The Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores (Mexican State Department, Mexican Foreign Office) says it has received numerous offers of help for the victims of the current floods in Tabasco from Mexicans and Americans living in the USA. In order to facilitate the smooth transaction of funds for the flood victims, the government department has opened two bank accounts in the USA. [click link for full article]

The Medicare bidding program for durable medical equipment will hurt small providers and “undermine the nation’s homecare infrastructure” unless Congress modifies the program. This is the key message that will be presented to a congressional subcommittee today by the American Association for Homecare. The Association believes the bidding program will “jeopardize patients’ standard of care, choice of provider, and access to the medical equipment and services they need. [click link for full article]

Eli Lilly and Daiichi Sankyo Co’s investigational anti-clotting drug, Prasugrel, was found to be more effective at preventing heart attacks than Plavix, but also caused excessive bleeding among patients in a clinical trial, according to a new report. This excessive bleeding may undermine its future success. However, Prasugrel was definitely better at reducing deaths from non-fatal heart attacks and strokes, compared to Plavix. 2. [click link for full article]

Praxis, a company specializing in centralized patient recruitment for clinical trials, recently provided services to a major pharmaceutical company for a national vaccine research study. The study explored an investigational vaccine for a significant female health issue. Through a combination of site efforts and a targeted, centralized recruitment program, the original enrollment goal of 26 weeks was met in just 14 weeks. [click link for full article]

The most recent biennial survey commissioned by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) shows that Americans rate cancer their number one health concern, believe it to be impossible to prevent, and continue to blame the disease on factors they cannot control. “These are three distressing, interconnected trends, and they help to explain something we at AICR have been sensing for years,” said AICR Nutrition Advisor Karen Collins, MS, RD. [click link for full article]

The most comprehensive report on cancer prevention ever published shows that how the body grows is closely linked to one’s cancer risk. The landmark American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) report concluded that events that take place early in life greatly influence a person’s cancer risk later on. [click link for full article]

Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) will investigate the causes of type 1 diabetes with dual grants from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and the Iacocca Foundation.The grants, which total $300,000, will support the research efforts of the UMMS Heat Shock Protein Consortium. Directed by Aldo A. [click link for full article]

Tolerance to the pain-relieving effects of morphine — which builds rapidly with prolonged use — can be prevented by blocking a key substance that’s formed when the drug is taken, researchers at the Saint Louis University of Medicine have discovered. [click link for full article]

Progen Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX: PGL; Nasdaq: PGLA) announced that in light of the recent Fast Track designation awarded to PI-88 for the prevention of tumour recurrence following curative resection of primary liver cancer and in order to commence the Phase 3 program as rapidly as possible, the Company will no longer continue with the Special Protocol Assessment process. [click link for full article]

IDM Pharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: IDMI) announced updated results from a Phase 2 UVIDEM(R) (IDD-3) melanoma vaccine clinical trial (DC-MEL-202). The updated results showed that the investigational agent UVIDEM showed evidence of clinical activity and induction of immune response and was well tolerated in patients with advanced melanoma. [click link for full article]