Month: April 2013

BEIJING (AP) — Almost three weeks after China reported finding a new strain of bird flu in humans, experts are still stumped by how people are becoming infected when many appear to have had no recent contact with live fowl and the virus seemingly isn't passing from person to person.

(Reuters) – Health insurer Humana Inc said on Thursday that it has begun an internal review of the events around an announcement on April 1 of a government policy change related to private Medicare. News of the government’s change in how it would reimburse insurers leaked into the market that day ahead of the announcement and Humana’s shares rose sharply. Humana spokesman Ton Noland confirmed that the company has started the probe and fired the law firm of the lobbyist who was working for Humana and who had been named by the Wall Street Journal as having been involved in the leak. …

Specially trained golden retrievers help community cope after tragedy.        

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Internal investigators faulted the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday for years of delays in completing health studies needed to guide the cleanup of a Montana mining town where hundreds of people have died from asbestos exposure.

(Reuters) – Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc said its experimental drug improved lung function in adults with cystic fibrosis in a mid-stage trial, sending its shares 54 percent higher in after-hours trading. The company said on Thursday the favorable results were seen in patients who took the drug, known as VX-661, in combination with its already approved treatment for cystic fibrosis, Kalydeco (ivacaftor) in a short 28-day study. …