Month: December 2013

By Alexander Winning LONDON (Reuters) – Two former assistants of celebrity chef Nigella Lawson were acquitted of defrauding her and her art dealer ex-husband on Friday after a trial that enthralled Britain with lurid tales of drug use, lavish spending and marital bullying. Sisters Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo were cleared of defrauding Lawson and Charles Saatchi of 685,000 pounds ($1.12 million), having argued in court there had been an understanding they could spend at will on credit cards if they kept quiet about the chef's drug taking. The trial produced sensational accounts of the high society marriage which fell apart earlier this year after Saatchi was photographed clasping his wife's throat at a restaurant in London's Mayfair.

By Patrick Temple-West WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate on Friday voted to confirm John Koskinen as the new head of the Internal Revenue Service, giving the beleaguered tax agency its fourth chief in little more than a year. A 74-year-old lawyer with little tax experience, Koskinen was nominated in August by President Barack Obama. He was approved by the Democrat-controlled Senate in a 59-36 vote. That is when the IRS, still recovering from its worst crisis in years, will start processing its annual crush of about 240 million tax returns, as well as carrying out key parts of Obama's new healthcare law.

Amarin Corp Plc’s shares jumped 38 percent following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s surprise move to delay a decision on approval for an expanded use of the Irish drugmaker’s blood fat-lowering drug. Analysts expected the FDA to reject the wider use of the drug, Vascepa, after a panel of advisors in October said it should not be approved for a broader population until results from an additional study were analyzed. Amarin’s stock has lost nearly 63 percent of its value since then. The FDA in October also revoked an agreement that guaranteed that the design of a late-stage trial of Vascepa was adequate to support a marketing application.

By Kathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Shrugging off chronic knee pain as an inevitable part of aging puts men in their 70s at risk for accelerated muscle loss, falls and generally reduced quality of life, a new study suggests. “This study confirms the findings of many studies indicating that chronic knee pain will seriously impact quality of life in older people,” lead author Marlene Franzen said. Franzen is an associate professor of physiotherapy at the University of Sydney in Australia. Nearly half of men over 70 have chronic knee pain, according to her team’s report in the journal in Age and Ageing.

NEW YORK (AP) — Years after being exiled to New York City’s sidewalks by a ban on smoking in indoor public places, some smokers relished electronic cigarettes as a way to come in from the cold.

A U.S. law firm is launching a class action against France’s Sanofi over what it calls misleading statements on the safety and efficacy of its multiple sclerosis drug Lemtrada. Sanofi acquired Lemtrada when it bought U.S. biotech firm Genzyme for $20.1 billion in 2011. The drug’s prospects took center-stage in a drawn-out takeover battle and led to a deal in which Genzyme shareholders received listed contingent value rights (CVRs) linked to Lemtrada’s future success. The firm alleged that over this period, Sanofi and some of its senior executives made false and misleading statements about its business and the prospects for Lemtrada, and misled investors over the design of its clinical trials on the drug.

LONDON (Reuters) – Altria Group and Philip Morris International (PMI), the makers of Marlboro cigarettes in the United States and internationally, are teaming up to market electronic cigarettes and other “reduced risk” tobacco products. Less dangerous alternatives to cigarettes are a key focus for big tobacco firms as governments worldwide crack down and consumers cut back. …

Uterine Procedure has been cited in spreading undetected cancer in two cases.