Dey, L.P. has announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved its New Drug Application (NDA) for Perforomist” (formoterol fumarate) Inhalation Solution for long-term, twice-daily maintenance treatment of bronchoconstriction for emphysema and chronic bronchitis, also known as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).Formoterol is a rapid and long-lasting beta2 agonist that has been previously approved in the U.S. [click link for full article]

Pregnancy rates in Utah among women ages 15 to 19 decreased in 2005, the Utah Department of Health announced on Thursday, the AP/Provo Daily Herald reports. The pregnancy rate in 2005 for the age group decreased to 38 pregnancies per every 1,000 women and girls, down from 38. [click link for full article]

The Texas Senate on Thursday approved a bill on a 28-3 vote that would require health insurers to provide coverage for mental health care at the same level as physical health care, the AP/Houston Chronicle reports. [click link for full article]

Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia recently created a model of proline dehydrogenase, an important cancer-preventing enzyme in the human body, and analyzed how it works. A paper detailing their results is published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.Proline dehydrogenase is important because it plays a role in apoptosis, the process of cell death, by enabling the creation of superoxide, a highly reactive electron-rich oxygen species. [click link for full article]

Prices under Medicare prescription drug plans for 10 of the most prescribed brand-name medications have increased 6.8% since December 2006, while wholesale prices for the same drugs have increased 3%, according to a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee report, the Washington Post reports. [click link for full article]

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) on Friday said he would introduce a bill (S 1375) that would increase postpartum depression research at NIH and would provide grants to state and local health care workers to increase screening and treatment of the condition, CQ HealthBeat reports (Webber, CQ HealthBeat, 5/11). [click link for full article]

Allergies are more common than ever, affecting up to one in 3 people. From asthma to hay fever, eczema to food allergies, and hives to sinusitis, it seems like everybody…

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) on Thursday signed into law health care legislation that she called “a comprehensive start to closing the gap so that all Kansans can have access to health care,” the Wichita Eagle reports. Under the law, the state will subsidize health insurance premiums for families with incomes up to the federal poverty level. [click link for full article]

While drug-eluting stents are effective in keeping open diseased heart arteries, they should not be used for patients who need to have non-cardiac surgery a short time after an interventional heart procedure. A presentation at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions in Orlando by cardiologists at Jefferson Medical College indicates that for these patients, bare metal stents provide a safer choice.”The issue here,” says Michael Savage, M.D. [click link for full article]

The United Nations World Food Programme today urged the international community to redouble its efforts in support of the agency’s recently upscaled life-saving operation in the conflict-torn Central African Republic. In order to reach at least 230,000 people affected by the current crisis, WFP is urgently upgrading its logistics capacity at an additional operational cost of US$3.5 million over the next nine months. [click link for full article]