October 23, 2007
Roche and OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: OSIP) announced that TarcevaŽ (erlotinib) has been approved in Japan for the treatment of patients with nonresectable, recurrent and advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) which is aggravated following chemotherapy. The Japanese Ministry of Health approval means that lung cancer patients in Japan will now have an important new treatment, which has been demonstrated to increase overall survival and offer an improvement in quality of life. [click link for full article]
After a year of much controversy about drug-eluting stents, attendees at the largest gathering of interventional cardiologists in the world in Washington DC this week are lauding the 30th Anniversary of Coronary Angioplasty, a celebration that began last month in Zurich, Switzerland, the birthplace of the procedure. Many celebrants at the TCT (Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics) meeting, including Boston Scientific and Abbott Vascular, are turning to the Angioplasty. [click link for full article]
Rising rates of diabetes have been identified as a particular challenge to the health of people across England. This is the finding of the Department of Health in its report, the Health Profile of England 2007, out today. The annual report shows regional comparisons and national trends as well as snapshots of public health and well-being. [click link for full article]
A new US study suggests that covering human skin with a compound called sulforaphane, extracted from sprouted broccoli seeds, protects it from damage by ultraviolet radiation (UVR).The study is published in the 23rd October issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and is the work of Dr Paul Talalay, professor of pharmacology at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, and colleagues. [click link for full article]
GE Healthcare (NYSE: GE) has announced the results of a time-motion study conducted at Providence Heart Institute in Columbia, SC. The study, spanning approximately 50 interventional coronary cases, found the Innova IVUS cuts procedure time by up to 40%. The announcement came at the start of the 2007 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics sessions in Washington, DC. [click link for full article]
GE Healthcare’s SnapShot Pulse technology for Cardiovascular CT is now in place at dozens of facilities across the nation and it’s on display at the annual meeting of Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) in Washington, D.C. this week. SnapShot Pulse is the industry’s first-ever computed tomography (CT) feature that maintains outstanding image quality while reducing a patient’s radiation exposure by up to 70% per scan. [click link for full article]
Summaries of coverage related to e-health appear below.Blogging: HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff are the first two members of President Bush’s Cabinet to start blogging about issues that affect their departments and to “occasionally sound off on criticism of their policies,” the [click link for full article]
Summaries of several recent editorials and an opinion piece that examine the recent presidential veto of a bill to reauthorize and expand SCHIP and the failed attempt by the House to override the veto appear below. [click link for full article]
The New York City Department of Education on Thursday announced it would recommend a “research-based” sex education curriculum called Reducing the Risk at all high schools in the city, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports. [click link for full article]
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) on Friday sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) requesting a meeting to discuss drafting a new SCHIP bill, which the House is expected to vote on in two weeks, CongressDaily reports (CongressDaily, 10/19). The House on Thursday voted 273-156 to sustain President Bush’s veto of legislation that would have reauthorized and expanded SCHIP. [click link for full article]
