible E. coli contamination in Toll House cookie dough.

Recruiter Report: Hiring Bonuses Spread for Doctors

The report also includes average pay offered in searches for several medical specialties.

Google, Consumer Genetics and the Recession

Consumers in a down economy probably aren't forking over hundreds of dollars to assess their genetic risk of certain diseases.

Health Reform: Medicare Cuts Are Tough to Make Stick

With Medicare cuts on the table as part of the health-reform debate, it's worth looking back at a previous effort to control the rise of Medicare spending.

Novartis Scores Big Hit on Small Market With Gene-Based Medicine

The effort shows a shift in thinking from the traditional blockbuster model of developing drugs targeted at millions of patients.

Funding for Global Health Quadruples, to $22 Billion

Funding skyrocketed since 1990, as the landscape of players changed significantly.

Funding for Global Health Quadruples, to More than $20 Billion

Funding skyrocketed since 1990, as the landscape of players changed significantly.

Insurers, Out-of-Network Payments and the New York AG

Andrew Cuomo today announced what he said was the last in a series of agreements aimed at changing the way insurers calculate "reasonable and customary" fees.

Report: Medical Costs to Rise 9% Next Year

The rise is a bit slower than in past years, but will still outpace inflation and workers' pay.

Go to the Mall, Swing By the Mayo Clinic

The famous clinic will open an outpost at the Mall of America.

Health Reform Poll: Tax the Rich, Don’t Tax Benefits

A majority of respondents also supported the idea of requiring everyone to buy health insurance, with government assistance for people with low and moderate incomes.

How Much Do Rookie Doctors Make? The Latest Scorecard

The lowest starting salary in 2008 was for pediatricians -- $132,500.

Rhode Island Joins States Legalizing Sale of Medical Marijuana

The governor had vetoed legislation allowing the state-licensed dispensaries, saying the increased availability would boost usage.

Trying to Keep Cost of Health-Care Reform at $1 Trillion

Higher-cost estimates worrying many in Congress, who don't want to incur more debt to improve the health-care system.

Genzyme Production Delay Shows Problems in Making Biologics

Cells must be grown carefully in sanitary conditions, and production of the medicine may take hundreds of steps from start to finish.

Hamburg Puts Faster Action, Medical Devices on FDA’s List

The medical-device industry worries about additional red tape in the approval process.

Serotonin Gene’s Link With Depression Not Valid, Says Study

A gene long thought to be a risk factor for depression when combined with environmental stress doesn't appear to be associated with increased depression risk after all. That's the finding of research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that analyzes pooled [...]

AMA: the White Coats Are Going, the White Coats Are Going

Now, backers just have to get hospitals to go along with adopting new dress codes aimed at preventing inflections.

More Medical Schools Beef Up Conflicts Policies

But more than half the schools still have inadequate policies or no policies at all.

Zicam, the FDA and Homeopathy

The FDA's warning on Zicam products illuminates a little-discussed corner of the health-care world: homeopathy.

Drinking Alcohol and Staying Healthy

Is moderate drinking really good for you?

Hospital Employee Gets Jail Time for Stealing Patient Records

He pleaded guilty to using the records to bill insurance companies for services that were never provided.

FDA Targets Fake Web Claims for H1N1 Products

Two-thirds of the Web sites have since removed the offending claims or products, the agency said.

Live Blog: AMA Responds to Obama Speech

Nancy Nielsen, the AMA's outgoing president, and J. James Rohack, who will become the group's president tomorrow, are holding a press conference to respond to the president's speech on health reform.

Text of Obama’s Speech to the AMA

President Obama tells the American Medical Association that health-care reform must happen this year.

Health Officials Struggle to Estimate Need for Flu Supplies

Health officials find it challenging to determine how many medical supplies to have on hand for unpredictable situations like the H1N1 flu pandemic.

Congress Invests in Health Care

Some 30 members of Congress have health-care holdings ranging somewhere from $11 million to $27 million.

Obama to Press His Health-Reform Case Before a Wary AMA

The doctors' group has said it opposes aspects of a government-run health-plan option.

Mental Illness in China Found Higher Than in Previous Tallies

"A major redistribution of societal and health resources is needed...," a study in the Lancet says.

Recession Helps Nursing Shortage, At Least for the Moment

There is one benefit of the recession: it has reduced the nursing shortage.

AMA Weighs Whether Docs Should Hang Up Their White Coats

The measure would urge hospitals to adopt dress codes of “bare below the elbows,” to avoid carrying bacteria between patients via coat sleeves.

Disease Prevention in Germany Is Mostly Good for Doctors

Widespread screening for breast, prostate and colon cancer does little good except for those giving the tests, says Der Spiegel.

Debate on Public-Health Option Turns to Talk of Co-Op

Some senators on both sides of the aisle, such as Charles Grassley and Chris Dodd, appear to like the notion.

Does Preventing Disease Really Save Money?

The efforts can help the patient but do little for the health-care system.

Glaxo Says No to Russia on Cutting Price of HIV Drug

A dispute between GlaxoSmithKline and the government demonstrates the challenge of drug pricing in emerging markets.

What a Pandemic Means in U.S.: Keep Doing What We’re Doing

The CDC says U.S. efforts to prevent and treat H1N1 flu won't change despite WHO's higher global flu alert.

Live Blog: WHO Declares Flu Pandemic

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan is talking about the decision to raise the pandemic-alert level to Phase 6 from 5.

More Opposition Forms to Government Insurance Option

Patient services should be "provided through private markets, as they are currently," doctors say.

Pew Survey: Health Consumers Find More Help on Web

Some 60% of e-patients say they or someone they know has been helped by medical info on the Web, up from 31% of e-patients in 2006.

Settlements May Give Some Relief on Drug Prices

Total savings in the first year are likely to be about $1 billion, according to a witness in the case.

FDA Panel OKs More Antipsychotics for Children

The advisory committee took various actions on AstraZeneca’s Seroquel, Pfizer’s Geodon and Eli Lilly’s Zyprexa.

AMA Looks to Put Brakes on Debt Load of Med Students

One cost-cutting approach would be to reduce the length of medical schooling, perhaps through combined B.A./M.D. programs.

AstraZeneca Chalks Up Seroquel Dismissal in State Court

The judge said in his opinion that he was unconvinced by one of the plaintiff's expert witnesses.

Another Emory Psychiatrist Draws Fire for Payments From Glaxo

Grassley said Glaxo paid Stowe $154,400 in 2007 and $99,300 during the first 10 months of 2008.

Hazy Data Complicate Drunk-Driver Measures

Drunk-driving opponents disagreement on what blood-alcohol levels to use, one of the topics in dispute.

Will Icahn’s Double Biotech Win Augur M&A Action?

Biogen Idec and Amylin both meet a few basic criteria that tend to make biotech companies appealing takeover targets.

Being a Sports Team Doctor Has Its Pressures

Physicians can't defend their work publicly because of patient confidentialty roles.

Baucus: Don’t Like Comparative Effectiveness? Meet ‘Fred’

A different name might make the subject less ominous, the Senate Finance Committee chairman says.

Clarcon Skin Products Should Be Tossed, FDA Warns

The Web site for Clarcon Biological Chemistry Laboratory Inc. boasts that the company's skin-care products offer "protection like no other." Now the FDA has given the slogan new meaning. The agency is telling consumers they should stop using skin products made by the Roy, Utah, company, [...]

Judge’s Sentence for Former Bristol-Myers Exec: Write a Book

The case is connected to the company's 2006 effort to delay generic competition for the blood-thinner plavix.

Diabetes Drugs: Here Come the GLiPs

A class of drugs that promote weight loss and improve blood-sugar control showed promising results at this weekend's diabetes conference.

Health Reform: Costs, Variations in Care & Public Insurance

If one city spends twice as much as another on health care without any noticeable benefit for patients, health wonks have long argued, there must be a way to find some savings.

One Way to Cut Subsidized Insurance Rolls: Raise Rates

Washington State is raising premiums on its subsidized insurance plan, in order to drive people off the rolls to save money.

Hospital Misques: Sending Pages to Dr. Wrong

Urgent messages are often misdirected, delaying responses from the proper physician.

Health IT in Three-Part Harmony

An M.D. has recorded a YouTube ode to the stimulus bill and health IT.

Sen. Grassley Twitters Health Reform: A Story In Tweets

Grassley's widely reported tweets to Obama on health reform made us wonder: What else has the Senator tweeted on the subject?

Diabetes Roundup: Drugs, Stents and Stocks

What the news out of this weekend's diabetes conference means for diabetics, and for the market.

Should Doctors Say How Often They’ve Performed a Procedure?

In chorionic villus sampling, a procedure performed on pregnant women, the risk of miscarriage declines as the doctor gains experience.

New Avandia Study Brings Good News, Critics for Glaxo

The American Diabetes Association, which last year recommended against using the drug, may reconsider that decision.

FDA Sees Benefits, Risks in Antipsychotics for Children

AstraZeneca's Seroquel, Eli Lilly's Zyprexa and Pfizer's Geodon are all being considered for use in children.

Shooting Sparks Closer Look at Late-Term Abortions

While nearly 90% of abortions are conducted in the first trimester, slightly more than 1% are conducted after 21 weeks.

Merck Hopes for Heart-Failure Drug Suffer Blow

Trial results are a setback for the company that -- like others in the drug industry -- has been struggling to bring new drugs to market.

Again With the Nuclear Medicine Shortage

A shortage of an isotope used in important medical tests is a replay of what happened in late 2007.

Retails Clinics Set to Roll Out New Services

Walgreens and CVS are moving beyond colds and common infections to treat chronic health conditions like asthma.

EPA Reviews Safety of Recycled Tires in Playgrounds

There are no new conclusions yet, but the study is continuing.

J&J Could Try its Hand Selling Branded Generics Abroad

The company says it doesn't have much interest in selling the copycat medicines in the U.S.

Changes Could Be Coming for Pre-Meds and the MCAT

A new report suggests the pre-med curriculum, long built on a rigid set of course requirements, may become more flexible.

Should Medicare Run Auctions on Reimbursement Fees?

Regional variations in payments would be smoothed out and specialists might move to less doctor-populated areas.

Medical Bills Are Found Linked to Most Bankruptcies

Even those with health insurance were found to take a hard financial hit.

Pharmacies Can Fill Big Role in Health Overhaul, Walgreens Says

But to produce cost savings, drug stores need to be paid more than the $2 to $4 a prescription they currently receive, CEO argues.

What Could Insurers Do to Make Plans Easier to Understand?

Most people are in the dark about health care costs and insurance coverage.

NYC Health Dept. Buys Google Ads for Flu Searches

Why a public health agency is a Google customer.

MedPAC Is Primed for Bigger Role in Health-Care Overhaul

The Medicare advisory panel for Congress gets a boost from Obama.

From Pfizer, First U.S. Cancer Drug for Dogs

It's a sign of peoples' willingness to spend money on their pets, and of the drug industry's push to expand multiple revenue streams.

Jobs Front: Hospital Layoffs Update

Here are a few recent reports from around the country of hospitals that are cutting workers as they feel the pinch of the recession.

As Health Costs Bite Aetna, Analysts Downgrade Stock

While some analysts said the lower estimate was already priced into the stock, others quickly downgraded the company.

WHO Could Soon Declare Flu Pandemic

Phase 6 would mean the H1N1 strain of flu is spreading widely through communities in more than one part of the world.

Study: Depression Prevention Can Work For Some Teens

But those with at least one currently depressed parent didn't benefit from the program.

Obama Pushes Theme That Health Reform Is Good Economics

Cutting costs from the system would increase gross domestic product, his economic advisers say in a new report.

FDA Tries to Decide What Should, Shouldn’t Be Kept Secret

The FDA is putting together a task force to consider what the agency can disclose to the public about the decisions it makes.

Microsoft Buys Genetic Data Software from Merck

The deal is part of a push by Microsoft to get more heavily involved in health care.

Piecing Together Data on Suspect in Abortion Doctor’s Killing

Scott Roeder is described as holding anti-government and extremist anti-abortion views.

Drug-Company Pens Are Endangered Species at Cancer Confab

At past conferences like this, doctors with bags "would run from booth to booth, lined up like kids on Halloween."

Study: Drug Doesn’t Reduce Repetitive Behaviors in Autism

A total of 149 children with autism and related disorders were treated with either citalopram or a placebo for 12 weeks.

Cost Control: Docs, Hospitals, Insurers, Labor & Industry

A kitchen sink of health-care players sent a letter to the president today explaining how they plan to slow the rise of health costs.

Health Cost Control: Docs, Hospitals, Insurers, Labor & Industry

A kitchen sink of health-care players sent a letter to the president today explaining how they plan to slow the rise of health costs.

Hospitals Fight to Keep Tax-Exemption Rules

Congress is considering creating stricter requirements for nonprofit hospitals to keep their tax-exempt status.

ASCO: New Research on Breast, Stomach and Lung Cancers

Here's a roundup of some of the findings presented this weekend at ASCO, the big cancer conference.

From Targeted Cancer Drugs to Targeted Cocktails

A partnership between Merck and AstraZeneca is a sign that the era of targeted cancer drugs is maturing.

Doctor Who Performed Abortions Is Murdered in Kansas

George Tiller had long been the subject of threats of violence and legal action.