Healthcare News 3

• "Abusable" drugs which are therapeutic? Not new.
• "Landmark" Massachusetts insurance legislation leaves out children!
• "Medical Tourism" - Is it either?
• 1200 mg calcium is target for postmenopausal patients
• 1-800 Contacts Works on Development of New Contact Lens Packaging to Improve "Contact Lens Experience" - Improvement or Gimmick?
• A Big Win for ... Counterfeiters and Politicians?
• A cheaper chip, but chip testing is still not cheap
• A different "less invasive" aortic valve
• A Home For Genasense?
• A large appetite is our society's biggest problem
• A long way to go...
• A meta-analysis: the "poor man's" study of other trials which can be valuable if it shows the point you want to make!
• A minor issue for Sutent
• A new way to attack IgE?
• A potential, significant advance
• A promising drug, but don't cancel your GYM membership yet!!
• A rather unbalanced article
• A relevant topic in daily orthopedic practice
• A Strong Buy
• A very useful improvement
• A Window for Amgen's Vectibix
• Abnormal behaviors and suicidal events in children treated with Tamiflu is worrisome, but causation link is not definite.
• Abortion case about politics & autonomy and preview of Court decisions to come
• Abrupt turnaround at Pfizer
• Acquisition of AnorMed is a risky move
• Actemra has efficacy in systemic juvenile arthritis, but this has to translate to efficacy in adult rheumatoid arthritis
• Additional Comments on the AWP settlement
• ADHD - To speed or not to speed - therapy should be individualized
• ADHD and Stimulants Versus Non-Stimulants
• Advair - safe or not?
• Advanced treatment for hypercholesterolemia - Torcetrapib raises HDL
• Aggressive hand washing and isolation measures in addition to newer antimicrobials are needed to curb MRSA infections
• Albuferon + ribavirin will enter phase III clinical trials
• ALCONS MULTIFOCAL IOLS WILL GROW SLOWLY IN USE
• Align Technologies reaches settlement with OrthoClear
• Alimta in Small Cell (SCLCA)?
• Alimta in Small Cell Lung Cancer: GALES Trial Just Re-Circulating the Air
• All addiction drugs are potentially but in whom is the question
• Alzheimer Patients: No More Antipsychotics
• AMD Prevention
• AMO's Tecnis multifocal: A worthy adversary to Alcon's Restor
• An ACQUIRED Indication.
• An improvement in anti-platelet therapy
• An inexorable development...
• Analysis of the deal: Wockhardt+Pinewood
• Annulex introduces a new device for the repair of annular tears
• Another day, another interleukin
• another epo like product
• Another Medicare Health Support Disease Management Program Experiences Difficulties
• Another sign we need EMR's ...
• Another Steroid
• Antibiotic prophylaxis
• Antipsychotic Drugs: Old is Gold
• Antiviral potency of BILN-2061 (Boehringer Ingelheim)
• Are the Democrats helping Wal-Mart's Pharmacy?
• Are we using tamoxifen correctly?
• Arformoterol will be beneficial for certain patients- and may be bigger still
• Arformoterol: The first nebulizer based maintenance therapy for COPD
• Arixtra is first in its class!
• As HCA goes, so goes....
• Asthma Provokes Anxiety
• AstraZeneca is Flying High with Seroquel®
• AT 9283 holds promise for treatment of myeloproliferative disorders
• AWP Ain't What Matters
• Back to diclofenac and omeprazole
• Battle for the epo market
• Better now than later
• BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY
• beware Biowa- anti-Il-5 doesnt work in humans!
• Bifeprunox for schizophrenia and/or everything else?
• Bioidentical hormone therapy can be viable
• Bloating in IBS
• Block Appetite - it's the Winning Target
• Botox for facial scarring prevention
• Botox in Gynecology
• Calcium hypothesis again not validated
• Calcium scoring achieves respectability among cardiologists
• Calculating Wal-Mart's real impact
• Cardiovascular side effects may be a common factor for receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors
• Celebrex demonstrates Anti-prostate Cancer Effects in Early Studies
• Celebrex early anti-cancer effects have to be translated into clinical benefit
• Celebrex in JRA/JIA
• Celebrex is effective for arthritis in children
• Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Seeking Applicants for Hospital-Physician Gain sharing Demonstration
• CERA is not yet clearly superior to Aranesp
• Cervical artificial disc
• Cervical disc replacement devices show promise
• Champix approval in Europe should have little market impact
• Champix doubles the odds of quitting smoking versus buproprion
• Champix helps the smoker stop, but (s)he's got to want to stop
• Changing Tides for Nursing homes
• chocoholics still beware
• Cholesterol management - Perhaps the journey is more important than the destination
• Clinical relevance of EMG/NCV -NC stat vs. needle based
• Clonidine Junior?
• Clopidogrel: Can We Do Better?
• CMS announces a pay-for-performance demonstration project
• CMS is unlikely to change the face of spine surgery
• CollaGUARD is great addition in the foild of wound care
• Complements to Alexion
• Congestive heart failure and left ventricular dysfunction assocaited with Gleevec is rare and may occur with other ABL tyrosine kinase inhibitors
• Conservative Thrapy
• Consolidation continues
• Consolidation of the Pharmaceutial infrastructure
• Contact lens solution options are shrinking.
• Contents of newly published review article on pharmacological treatment of obesity.
• Continued good news for Torcetrapib
• Controlled Release Skin Patches, Applicable Drugs
• Controlled-release Zileuton may require liver function testing
• Coordination and costs are crucial
• Correction of Anemia by Erythropoietin: More is not necessarily better!!!
• Cost is always important
• Could be the drug of the decade - but depression worrying side effect
• Cox-2 dilemma
• Cure your diabetes with Alzheimer's?
• CVS + Caremark: You heard it on GLG News first!
• CVS-Caremark: Why now?
• Dark chocolate, or so called functional chocolate is the key
• DATA is not clear cut….there is more to the story…ESA agents are very safe
• Definite advantages with Illumina, performance will be key
• Definitely and unmet need - treatment for shift work and jet lag related insomnia
• Deflux is more effective than prophylactic antibiotics for preventing infections in children with reflux
• demise of primary care
• Dental Services
• Dermal delivery
• DES for acute MI
• DES for Primary PCI
• Despite Health Canada Warning Rituxan Remains Safe
• Devices for Treatment of Peripheral arterial disease
• Devices to monitor Clotting Time at Home Need a Second Look
• Diagnostics? Therapeutics? Where is the money?
• Dimebon may have general neuroprotective effects in other disorders than Alzheimer's disease
• Disease Management Guidelines – Who Cares?
• Do we need another epo agent
• Drug would not compete with Niaspan, it would compete with statins
• East and West Medicine a happy and profitable merger
• Effectiveness vs cost –effectiveness
• Electronic Medical Records are here to stay
• EMR continues to go very slowly
• EMR in the small physician practice
• EMR is a must but the development is slow and " cross talk" is desperately needed
• Epo use will decline
• Epo vs Suffering?
• Epo-How much? What Target Hemoglobin?
• Erbitux v Vectibix
• Erythropoetin for schizophrenia
• Erythropoietin use may become more regulated
• Eventually, payors not likely to cover this...
• Excitement About Xcytrin in Lung Cancer Brain Metastases
• Exelixis RTK program
• Expanded indication sign of future uses
• Expanding their Footprint
• Expect HPV testing to change screening protocols for cervical cancer
• Failed antihypertensive may offer a non-opioid treatment of opiate withdrawal
• Failure of Primary care has fostered the development of Retail Convenient Clinics
• Fast, but not yet better
• FDA - asleep at the wheel?
• FDA approval for severe Alzheimer's disease
• FDA to toughen up on medical devices
• Fentora for pain
• Ferumoxytol superior to oral iron....so?
• Finally a push for reimbursement of telephone care
• Food for thought
• Forget statins, Plavix, drugs that cure cancer - Chocolate is the next blockbuster drug
• Fosamax and Actonel: Dental Implications of Bisphosphonates
• Free at last!
• FTY720: A Promising Oral Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis
• Further pressure on Zyprexa and other atypical antipsychotics
• Gardasil Story Just Keeps Getting Better
• Gardasil's European Vacation
• Genentech's newest acquisition consolidates its grip on the monoclonal antibody market and expands it beyond cancer
• Generics Price War - (Wal-Mart; Target; K-mart)
• Genzyme Continues to Lead the Diagnostic Pack
• Gilead Financials & Acquisitions Red Flags or Dollar Signs?
• Gleevec is appproved for rare hematological disorders and dematofibrosarcoma
• Gleevec Warning
• Glutamate Pathway: Marching Towards New Antidepressants
• Gram negative sepsis related to intravenous infusions
• Healthways Expected Financial Results and what they Portend for Medicare Health Support
• Help on the way!
• Hemsley Should Clean House
• Hen's Teeth
• Herceptin in adjuvant setting
• High dose Advair decreases mortality in COPD
• High Dose Vancomycin for MRSA
• High Performance Networks
• Histamine H2 Receptors – a Potential Large New Indication.
• Home Nebulizers are definitely over-prescribed and over-reimbursed among children with Asthma
• Hope for Prostate Cancer Victims???
• Hospice - VistaCare
• House cleaning in the damaged brain is always good
• How a Part D Compromise Might Work
• How do you get it to work?
• How to patch the system
• HPV continues to rear its ugly head
• HPV DNA testing from Digene will replace pap smear
• Hypothyroidism and Sutent
• I only wish
• Iclaprim for MRSA
• Iclaprim will not fill a void in MRSA market.
• If EMR developers were smart, they would ...
• If it BLEEDS, it LEADS
• IL-6 in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
• Impact of new PDMA guidelines on wholesalers
• Improved Adjuvant Therapy in Breast Cancer- NOT!
• IMRT, Urologists and Prostate Cancer: Conflicts Abound
• Income Stream Threatened- both Docs and Pharma Cos
• Increase in blood pressure seen with torcetrapib
• Increased use of ventricular assist devices
• Inpatient DRGs likely to trump any positive effects on reimbursement from FDA-approval
• Insurance payment for telephone calls is very unlikely to occur
• Inter-communication among existing system could further progress
• Interesting but not practically relevant
• InterMune's HCV protease inhibitor ITMN-191 to enter clinical trials
• Is Bausch & Lomb Doing Enough to Warn Retailers, Patients of MoisturLoc's Potential Danger?
• Is BMS Celebrating???
• Is it the drug or the diseaese?
• Is PBM Transparency a Good Thing?
• Is Prasugrel Going to Replace Clopidogrel?
• Is Rituxan during and after treatment necessary
• Is this a surprise?
• Is TOUCH in touch?
• It is easier to measure costs than quality...
• It takes a lot of work to figure out which plan works best for you
• It will be a long wait
• It's always easier to blame the system
• It's Not Your Mother's HMO
• Its the sign of the times
• Junevia promises hope for better diabetic control
• Just as I suggested on 11/10/06....
• Laser to drusen trial
• Learning from others mistakes
• Less is more
• Lofexidine holds promise for treatment
• Long acting stimulants are the first choice for children with ADHD , but are not for everyone!!!
• Long-acting Carvedilol – A new Formulation.
• Low dose inhaled steroids and LABA equal in efficacy to high dose steroids in asthmatics
• Lower LDL not necessarily better
• lower reimbursement
• Lucentis versus Verteporfin in wet macular degeneration
• Lullaby--Naturally
• Lung Cancer Treatment Without Chemo
• Lymphocyte Sequestration - a better mousetrap?
• Magic Pill?
• Manufacturer is taking appropriate steps
• MCAC meeting not likely to result in reimbursement changes
• Medical tourism can be problematic
• Medical Tourism will grow exponentially
• Medical tourism: the ultimate deterioration of the therapeutic physician and patient alliance; or when patients become machines and doctors mechanics
• Medicare Drug Benefit - The Competitive Insurance Companies are Winners.
• Merck's Prevnar (pneumococcal vaccine) works too well
• Metabolic Marvel or Vanity Vanquished?
• Metal in Pharmaceuticals Unique to Perrigo or the whole Industry?
• Micafungin is effective and cheaper drug for antifungal prohylaxis
• Micafungin vs. caspofungin
• Micera's chances of competition with Aranesp are very low
• Millenium Acquisition of AnorMed
• Miniscule shock treatments can have profound effects
• MK-0524 a Welcome Addition to Lipid-Lowering Options
• More ADHD drug problems
• More Generic Corticosteroids can be expected
• More generic nasal cs in the future
• More Health Cost Pain for Employees and its Impact on Health Policy and the Health Care Industry
• More targeting aimed at CML
• More Vitamin R is Better, For Who? For What?
• Most would agree that rivastigmine (Exelon) is not going to make the brain injury all better!
• Moxifloxacin
• Moxifloxacin: Excellent choice for respiratory tract infections
• MRSA - search and destroy
• MRSA control
• MRSA too widespread in community for Dutch policy to work here
• NC-Stat has a limited future
• NC-Stat Technology
• New allergy treatment on horizon, but at what cost?
• New applications for Intralase technology
• New approval is a big feat for Merck
• New device for the treatment of malignant brain tumors
• New device from Medtronic introduced for the treatment of vertebral compression fractures
• New Diabetic Treatment may gain wide use in adolescents and young adults.
• NEW EYE DROP MAY BE EFFECTIVE AGAINST WET MACULAR DEGENERATION
• New FDA labeling will prompt more individualized therapy for ADHD
• New flu vaccine? Not so fast.
• New Gleevec indications will increase Reimbursement; Warnings affect very small patient numbers
• New indication will increase reimbursement and cardiovascular warnings may be common to all RTK inhibitors.
• New indications for Gleevec (Novartis)
• New Indications for Gleevec Equals New Opportunities
• New Virulant Strainn of C. Diff?
• New warnings will not seriously impact Avastin sales
• New York Non-profits (like others) need Scrutiny
• Next generation of CellSearch-type assays
• Niacin and flushing
• NICE Not Nice to Tarceva
• No Benefit for Delayed PCI in AMI Patients
• No importance
• No medication is completely safe
• No question of inappropriate use
• Non inferiority is not the answer
• Non-Opioid intranasal Analgesic has potential for postoperative pain control
• Northfield's Blood Substitute for Trauma: The Wait is Almost Over
• Not enough
• Not out of the woods
• Not without potential side effects
• Novel approach prevents amyloid deposition
• Novel way to treat cognitive deficits in schizophrenia
• NRP104 share of ADHD market will depend on assignment of adminstraion schedule for controlled substances
• NRP104: The Next Psychiatric Blockbuster Drug?
• Numax is efficacious against RSV but long term safety data are needed before widespread use
• Obituary for Tamoxifen may be premature
• Oblimersen/Genta Revisited- Still Nobody Home
• OMRIX Files BLA Ahead of ZymoGenetics in Race to Launch Thrombin Products in U.S.
• On the Shoulders of Giants
• Ongoing surge in Clostridium difficile
• Online Pharmacy - for real?
• Open Enrollment, Open Pockets
• Opiorphin, an interesting scientific curiosity, but Morphine is here to stay
• Oral anticoagulant with few drug interactions and no need for frequent monitoring
• Oral anticoagulation
• Oral Insulin
• Oral Insulin - ? if ready yet
• Oral treatment for asthma
• Outcomes data will be needed
• Overcorrection of anemia with eryhtropoietin in CKD associated with increased cardiac risk
• Ozarelix should change treatment of BPH
• P4P makes sense
• P4P - The Devil is in the details
• P4P In More Ways Than One
• P4P: Opportunities Abound
• Partial Birth Abortion is not guaranteed by the Constitution and will be removed.
• Patient Brokers?
• Pay for Performance is coming. Count on it.
• PBM/drug chain analysis: How big is too big?
• Percutaneous valve therapy
• Percutaneous valve therapy
• Percutaneous valves: the future is upon us!
• Personalized Medicine
• Pfizer Cut Issues and Observations
• Pfizer Cuts-Signs of Things To Come
• Pfizer's Distribution Deal Changes EU Wholesaler Market
• Pharmacists are nervous about Wal-Mart's move
• Physicians, Reimbursement and Time Spent with Patients
• Poiorphi, natural pain killer
• Polyheme
• PolyHeme - Northfield Lab's Blood Substitute for trauma - The "fat lady is about to sing"
• PolyHeme: Will the FDA appove it next year?
• Poor management of asthma and the use of Home Nebulizers
• Posaconazole is a precious addition to the antifungal drugs armenantarium
• Possible good news for physicians
• Possible New Mechanism and Treatment For Cognitive Defects in Schizophrenia and Perhaps other Brain Diseases
• Post-market surveillance will be tough
• Potential Advantages of Prasugrel
• PPAR alpha agonist agents for atherosclerosis
• Pralatrexate still has to pass the test against methotrexate
• Prophylactic Antibiotics - less is more
• Prophylactic Statins ?
• Public reponse to Wal-Mart generic prices in Florida huge
• Quality vs Economy - IMPULSIVE MEDICAL CARE
• Question need for nasal ketorolac in 24 hours after major surgery.
• Raising HDL - the other half of the cholesterol equation
• random thoughts
• Recall of generic Acetaminophen will have little implications
• Recall on medical devices are far less frequent than recalls on automotive parts
• Relevance in the intensive care unit and perioperative therapy
• Reliance on newer antipsychotics for behavior management questioned
• Replacing Morphine with a Natural Chemical - akin to replacing air with water.
• Revlimid and Rare Birds
• Revlimid holds promise in upfront treatment of multiple myeloma
• Rhinitis does not always mean bacteria
• Rimonabant (Acomplia) - The story keeps looking better
• Rimonabant (Acomplia) - Treats obesity and complications
• RIO - Diabetes Rimonabant improves risk factors in diabetics
• Risperidal and Autism: Old Drug, New Indication
• Rituxan is standard of NHL care
• Rituxan Marches On with New Indications
• Rituxan reigns as king in frontline treatment of low grade and high grade lymphomas.
• Rituxan rules!!!
• Rituxan tightens its grip on the lymphoma treatment market
• Rituximab is effective as maintenanence therapy for recurrent follicular lymphoma
• Rivaroxaban - A novel oral anticoagulant with great promise
• Rivaroxaban: The Quest for an Oral Anticoagulant
• Rosiglitazone decreases development of diabetes by greater than 50%
• Rx Mart
• Safety of Cox-2
• Savings on different aspects of drug development makes sense
• Scenarios for Wal-Mart's Impact
• Seroquel seems to work for everything--but what is it really treating?
• Sitagliptin: The first DPP-4 inhibitor to better control postprandial sugars
• sitaglitpin
• Small cell lung cancer AND Alimta
• Small numbers but notable improvement: further studies are needed.
• Soliris can expect quick FDA and EU review, will Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. be prepared for the regulatory hurdles?
• Soliris is efficacious in treatment of patients with hemolytic form of PNH , but have to be given on a chronic basis
• Specificity is key for biomarker testing in Alzheimer's Disease
• SPORT study leads to no conclusions
• STAR*D Trial: Still Searching for the STAR.
• Statin effect on lungs
• Statins benefit heart failure patients
• Statins for Heart Failure – A Major Opportunity
• Statins may be good for lungs as well as heart
• Statins of benefit in COPD
• Statins reduce lung function decline in smokers
• Stem cells in teeth
• Stimulants for ADHD - more concerns prompt FDA labeling changes
• Stimulation Therapy for the Treatment of Headaches
• strong efficacy data
• Surgery does it better
• Surgery in case of failed non-operative therapy
• Surprise delay of PDMA will affect Big 3 Wholesalers
• Surveillance for MRSA
• Tamiflu and neurological issues
• Tamoxifen, a drug of the past?
• Tarceva has yet to peek
• Taxotere added to head and neck cancer therapy
• Taxotere in Head & Neck- already in use, but will increase.
• Taxotere use in Head and Neck Cancer Patients
• Taxotere's survival improvement comes with a cost of increased adverse events
• Telavancin adverse events
• The " Zeal" for Zevalin is lukewarm at most
• The ACOG exaggerates in criticizing compounded bioidentical homone therapy
• The acquisition may strengthen Amgen's grip on the "cytokine/growth factors" market
• The continuing saga of DES
• The Dear Doctor Letter should not have major effect on Remodulin
• The drug is innocent, the management sucks
• The EPO market is already crowded and usage may decrease anyway
• The favorite drug
• The forecast clears for drug eluding stents.
• The future and impact of Pay-for-Performance Plans
• The future of managed care is P4P
• The good and bad of outsourcing
• The growth of childhood diabetes and its impact on system costs
• The HMO Exodus
• The Holy Grail?
• The latest method of drug companies to ensure utilization of their product
• THE LONG AND SHORT OF DRUG ELUTING STENTS
• The niacin-priciple is per se good. Improvements regarding flushing are wellcome.
• The other side the CDHP's
• The Risk to Chain and PBM Margins on Generics
• The search for natural analgesia continues
• The sky's the limit for the prevalence of obesity with improved treatments of Type 2 Diabetes
• The value of Seroquel as a treatment for bipolar depression
• This is a great service to patients and will increase market share
• This is not news to me...
• Three-Way Battle for U.S. Thrombin Market Ahead as OMRIX and ZymoGenetics Ready BLAs
• Tonabersat and migraine
• Too little, too late
• Torcetrapib concerns
• Torcetrapib effective in elevating HDL-C levels
• Torcetrapib raises HDL levels and treats the other arm of cholesterol disease
• Torcetrapib trials halted by DSMB
• Torcetrapib's side effects raises BP at Pfizer
• Tread Carefully, Though Rush Immunotherapy Can Provide Rapid Results
• Two great classes--why not?
• Two Phase 3 studies of Cetuximab show efficacy, bur only one show definite improvement in survival
• Uncertainty, not familiarity, breeds contempt
• Unique Mechanism of Action
• United Healthcare Just One Example
• US Silicone Breasts Big News Again
• Useless Oral Insulin
• Vaccine therapy for cancer
• Value? Not What I was Anticipating
• vancomycin is the drug of choice for MRSA infections
• Vancomycin overuse - fact or fiction?
• VaxGen on hold
• VaxGen's Anthrax Drug Halted by FDA, Hope Continues
• Vectibex May Herald End for Erbitux
• Vectibix may need to pass the test against Erbitux.
• Vectibix VS Erbitux
• Vectibix will be a serious competitor to Erbitux
• Vectibix Will be EGFR Antibody of Choice for Colon Cancer Therapy
• Vidaza may fall of favor in treatment of low/intermediate risk MDS
• Vistas Hospice: Chemed Pulls out of Phoenix
• Vitamin R! (One More time?)
• Wal-Mart generic drug program benefits consumers
• Walmart Program Beneficial to Consumers
• Wal-Mart Raises the Stakes
• Wal-Mart strategy
• Walmart to Devour the Pharma Retail Industry
• Wal-Mart to PBMs: Drop Dead
• Warnings?
• What if you've been snorting other things?
• What will the FDA require to approve torcetrapib?
• What's missing with High Deductible Plans or why they are not such a good idea
• When is angioplasty and stenting beneficial?
• When Running a hospital in the red is a good thing!!
• WHICH IS MORE EXCITING?
• WHO MANAGES INFO?
• Wholesaler Conflict as Pedigree Looms
• Whoo hoo, another me-too fluroquinolone
• Why Are They Dumping?
• Why use one medication when you can use two and create a stir?
• Will a Price Ceiling Lead to an Increased Market? Genentech will find out.
• Will Clinicians Have ZEAL for Zevalin Use?
• Will not replace morphine in the near future
• Will Prasugrel surpass Clopidogrel
• Without adequate vitamin D levels calcium cannot act properly
• WYETH PHARMACEUTICALS GETS FDA WARNING LETTER
• X-STOP device may play a vital role in spine surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis
• You can't create new brain cells--yet
• You may take EPO, but don't hold your breath.
• Zevalin: Looking for a Wider Indication
• ZymoGenetics Trumpets “Successful” Head-to-Head Trial of Its Recombinant Thrombin