The Scripps Research team, led by neuroscientists Manuel Sanchez-Alavez and Tamas Bartfai, discovered that mice genetically altered to lack a molecule known as the EP3 receptor tend to be more active during their normal sleep cycle and to eat more. In the study, this led to weight increases of up to 30 percent relative to mice with the receptors. [click link for full article]

Switching treatment to exemestane after 2-3 years on tamoxifen, improves disease-free survival* and seems to modestly reduce risk of death, according to an Online/Article published by The Lancet.The Intergroup Exemestane Study (IES), an extensive, international study, tested the superiority of switching to exemestane (an aromatase inhibitor**) from tamoxifen in patients with early breast cancer. [click link for full article]

One in five Ethiopians treated for tuberculosis fails to complete the length course of drugs required, according to a study by Ethiopian and Norwegian researchers, published in PLoS Medicine. The research has made clear some of the difficulties that patients must overcome in order to succeed in completing a course of treatment. People who cannot easily travel to a treatment centre are the most likely to ‘default’. [click link for full article]

The following highlights recent news of state actions on human papillomavirus vaccine proposals. Merck’s HPV vaccine Gardasil and GlaxoSmithKline’s HPV vaccine Cervarix in clinical trials have been shown to be 100% effective in preventing infection with HPV strains 16 and 18, which together cause about 70% of cervical cancer cases. [click link for full article]

Testing for tuberculosis has revealed that nearly 40% of the doctors in one Russian city have latent infection, with even higher levels in those who work in TB clinics. The research has been published in PLoS Medicine.TB disease is a growing problem worldwide. Russia is one country where it is particularly common. Although up to a third of the world’s population are infected with the bacterium that causes the disease, in most people the infection remains ‘latent’. [click link for full article]

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Friday held a hearing about how private insurance plans and pharmacy benefit managers negotiate prices with drug manufacturers for government prescription drug programs and whether these discounts get passed on to consumers, CQ HealthBeat reports. [click link for full article]

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch (D) would sign a bill (HB 184) meant to repeal a state law ( [click link for full article]

The sky is blue, the grass is growing, and the air is fragrant with the smell of flowers. It’s the kind of day that leaves most people feelings happy and…

AstraZeneca today announced that 37 countries to date have received approval of Symbicort® Maintenance And Reliever Therapy (Symbicort SMART®), and that a period of world wide launches will now be initiated. This new, smarter approach to asthma is the first to provide patients with both asthma maintenance and reliever therapy together in just one inhaler. [click link for full article]

A study led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University provides the first demonstration of a practical method of screening tumors for cancer-related gene abnormalities that might be treated with “targeted” drugs. [click link for full article]