(Reuters)—After years of lobbying in Washington, U.S. telehealth providers have the first hints that the dam could break on public funding for an industry they say could save taxpayers billions. Four bills that could be signed into law over the next year carry the solutions to barriers that have prevented the U.S.s’ huge over-65 health…
NEW YORK (Reuters)—Amazon.com Inc., Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. said on Tuesday they will form a company to cut health costs for hundreds of thousands of their employees, setting up a major challenge to an inefficient U.S. healthcare system. The move by three of the best-known U.S. business leaders—Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Berkshire’s…
Patients with severe RA can struggle with walking, getting dressed, carrying items and more, all of which can negatively affect their quality of life. But according to Bharat Kumar, MD, service dogs can help RA patients by providing both physical and emotional support, aiding patient mobility and quality of life…
A recent study has shed light on the role of circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) in SLE pathogenesis. In particular, patients with lupus nephritis have an abundance of 24 miRNAs, many of which play a role in regulatory feedback loops…
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—The U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted to confirm former pharmaceutical industry executive and lobbyist Alex Azar as the next Health and Human Services secretary. Azar will oversee the Trump administration’s response to the opioid epidemic, its efforts to weaken the Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare, and address rising prescription drug prices. The Senate…
(Reuters)—Pfizer Inc said on Wednesday its biosimilar of Roche’s Rituxan was as effective as the original drug in treating patients with a type of follicular lymphoma, meeting the main goal of a study. The success of Pfizer’s biosimilar comes as Rituxan’s U.S. patent is set to expire later this year. The drug had raked in…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and giant-cell arteritis (GCA) have similarly increased risks of fracture, compared with the general population, researchers have found. “It is of surprise that patients with GCA have a similar fracture risk to those with PMR,” Dr. Zoe Paskins from Keele University, in Staffordshire, told Reuters Health by…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Pneumococcal vaccination yields a satisfactory antibody response in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), but synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) might reduce the vaccine response in these individuals, according to a report from Sweden. The prospective study, published online Jan. 8 in Rheumatology, evaluated the response to either pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) or…