UPI Health Business articles from January 2006

UPI Health Business archives from January 2006

Cord cells no stand-in for embryonic, BIO.
January 2, 2006... WASHINGTON, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- While President Bush recently signed a bill authorizing increased funding for cord blood-based stem cell research, biotechnology industry officials say the technology is still no substitute for embryonic stem...

EatTo Live: Buy seasonally, eat healthily.
January 2, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON It's the first week of practicing our New Year's resolutions. I bet something related to eating featured among them. We're probably going to continue worrying about our health and weight for some time in the...

Eye on Eurasia: Living longer in Moscow.
January 2, 2006... Byline: PAUL GOBLE VIENNA, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- Moscow residents currently have life expectancies greater than those living in the Russian capital did in 1990, an unexpected and as yet unexplained development that puts them increasingly at odds...

Eat To Live: New Year, new labels.
January 3, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON Here's a New Year's resolution that will make your life healthier: Read food labels. Jan. 1 was the date by which U.S. food manufacturers must clearly label trans fats in their products or abandon their inclusion....

Caregiving: What should Dick Clark do?
January 3, 2006... Byline: ALEX CUKAN After writing two columns on Clay Aiken and his efforts to help remove the stigma of disabilities, I thought I'd give the topic a rest, but then Dick Clark made his comeback on New Year's Rockin' Eve and the e-mails...

New software moves Medicaid to cyberspace.
January 4, 2006... Byline: ALEX CUKAN ALBANY, N.Y., Jan. 4 (UPI) -- A California foundation has developed software that makes it easier for states and counties nationwide to enroll Medicaid beneficiaries. "We design, build and promote the adoption of...

The Age of Autism: Red flag on gold salts.
January 4, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED A number of readers have raised concerns that gold salts -- which may have improved the mental functioning of the first child diagnosed with autism -- are untested and unproven as a treatment and can be dangerous. ...

Eat To Live: Agriculture inspectors chided.
January 4, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON A blistering report was issued Tuesday to the Department of Agriculture by its auditor over the department's failure to properly regulate field trials of genetically engineered crops. In many cases, the report said,...

Canadian pharmacies attack Medicare Part D.
January 4, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Facing a potential loss in business due to the launch of Medicare Part D, Canadian online pharmacies are countering that seniors would save more money by purchasing their drugs from...

After a heart attack, less might be more.
January 4, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Although the United States spends more than twice as much per person on healthcare as Great Britain, a recent report on treatment of heart attacks in the two countries suggests that Americans...

Caregiving: Nursing education shortfall.
January 5, 2006... Byline: ALEX CUKAN The United States has a nursing shortage, yet more than 147,000 qualified applicants were turned away from nursing schools in 2005, according to the National League for Nursing. Whether nursing programs are funded...

Stem-cell support strong amid Korea snafu.
January 5, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- The ongoing controversy over whether a South Korean researcher faked groundbreaking stem-cell research does not appear to be dampening public support for the field in the United States,...

HealthWrap: Brits drinking to cirrhosis.
January 5, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED Cirrhosis of the liver is becoming a big problem in the United Kingdom, and the Scots seem particularly prone to drinking themselves to death. The death rates from cirrhosis rose sharply in England, Scotland and...

New vaccines prevent deadly rotavirus.
January 5, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Two new vaccines to prevent the rotavirus -- the world's leading cause of diarrhea-related death and illness among infants and young children -- are one step closer to market. Merck's...

Study renews call for drug price controls.
January 5, 2006... Byline: ASTARA MARCH WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- An international study of ways to reduce drug costs has renewed the call for federal cost controls and government price negotiations. Giving the U.S. government the power to negotiate...

Eat To Live: Say no to all that packaging.
January 6, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON When my children were young, there was a minor revolution taking place at the check-out counters in toy stores. Concerned moms would rip off any extraneous wrapping on the toys they were buying and leave it in...

HealthWrap: Flu kills 3 in Turkish family.
January 6, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Avian flu has killed three children in one Turkish family, and tests show it was the dreaded H5N1 strain, Turkish officials said Friday. The deaths put bird flu at Europe's doorstep and...

New year brings lawsuits for pharma.
January 6, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Several big pharma companies, including Bristol-Myers Squibb, Roche and GlaxoSmithKline, were hit with lawsuits this week and some other smaller companies are also facing litigation. ...

Is genetic testing ready for MD offices?
January 6, 2006... Byline: ASTARA MARCH WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Two pharmacologists in St. Louis say they have found an expanded role for pharmacogenetic testing in the family practitioner's office, claiming that its inclusion will result in better...

The Age of Autism: CDC probes vaccines.
January 6, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED The CDC is continuing to investigate whether a mercury preservative in childhood immunizations has caused cases of autism -- despite the fact a report it paid for said such research should end. The agency wants to...

States mull health care requirements.
January 6, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- A growing number of state legislatures are considering laws that would require large employers either to spend a minimum percentage of their payroll on health care for employees or pay cash...

Eat To Live: Eat real wings, fly high!
January 9, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Way behind the rest of the world no doubt, I've just seen a TV ad for a food that seems entirely to miss the central pleasure of the dish in question. A leading fast-food outlet is...

Safety devices reduce kids' mortality.
January 9, 2006... Byline: Ed Susman SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- In a 10-year period, deaths in the pediatric intensive care ward in Los Angeles dropped by more than 40 percent -- a testament to increasing use of automobile seat belts, child car seats and...

'Political misbehaving' in Schiavo case.
January 9, 2006... Byline: ED SUSMAN SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- The emotionally and politically charged debate surrounding the life and death of Terri Schiavo -- the woman in a persistent vegetative state whose life was extended by interest that reached...

Ped Med: Young minds under attack.
January 9, 2006... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Something's rotten in the state of our children's mental health. Mind-boggling trends are snaking their way into the record books, rattling the nation with reams of reports of...

Boston Scientific advances Guidant deal.
January 9, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Boston Scientific said Monday it has sent a letter to Guidant formalizing its plans to acquire the troubled cardiac-device manufacturer for $25 billion. The deal, which Boston...

U.S. health spending nears $2 trillion.
January 10, 2006... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Overall U.S. expenditures for healthcare slowed to their lowest rate of growth since 2000 last year, but analysts warned that the nation's medical spending is still outstripping its...

Caregiving: Servants -- and autocrats.
January 10, 2006... Byline: ALEX CUKAN My series on the U.S. nursing shortage and my articles on Clay Aiken being a role model have come full circle. I was deep into writing the nursing shortage when I began getting a deluge of responses to the articles on...

Drug plan launches with mixed results.
January 10, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- One week after the launch of the largest Medicare expansion in 40 years, the agency and its contracted providers have declared it a success -- with a few technical glitches that need to be...

HealthWrap: Yes, stress hurts the heart.
January 10, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED Most of us assume it's true, but a new study provides scientific evidence that stress can mess with your heart. The study, in the new issue of the journal Psychophysiology, put 20 men and women in a magnetic...

Docs give low grades to American ER's.
January 10, 2006... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- States are lagging in maintaining hospital emergency departments and the public safety that could make them less necessary, according to a report released by a physicians' group Tuesday....

Obesity leads to ailments in later years.
January 10, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- People who are obese at middle age increase their risk of mortality and hospitalization in old age, compared to those of normal weight, a 38-year study shows. "What is amazing,...

Firms advancing bioweapon treatments.
January 10, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Several biotech firms have recently been awarded government funding or made progress in developing treatments and detection systems for biological and nuclear weapons. Medarex and...

FDA fast-tracks anti-HIV and herpes gel.
January 11, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- A vaginal gel that incorporates nanotechnology to prevent the spread of HIV and genital herpes could be commercially available as soon as 2008. Australian pharmaceutical company...

Eat To Live: Can't we get good ski food?
January 11, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON After six days' skiing in the Rockies, I've come to the conclusion it's the most fattening form of exercise there is. According to HealthStatus.com, 60 minutes of downhill skiing will burn 495 calories off a person...

Tips to brighten days for SAD sufferers.
January 11, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Welcome to winter -- short, frigid days, pitch-black mornings and long lines of grumbling customers at Starbucks. Like many Americans, your mood may drop with the thermometer in the...

HealthWrap: Less threatening bird flu?
January 11, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED Talk about good news and bad news: While more cases of avian flu are identified in both birds and humans in Turkey, the first possible signs emerged that the virus itself might not be as lethal as feared. It's far...

New Symbicort dose a boon for AstraZeneca?
January 11, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- The anticipated approval of a new dosing regimen for AstraZeneca's Symbicort in Europe could significantly alter the asthma drug market, analysts said Wednesday. The latest approval...

Ped Med: Diagnoses of mental ills rising.
January 12, 2006... Byline: LIDIA WASOWICZ SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- If you go by the numbers, America can count increasing rates of mental disorder diagnoses among children as a multiplying problem. In a U.S. surgeon general's report, the...

Upside down: Space turns CPR on its head.
January 12, 2006... Byline: ED SUSMAN SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Giving a crew member on the space station cardiopulmonary resuscitation can be a daunting problem. That's because when you press down on the crewman's chest in zero gravity, you go up, up...

Caregiving: How celebrities can help.
January 12, 2006... Byline: ALEX CUKAN There are few role models for caregiving and coping with serious illness, and perhaps that's why columns on Clay Aiken and Dick Clark have touched a nerve in so many readers. Many, many readers wrote and all made...

Computational biology field likely to grow.
January 12, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- Drug companies are likely to increasingly use computational biology in drug discovery, driving up the U.S. market for the burgeoning field from its current level of $60 million to $752...

Young adults show declines in health.
January 12, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- Years of late-night pizza runs and lazy afternoons indoors have caught up to young adults. A new study shows that as America's youth mature, they fall into poor health practices...

Guidant bidding war not over -- analyst.
January 12, 2006... Byline: LAURA GILCREST WASHNGTON, D.C., Jan. 12 (UPI) -- While the ball is back in Boston Scientific's court in the intense bidding war over cardiac device maker Guidant, at least one Wall Street analyst said it may be Johnson & Johnson's...

Outside view: A Simple Rx for Part D.
January 13, 2006... Byline: GEOFFREY JOYCE WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- The federal government's new Medicare prescription-drug benefit program for the elderly and disabled, which went into effect Jan. 1, has gotten off to a slow start. This has prompted...

Eat To Live: Fishy business.
January 13, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON It's hard to know whom to believe when it comes to genetic modification. Along with the publication this week of two contradictory reports on the success of GM crops, the news suggests those of us who would like to...

HealthWrap: Eat less, live longer.
January 13, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- A new study for the first time shows that a restricted-calorie diet can delay aging and keep the heart pumping the way it does in younger people. "Eating less, if it is a high-quality...

Many diuretics users lack key minerals.
January 13, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- When Vice President Dick Cheney was given a diuretic this week after a bout of shortness of breath, he joined the ranks of thousands of Americans who take these drugs for diseases...

Merck, Gilead in integrase-inhibitor race.
January 13, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Merck's integrase inhibitor for the treatment of HIV will likely be the first of its class to reach the market, but Gilead's candidate may have an advantage in convenience. Merck has...

Medicare will not reimburse states -- CMS.
January 13, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Medicare will not reimburse states that paid for prescriptions because of glitches in the new federal drug benefit, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mark McClellan...

Fair share could go nationwide.
January 14, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE ANNAPOLIS, Md., Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Maryland is now the first state in the nation with a bill that would require large employers to spend a fixed percentage of their payroll on healthcare for employees, after the state...

CostRx: Hospitals bear brunt of payment gap.(Interview)
January 16, 2006... WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- CostRx is a UPI column that looks at the rising cost of healthcare, various factors that are contributing to the high cost and possible solutions. The January edition of CostRx features an interview with Richard...

Eat To Live: Spice up your health.
January 16, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON Britain's national dish is not roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. It's chicken tikka massala. This may sound like an Indian entree, but it isn't really. It is about as Indian as chop suey is Chinese. The story goes...

HealthWrap: More bad flu news.
January 16, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED Avian flu has claimed a fourth human victim in Turkey, while in the United States the regular old flu has proven resistant to two drugs. A 12-year-old girl named Fatma Ozcan who died Sunday tested positive for bird...

Adults can take steps to delay Alzheimer's.
January 16, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Older adults who exercise at least three times a week keep their minds sharper as they age, a new study shows. Researchers at Group Health Cooperative in Seattle found that...

McClellan: Medicare plan will reach goals.
January 16, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Despite initial problems, the new Medicare prescription-drug benefit will meet or exceed its enrollment goals for January, Mark McClellan, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and...

Caregiving: Hire a nurse for the hospital?
January 17, 2006... Byline: ALEX CUKAN This may sound counterintuitive, but there are reasons you might want to consider hiring a nurse for a loved one who's in the hospital, some experts say. Caregiving.com has advised that some caregivers might want to...

Interview: What triggers suicide?
January 17, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- Suicide kills more people in the United States than homicide, but many Americans still don't talk about it. That's why Thomas Joiner, a professor at Florida State University, wants...

Feds warn of more Medicare problems.
January 17, 2006... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- Federal officials said Tuesday that they were moving to solve problems that have plagued seniors' access to drugs in the first month of the Medicare prescription-drug benefit but warned...

The Age of Autism: The Wright approach.
January 17, 2006... Byline: DAN OLMSTED The head of NBC is donating more than $2 million to a Baltimore research institute to do something innovative: listen and learn from the parents of children who have autism. Bob and Suzanne Wright's organization,...

Roche developing next-generation Fuzeon.
January 17, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- Roche and Timeris, which currently market the only approved fusion inhibitor Fuzeon, are developing two next-generation fusion inhibitor peptides with a dual goal: achieving durable...

Biogenerics to hit Europe first.
January 17, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- Biogenerics could hit the European market this year followed by a U.S. market launch in 2009, an analyst report suggests. The exact timing depends on how quickly the respective...

Study: Aspirin's benefits depend on gender.
January 18, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Popping aspirin can help save your life, but how it prevents health emergencies depends on your gender. Researchers who analyzed a series of previous studies on aspirin...

Eat To Live: What you eat is how you think.
January 18, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON A study published this week takes the mantra "you are what you eat" one stage further: It concludes what you eat could affect how you think. The study, Feeding Minds, was done by Sustain, a Britain-based alliance...

Analysis: Medicare drug snag hard on mentally ill.
January 18, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- The transition from Medicaid to the new Medicare Part D prescription-drug benefit has been especially hard on the one-third of low-income seniors who are also seriously mentally ill,...

Alcohol in movies spurs kids to drink.
January 18, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- On the big screen, alcohol use seeps into the plotlines of everything from casual dinners to all-out binge parties. Although adults may not notice Hollywood's culture of...

Outside View: Starbucks and healthcare.
January 18, 2006... Byline: MICHAEL LIPSKY NEW YORK, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- The other day a top Starbucks executive told me that very soon the cost of healthcare for Starbucks employees would exceed the cost of the coffee in a Starbucks purchase. Given the...

Feds simplify Rx labels, but some protest.
January 18, 2006... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- The Food and Drug Administration unveiled new regulations Wednesday that agency officials said simplify drug safety labels and make it easier for doctors to avoid medication mistakes. ...

Study: Gilead's HIV combo beats Glaxo's.
January 18, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- A major study indicates the triple combination of Gilead's Viread and Emtriva with Bristol-Myers Squibb's Sustiva is a better initial treatment for HIV infection and could replace the...

Obscure winter bugs as bad as flu.
January 19, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- While the world frets over bird flu, thousands of people get sick and sometimes die from infectious diseases at home. Apart from influenza, the most dramatic microbe, many...

Caregiving: No nursing shortage at UCLA.
January 19, 2006... Byline: ALEX CUKAN The U.S. nursing shortage may be less a shortage of nurses and more a shortage of good hospital managers, if the University of California at Los Angeles Medical Center is any indication. While some U.S. hospitals...

Humana plan emerging as Part D star?
January 19, 2006... Byline: LAURA GILCREST WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Health-insurance giant Humana's "Complete" health plan was touted Thursday by Medicare beneficiaries and health analysts as a Medicare Part D-friendly plan, with a low deductible and an...

Firms push back against drug-safety calls.
January 19, 2006... Byline: TODD ZWILLICH WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Pharmaceutical executives warned Thursday that calls to grant the Food and Drug Administration more power to police drug safety could slow new drug development. "It's not at all clear...

Novartis' Rasilez faces barriers to entry.
January 19, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Although Novartis said Thursday it would seek approval this year for its first-in-class hypertension drug Rasilez in the United States and Europe, analysts say that seasoned rivals will...

Bundling baby in bed can prove deadly.
January 19, 2006... Byline: CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- The instinct to bundle up your baby during the chilly nights of winter may be well-intentioned, but it can also be deadly. The risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome spikes during...

Public-private efforts target HIV Rx costs.
January 20, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- The public and private sectors are increasingly working together to rein in the high cost of HIV drugs, particularly for the AIDS-ravaged Third World. The relationship between drug...

Senate Dems propose Medicare Rx fix.
January 20, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Arguing that the Medicare Part D drug plan was designed as a gift to the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, five Democratic Senators unveiled legislation Thursday to overhaul the...

Eat To Live: Wine drinkers eat better.
January 20, 2006... Byline: JULIA WATSON If you're a wine drinker, take heart. If you're a beer drinker, take heed. When it comes to eating habits, wine drinkers can give themselves a pat on the back. Beer drinkers, however, should pay more attention to what...

Turkey accuses neighbors of hiding H5N1.
January 20, 2006... Byline: KATE WALKER OXFORD, England, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- In the wake of recent outbreaks and deaths from avian influenza in the country, Turkey's agriculture minister has accused neighboring countries of hiding signs of bird-flu outbreaks and...

U.K. e-health records face skepticism.
January 20, 2006... Byline: HANNAH STRANGE LONDON, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Britain's National Health Service said this week it is launching a colossal $10.9 billion electronic data initiative aimed at connecting thousands of NHS health professionals into a single...

SuperGen drug nixed, cancer news mixed.
January 20, 2006... Byline: STEVE MITCHELL WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- This week brought a mixture of bad and good news for the cancer sector, with SuperGen withdrawing its Marketing Authorization Application filed in Europe for Orathecin, while EntreMed...

FDA panel to mull OTC switch of diet drug.
January 23, 2006... Byline: ALICIA AULT WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- A panel of Food and Drug Administration experts on Monday will weigh whether the prescription weight loss drug Xenical (orlistat) should be sold over the counter. GlaxoSmithKline is...

Panel: Market health reforms needed.
January 23, 2006... Byline: OLGA PIERCE WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- A shift of worker compensation away from health-insurance plans and toward higher wages so employees can buy their own individual plans is among the market-based solutions needed to fix the...

London scientists discover H5N1 mutation.
January 23, 2006... Byline: KATE WALKER OXFORD, England, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- London scientists have discovered a mutation that may make H5N1 more transmissible. The mutation was found in a sample taken from a patient in Turkey and could "signify the virus is...