Month: April 2014

(Reuters) – Zogenix Inc said it sought a restraining order against an order by Massachusetts officials blocking sales of its FDA-approved painkiller, Zohydro. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick announced the Zohydro ban in late March, formally declaring a public health emergency stemming from the abuse of opioids in the state. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, follows an unanswered formal request to the Governor for a meeting to discuss the drug, the company said on Monday.

The businessman accused of arranging for his new bride to be murdered during their honeymoon in Cape Town was flown back to South Africa on Monday night after more than three years of trying to avoid extradition on mental health grounds. Shrien Dewani, 34, left Britain at around 0800 p.m. BST after having been met at Bristol airport by representatives of the South African authorities who accompanied him on the flight, London's Metropolitan police said in a statement. Dewani was expected to make a brief court appearance on arrival on Tuesday morning before being transferred to hospital for more psychiatric tests, British media reports said. Dewani is accused of conspiring to kill his wife, Anni, 28, a Swedish national, who was shot in November 2010 when the taxi the couple were travelling in was hijacked in the Gugulethu township on the outskirts of Cape Town.

By Curtis Skinner NEW YORK (Reuters) – The percentage of Americans without health insurance dipped to its lowest in nearly six years due in part to U.S. President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law, commonly known as Obamacare, according to a Gallup poll released on Monday. Some 15.6 percent of Americans lacked health insurance in the first three months of 2014, down from a high of 18 percent in late 2013, according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index survey. "'Obamacare' appears to be accomplishing its goal of increasing the percentage of Americans with health insurance coverage," the report said. Black and low-income Americans saw some of the most pronounced drops in the uninsured rate, with declines of more than 3 percentage points.

By Angela Moon NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks fell on Monday with the S&P 500 posting its biggest three-day drop in two months, as investors bid down Internet stocks and rotated into defensive names to protect against further declines. Internet stocks were among the day's biggest decliners with Amazon.com down 1.6 percent at $317.76 and Yahoo! Inc off 3.5 percent at $33.07. The Global X Social Media ETF which includes Groupon Inc and LinkedIn fell 2.5 percent. The Nasdaq index posted its worst three-day decline since November 2011. …

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – People’s chances of getting a new primary care doctor vary depending on their insurance, according to a new study. Researchers calling doctors’ offices and claiming to be a patient with private insurance had about an 85 percent success rate for getting appointments. Their success rate was about 58 percent when they claimed to have Medicaid, the government insurance for the poor. The high success rates for getting an appointment may bode well for the millions of Americans who recently gained insurance through the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly referred to as Obamacare.

By Jon Herskovitz AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – Texas will carry out the execution of convicted murderer Ramiro Hernandez this week after a U.S. appeals court on Monday ruled that the state does not have to reveal where it gets its lethal injection drug. Texas is set to execute Hernandez, a 44-year-old Mexican native, on Wednesday for breaking into the home of a couple in 1997, beating a man to death and raping his wife. A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit Court said the drug used by Texas was effective and there was no compelling evidence that protections provided by the U.S. Constitution would be violated under current procedures. The 5th Circuit made a similar decision last week when it reversed a stay for another inmate, Tommy Lynn Sells, who was executed last Thursday.