Year: 2014

By Eric Kelsey and Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Veteran news anchor Tom Brokaw, the face of "NBC Nightly News" for more than two decades, has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer affecting blood cells in the bone marrow, but is hopeful about the outcome of his treatment, the network said on Tuesday. Brokaw, 74, stepped down as anchor in December 2004 but has remained with the network as a special correspondent, currently covering the Winter Olympics coverage in Sochi, and has continued to work on NBC projects during his treatment, NBC News said in a statement. It said Brokaw and his physicians were "very encouraged with the progress he is making." In his own statement accompanying the network announcement, Brokaw said: "With the exceptional support of my family, medical team and friends, I am very optimistic about the future and look forward to continuing my life, my work and adventures still to come." He added, "I remain the luckiest guy I know." A South Dakota native who joined NBC in 1966, Brokaw served as White House correspondent during the Watergate scandal of the Richard Nixon administration and hosted NBC's "Today" show from 1976 until 1982.

The Obama administration may have pushed the bounds of its legal authority by delaying the healthcare law requirement that certain employers provide coverage to full-time workers, but the move will be tough to challenge in court, according to legal experts. The so-called employer mandate was originally supposed to take effect in January under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. But in the middle of last year, the administration granted a one-year delay to January 2015. Then, on Monday, the administration announced that medium-size businesses, with 50 to 99 full-time workers, would not have to comply with the requirement until 2016.

By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) – Doctors should use cholesterol-lowering statin drugs much more widely to prevent heart attacks and strokes, according to Britain’s healthcare cost-effectiveness watchdog. In a major revision to 2008 guidelines, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends the threshold for starting on statins should be halved from a 20 percent risk of developing cardiovascular disease over 10 years to a 10 percent risk. An estimated 7 million people in Britain already take statins at an annual cost of around 450 million pounds ($738 million), and reducing the benchmark for treatment would increase that number significantly. But increased use is viewed as a cost-effective strategy, since cardiovascular disease in England alone cost the state-run National Health Service (NHS) some 7.88 billion pounds in 2010.

By Toni Clarke WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hit back on Tuesday at critics who have charged it with gender bias for rejecting a drug for low female libido from Sprout Pharmaceuticals. Women’s groups, who have lobbied heavily for the drug’s approval, pounced after the FDA denied an appeal to approve the product, a once-a-day treatment for hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD), accusing the agency of bias. “When it comes to approving drugs for male sexual dysfunction, the FDA says yes with more limited research and serious side effects, but when it comes to women, their go-slow tactics are preventing us from having access to a treatment option where we make the decision in consultation with our healthcare provider,” said Terry O’Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, in a statement. The FDA rejected the charge, saying in an email that it “engaged in a scientific process in which we evaluated whether the drug’s benefits outweigh its risk.” The FDA declined to approve the drug, flibanserin, last year saying its effects were “modest” and did not outweigh side effects such as dizziness, nausea and fatigue.

By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday he has asked France to consider sending more troops to the Central African Republic because the international response to the crisis "does not yet match the gravity of the situation." Ban said violence between Christians and Muslims continued to worsen and he was gravely concerned that the violence in the landlocked former French colony could spiral into a genocide. "We must do more to prevent more atrocities, protect civilians, restore law and order, provide humanitarian assistance and hold the country together." "The international response must be robust with a credible deployment of force … It must be swift if we are to prevent the worst-case scenario," said Ban, who is due to report to the United Nations Security Council in March on options for transforming the current African Union peacekeeping force into a U.N. operation. France sent 1,600 troops to the Central African Republic in December to assist some 5,000 African Union peacekeepers, while the European Union has also agreed to send around 500 troops.

By Bill Berkrot NEW YORK (Reuters) – When Gilead Sciences Inc declined to project 2014 revenue for its high-profile new hepatitis C drug last week, its shares fell nearly 7 percent over the next two days. On Tuesday, Gilead President and Chief Operating Officer John Milligan again declined to predict sales of the medicine that won U.S. marketing approval in December.

An advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday that available evidence does not prove that the painkiller naproxen, sold under the brand names Aleve and Naprosyn, carries a lower cardiac risk than rival products. The panel was convened after a retrospective analysis from multiple clinical trials published last year in The Lancet suggested naproxen was less dangerous to the heart than other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, such as ibuprofen and Celebrex. Panelists recommended the FDA leave the current product labeling as is, at least pending the outcome of a large ongoing study, known as Precision, that compares naproxen with ibuprofen and Celebrex. The FDA is not bound to follow the advice of its advisory panels, but typically does so.

By David Ingram WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court declined on Tuesday to halt the forced feeding of hunger strikers in Guantanamo Bay but ruled that the prisoners have the right to sue over the procedure and other aspects of how the U.S. military treats them. The 2-1 decision by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed two decisions by lower court judges. Designed to keep hunger strikers alive, the procedure involves feeding them liquid meals via tubes inserted into their noses and down into their stomachs. President Barack Obama has defended the practice at Guantanamo, telling a news conference last year, “I don’t want these individuals to die.” Last year, during a Guantanamo hunger strike in which as many as 46 of 166 inmates were force-fed at least some of their meals, several of them sued.

By Lacey Johnson GEORGETOWN, Delaware (Reuters) – A Delaware pediatrician accused of waterboarding his 11-year-old stepdaughter admitted in court on Tuesday to injuring the girl by dragging her over a gravel driveway in what he described as a moment of carelessness. Dr. Melvin Morse, a best-selling author on near-death experiences, is standing trial on child endangerment charges dating back to July 2012 when police were called to his home over the driveway incident. His stepdaughter, 11 at the time, told authorities that Morse, 60, had waterboarded her on four occasions. “I just reached in there and grabbed her,” replied Morse, who has appeared on “Oprah” and “Good Morning America.” “I did pull her out of the car roughly, carelessly.” When the girl, whose name has been withheld due to her age, began screaming and kicking, Morse dropped her and dragged her across the gravel driveway, he recalled.