Month: July 2014

BOSTON (AP) — Two years after a deadly nationwide meningitis outbreak linked to a compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts, Gov. Deval Patrick on Thursday signed a law he said would address a “gray area” between state and federal oversight of the pharmacies.

France said Thursday it has joined forces with 13 other European countries to negotiate a lower price for a promising new hepatitis C drug that has drawn controversy for its astronomical cost. Sovaldi, made by US pharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences, has shown huge potential at helping cure the liver disease but its price — more than 50,000 euros ($68,000) for a 12-week course of treatment — has health authorities concerned. "If we accept such a high price, firstly we won't be able to treat everyone and we will also be creating a risk for our social security system, which means for other patients," French Health Minister Marisol Touraine said Thursday. "So I launched an initiative… to mobilise all European countries and make sure we join forces to weigh on price negotiations with this US laboratory.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Arms up! Legs out!

We should be excited to wake up in the morning and meditate, drink our morning coffee, or go to work. Why waste time showing up for a life that you don't want, doing work that you don't value, or be around people that don't uplift or inspire you?

By Reuters Staff BOSTON (Reuters) – Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed a law Thursday to rein in compounding pharmacies, after tainted drugs produced by a local company sparked a meningitis outbreak in 2012 that killed 64 people across the United States. The new law gives greater power to the state board that regulates such pharmacies which mix but do not manufacture drugs and are subject to lighter standards of oversight than drug manufacturers – and sets stricter licensing standards. Under the Massachusetts legislation, the state's Board of Registration in Pharmacy will be required to participate in national reporting systems on pharmacies. It will be authorized to conduct unannounced inspections of pharmacies that hold the companies accountable to the newly raised standards.

Sarepta Therapeutics Inc said patients trialing its muscle wasting disorder drug showed an accelerated decline in walking ability after nearly three years of use, sending the company’s shares down as much as 28 percent. The drug, eteplirsen, is designed to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a degenerative disorder that hampers muscle movement and affects one in 3,600 newborn boys. “The reason for the sell-off in the stock is related to the acceleration in the rate of decline over the last six months, which can be taken as waning in eteplirsen efficacy,” Roth Capital Partners analyst Debjit Chattopadhyay wrote in a note.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Veterans Affairs has appointed a top health administrator to serve as interim director of its Office of Medical Inspector.

Dallas pediatric cancer patients got a surprise visit from Spiderman.

By Sharon Begley NEW YORK (Reuters) – Appearing to buck national trends, the prevalence of severe obesity among school children in New York City was down by almost 10 percent in the 2010-11 school year from 2006-07, researchers reported on Thursday. Earlier research had shown a decline in overall obesity among New York City public school children, but the prevalence of severe obesity had not been studied. Public health experts have worried that while “easy” cases of obesity were being addressed, more and more children might be moving from being merely obese to extremely so, putting them at risk for heart disease, diabetes and other illnesses. In New York City, at least, that appears not to be happening.