Month: March 2013

(Reuters) – Nearly a third of people diagnosed as children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) still have the condition in adulthood, according to a U.S. study of thousands. The researchers, whose findings appeared in Pediatrics, also found that these people were more likely to develop other mental disorders, such as anxiety or depression, and commit suicide. …

(Reuters) – AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc said its experimental drug-device combination to manage post-operative pain met the main goal of a late-stage study on patients who have undergone major open abdominal surgery. The Redwood City, California company’s shares jumped 10 percent to $5.49 after the bell on Monday. The top-line results, reported from a 178-patient study of AcelRx’s Sufentanil NanoTab patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) system, showed that the drug-device combination helped reduce pain significantly compared with a placebo, the company said. …

LONDON (Reuters) – Years of universal healthcare, rising health spending, cancer screening, immunization and anti-smoking laws have failed to stop Britain falling behind in reducing early death and disease, a study showed on Tuesday. Researchers who compared Britain's health performance since 1990 with 14 European Union countries plus Australia, Canada, Norway and the United States said its pace of decline in premature death was "persistently and significantly" behind the average – a finding they described as "startling". …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Congressional Republicans announced a plan on Monday to avoid a government shutdown later this month, seeking to calm the waters after months of budget fights that ended in a failure last week to halt damaging spending cuts. Just three days into the $85 billion of automatic "sequester" cuts, Republicans in the House of Representatives turned their attention to the next fiscal deadline: the March 27 expiration of funding for government agencies and programs. …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration on Monday voted against approval of two drugs designed to reduce the frequency and severity of hot flashes associated with menopause, concluding that neither conferred enough benefit to offset their risk. The panel voted 12-2 against a drug made by Depomed Inc, sending the company's shares down 9.8 percent to $5.89 on the Nasdaq. Depomed's shares fell as low as $5.12 immediately after they resumed trading following a halt pending the results of the panel's meeting. …

(Reuters) – AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc said its experimental drug-device combination for post-operative pain met the main goal of a late-stage study on patients who have undergone major open abdominal surgery. AcelRx shares jumped 10 percent to $5.49 after the bell on Monday. The top-line results reported from a 178-patient study of AcelRx’s sublingual Sufentanil NanoTab PCA system showed that the patient-controlled drug-device combination helped reduce pain significantly compared with a placebo, the company said. (Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui in Bangalore; Editing by Roshni Menon)