Duke University Medical Center and the FDA are set to launch a partnership to try to improve the nation’s clunky clinical-trials process.A recent report from the inspector general of the FDA’s parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, estimated that the agency inspects only around one percent of clinical trial sites. The FDA [...]
If you wanted to remind patients to take their pills, you’d want the ability to unobtrusively deliver a message anytime, anywhere. In other words, you’d want to be able to send a text message to a patient’s cell phone.That’s starting to happen, the WSJ reports. In England, some women get text reminders to take their [...]
Yes, the holidays are tough. No, they don’t lead to a rise in suicide rates. If you thought otherwise, feel free to blame the media. Between late ‘99 and early ‘06 more than 40% of newspaper stories that reported on suicide during the holidays perpetuated the myth that the holiday season led to a rise [...]
There are 33.2 million people in the world infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, the U.N. estimates in a new report. That’s way down from last year’s estimate of 39.5 million. It’s not that the number of people living with the virus has changed so much; the U.N. just changed the way it [...]
How do you resolve one of the most pressing dilemmas in biomedical research? Easy: Just make time run backward. Two teams of scientists are reporting today that they’ve transformed adult human cells into embryonic stem cells. If the work holds up, it could allow scientists to use the therapeutic potential of embryonic stem cells without [...]
A collision with a truck left Deborah Shank brain-damaged and in a wheelchair. A settlement awarded her $700,000 but what’s left of that money — after legal fees — is slated to go to Wal-Mart Stores Inc., her former employer, WSJ’s Vanessa Fuhrmans reports in a Page One story. Wal-Mart’s health plan covered Shank’s medical [...]
Pfizer got a boost today in the litigation over its Celebrex painkiller. A federal judge in San Francisco ruled that plaintiffs in the litigation have not presented scientifically reliable evidence that the 200 milligram dose of Celebrex caused heart attacks or strokes.It’s unclear how many of the 3,000 plaintiffs suing Pfizer took the 200 milligram [...]
Bill Richardson would get rid of health-savings accounts, the tax-advantaged savings plans that go with high-deductible health insurance. “These are a step backward,” he said at a health-care forum today. “They put working families at risk. Most families cannot afford to pay the … out of pocket costs.”The accounts are popular with some health wonks, [...]
If you get sick in Murfreesboro, Arkansas, there’s a good chance you’ll meet Hiram Ward, age 81. He’s been practicing medicine in Murfreesboro (pop: 1,678) since 1953, and lately he’s been spending his nights and weekends taking calls at the emergency room there.Ward went back to work in the ER at the start of this [...]
Bill Richardson would require all Americans to buy health insurance and let the feds negotiate for lower prices on drugs for seniors covered by Medicare. Those are a couple of the points he’s likely to raise today when he talks with a bunch of journalists, including the WSJ’s Laurie McGinley. The talk is at 1:30 [...]
