Speciality European Pharma (SEP) announced the launch of Plenaxis(R) in Germany. Plenaxis(R) is used to treat advanced and metastatic hormone responsive prostate cancer and it causes a rapid and sustained decline in testosterone levels, thereby giving quick control of prostate cancer symptoms. Once the disease is under control, the physician can choose to either keep the patient on Plenaxis® or to stop treatment and recommence once there is evidence of disease activity returning.

EUSA Pharma announced that Rapydan® (70 mg lidocaine/70 mg tetracaine medicated plaster) has now received marketing authorisation in Sweden, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Austria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland, Norway and Portugal following the completion of the European Mutual Recognition Procedure.

New federal Medicaid regulations scheduled to take effect this year would shift billions of dollars in costs to the states and could lead to a reduction in services, governors said last weekend during the winter meeting of the National Governors Association in Washington, D.C., the

Several newspapers recently published editorials and an opinion piece on a Medicare proposal recently announced by the Bush administration. Summaries appear below. Editorials

A $1 million Black Infant Health Practice Initiative study aims to look at conditions in Florida, as well as medical and social factors that contribute to a higher rate of infant mortality among blacks, the Miami Herald reports. Study researchers will gather information from local health care, political and community leaders and also will conduct citizen focus groups.

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY)announced that the European Medicines Agency’s (EMEA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has issued a positive opinion for the centralized use of ALIMTA® (pemetrexed for injection), in the first-line treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the most common form of lung cancer.

The Chicago Tribune on Thursday examined the reaction of some women who have given infants up for adoption to the film “Juno,” which was nominated for four Academy Awards.

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (R) said he will no longer seek a federal waiver to expand SCHIP to children in families with incomes up to 250% of the federal poverty level, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. The expansion would have made 10,000 additional children eligible for the program.

A vaginal microbicide that incorporates an antiretroviral (ARV) drug normally used to treat people with HIV is safe for sexually active HIV-negative women to use every day over an extended period, suggest results of a clinical trial of tenofovir topical gel. Moreover, most of the women who participated in the study conducted in India and the United States adhered to a regimen involving either daily or sex-dependent use of the gel, report researchers from the U.S.

On Thursday, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released controversial proposed rule changes that the agency said would grant states “unprecedented flexibility” in designing Medicaid programs and would require increased cost sharing for beneficiaries, CQ HealthBeat reports (Carey, CQ HealthBeat, 2/21).