Year: 2014

A Pittsburgh hospital plans to chill patients to buy them time.

By C.E. Huggins NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Marijuana smokers' behavior is more important than the potency of their pot or how much of the psychoactive ingredient THC they take in for predicting who will become dependent, according to a small new study. Researchers have debated whether smokers of high-potency cannabis varieties are at greater risk of addiction because they get more THC, or if they compensate for the pot's strength by using or inhaling less of it. But it's their style of pot smoking that predicted who was most likely to become dependent. Most previous research into cannabis dependence has looked mainly at how frequently a person uses cannabis, Van der Pol and her team note in the journal Addiction.

Brooklyn man said he was escorted out by police for contraband food.

By Susan Heavey WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Officials in Massachusetts have blocked sales of Zogenix's controversial but U.S.-approved painkiller Zohydro, prompting the drugmaker to criticize what it called an "unprecedented action." The state's ban "only serves to unfairly restrict patient access," the company said in a statement late Thursday. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick announced the Zohydro ban in a speech on Thursday, formally declaring a public health emergency stemming from the abuse of opioids in the New England state. Bradley Galer, chief medical officer of Zogenix, said Massachusetts officials are misguided about Zohydro's potency and dosage, and noted that other painkillers without abuse-resistant technologies are already on the U.S. market. The drug has since come under further scrutiny from members of Congress, dozens of state attorney generals, medical groups and drug treatment experts seeking to block the drug even as the FDA's top official has defended its action.

A Pittsburgh hospital is set to test suspended animation.

By Toni Clarke WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A review of MannKind Corp's experimental inhaled insulin device by U.S. Food and Drug Administration staff raised questions about its safety and effectiveness but was less damning than some investors had expected. The company's shares initially rose as much as 10.6 percent before falling back amid conflicting opinions from analysts on how the FDA will likely rule. The reviewers issued their report ahead of a meeting on Tuesday of outside advisers to the FDA, who will discuss clinical trial data and advise on whether the product, Afrezza, should be approved. The FDA is not obliged to follow the advice of its advisory panels but typically does so.

Soldier flew back from Afghanistan to be tested as a match for his Vietnam veteran grandfather.

By Ben Klayman DETROIT (Reuters) – General Motors Co said on Friday it had told its dealers to stop selling certain Chevrolet Cruze small cars without saying why, in another blow to a company already facing a crisis over defective ignition switches linked to at least 12 deaths. The automaker said the affected Cruze cars, 2013 and 2014 models equipped with a 1.4-liter turbo engine, are not being recalled. The action only covers the affected models that are unsold on dealer lots, which make up about one-third of the vehicle's inventory at dealers, a GM spokesman said. The 1.4-liter gas turbo engine accounts for about 60 percent of the Cruze's retail sales mix in any given month, a GM spokesman said.