Year: 2014

(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it approved Bristol-Myers Squibb Co’s drug to treat rare and potentially fatal disorders involving loss of body fat. The condition, known as generalized lipodystrophy, involves fat buildup in the blood and organs such as liver and muscle and can lead to diabetes, pancreatitis and fatty liver disease. The FDA said it required seven post-marketing studies on the drug, Myalept. (http://r.reuters.com/jam27v) (Reporting by Shailesh Kuber; Editing by Ted Kerr)

By Philippa Croome and Elias Biryabarema KAMPALA (Reuters) – Uganda's currency tumbled on Wednesday on concerns that a new anti-gay law will damage relations with Western countries alarmed at what they see as a government-backed violation of human rights. President Yoweri Museveni's approval of the law on Monday, imposing jail sentences of up to life for gay sex, reflects a gulf in social attitudes between conservative Africa and the West, with Washington saying the law complicated its "valued relationship" with Uganda and several European countries withholding aid. The shilling fell 2 percent on Wednesday before Uganda's central bank intervened to stop the slide, after Denmark and Norway said they would hold back on aid and others threatened to follow. The currency movement appeared to confirm the prediction by Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg who said on Tuesday the law was a "financial risk" for Uganda.

By Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU politicians voted for a new anti-tobacco law on Wednesday that forces cigarette makers to increase the size of health warnings on packets and for the first time regulates electronic cigarettes. Following Wednesday's plenary vote at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, ministers from EU member states are expected to give the law final endorsement next month, although it will only start taking effect from 2016. The rules also include a ban on smoking tobacco products containing flavors such as fruit or vanilla. Menthol cigarettes will be banned from 2020, after some governments demanded a slower phase-out.

By Belinda Goldsmith LONDON (Reuters) – Britain's embattled Co-operative Group said on Wednesday it was selling its farming business and looking at offloading its pharmacies as the BBC reported the group was about to report the worst loss in its 170-year history. The sales are part of a restructuring at the member-owned group rocked in the past year by the discovery of a 1.5 billion pound capital hole in its banking arm and a drugs scandal involving ex-chairman, Methodist minister Paul Flowers.

The image of a limb can ease phantom limb pain.        

By Ransdell Pierson NEW YORK (Reuters) – Ten years ago, cash-strapped biotechnology company Northwest Biotherapeutics Inc was down to three employees and one week from closing its doors when a financial backer came forward at the annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. By 2007, that backer, Linda Powers, had become chairman of the Maryland-based company. A venture capitalist, Powers remains one of its largest shareholders and has invested more than $20 million in the company and its experimental drugs for brain cancer and inoperable tumors. "Through two major recessions and pummeling in the capital markets, we've chosen to keep our focus." Now worth close to $300 million, Northwest's stock has jumped 75 percent this year to the $7 range.

By Carey Gillam KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) – A Missouri man was executed early on Wednesday for raping and murdering a 15 year-old school girl, authorities said after the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a flurry of petitions seeking a stay. Michael Taylor died by lethal injection 25 years after he and an accomplice abducted Ann Harrison while she was waiting for a school bus. But his attorneys launched a string of appeals, including one asserting the drugs used for lethal injection could subject him to a slow and tortuous death. The U.S. Supreme Court denied several petitions on Tuesday night for a last-minute stay or further judicial review sought on Taylor's behalf by his attorney, John Simon.

A 23-year-old Bahraini man who was detained in December and accused of smuggling weapons died from an illness in custody on Wednesday, the Interior Ministry said, the second death of a person held on security-related charges this year. Jaffar Mohammed Jaffar was arrested in a raid that the government said broke up a plot to bring in detonators and explosives by boat and use them to launch attacks in the island kingdom. Bahrain, home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet, has been rattled by bouts of unrest since February 2011 when members of its Shi’ite Muslim majority took to the streets, demanding democratic reforms from the Sunni Muslim ruling family. Bahrain’s Interior Ministry, which regularly denies mistreating detainees, told Reuters on Wednesday Jaffar had not been tortured and said he had received full medical care.

Commit these 5 belly-busting salad sins, and you’ll be left with no choice but to hit the treadmill.        

By Laila Kearney BERKELEY, California (Reuters) – A California city is to consult its citizens on whether to impose a soda tax on sugary drinks, following failed bids by other local governments to pass similar measures. The Berkeley City Council will gauge local voter support for a penny-per-ounce tax – opposed by most of the soft drinks industry but which its backers say could help to curb obesity and diabetes – in an opinion poll next week. Depending on the outcome, it might include a referendum on introducing the tax in a city-wide ballot in November. Other U.S. cities have tried without success to enact such a tax amid a growing national movement to curb the consumption of high-calorie beverages.

By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) – Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana and two smaller insurers will delay implementing policies to stop poor HIV patients from paying for Obamacare plans with funds from the federal Ryan White HIV/AIDS assistance program. The decision, which the insurers revealed at a federal court hearing on Tuesday, prompted the judge to lift a temporary restraining order that forced them to delay the change in policy for 14 days. On Monday, Brian Jackson, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, issued the order that would have compelled the companies to accept Ryan White funds to pay insurance premiums on behalf of HIV patients.