One in four people who lack health coverage in America are eligible for public insurance programs but are not enrolled due to barriers that make it difficult, says a new report released today by the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation (NIHCM), a Washington-based think tank.

Biolex Therapeutics, Inc. announced that the results from its SELECT-1 Phase 2a clinical trial of Locteron® will be presented at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL). As a controlled-release interferon alfa, Locteron is designed to improve patient care through a more favorable side-effect profile compared to existing pegylated interferon products and Albuferon®, each of which lacks a controlled-release mechanism.

According to a study published on bmj.com,70% of patients with suspected angina do not receive the correcttesting and thus have an increased risk of developing serious heartcomplications. Those patients who are most likely to miss testinginclude women, elderly people, ethnic minorities, and people with lowerincomes.

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) today announced the presentation of detailed 72-week data from two pivotal Phase III clinical trials, Studies 102 and 103, evaluating the safety and efficacy of once-daily Viread® (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) among adult patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.

Despite a veto threat from the White House, the House on Wednesday voted 349-62 to approve legislation (HR 5613) that would place a one-year moratorium on seven new Medicaid regulations, the AP/Houston Chronicle reports (Abrams, AP/Houston Chronicle, 4/24).

The overall wellbeing of U.S. children has increased by nearly 10% from 1994 to 2006 despite increased rates of childhood obesity and low-birthweight babies, according to a study released on Thursday, the Washington Post reports. For the study, researchers led by Kenneth Land, a sociologist and demographer at

Indonesia is running a large scale drill simulating an outbreak of human to human bird flu that involves thousands of villagers, health workers and government officials, rehearsing for a potential pandemic. The drill started today, Friday 25th April, and is scheduled to run for three days.

Pakistan and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime on Tuesday launched a pilot project that aims to improve current HIV prevention services provided to female injection drug users, wives of male IDUs and female prisoners, The International News reports.

An estimated 10,000 people marched in Santiago, Chile, on Tuesday to protest a court decision to end a national government program that provided no-cost emergency contraception to women and girls ages 14 and older, the Associated Press reports (Associated Press, 4/22).

The May 2008 issue of The American Prospect features a special report on health care issues in the U.S. The following articles are included in the report:”Borrowing Ill Health”: Tamara Draut, an author and director of the Economic Opportunity Program at