The FDA revised its warning and labeling recommendations for antiinflammatory drugs because of a greater understanding of the increased risks they pose for stroke and myocardial infarction…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Some placebos are more effective than others, and these differences can influence the apparent outcomes of clinical trials, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis of osteoarthritis trials. “More surprising than the fact that all placebos are not equal is the magnitude of that difference,” Dr. Raveendhara R. Bannuru, from Tufts Medical…
(Reuters Health)—Companies fail to report roughly one in 10 serious and unexpected medication side effects to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) within a 15-day window specified by federal regulations to protect patient safety, a study finds. Drug manufacturers are also less likely to disclose serious adverse events within this window when patient deaths…
Researchers in the U.K. have discovered that manipulating T cells to exhaustion in a targeted way may lead to new treatments and predictors for various types of autoimmune diseases…
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)—A year and a half after the Affordable Care Act brought widespread reforms to the U.S. healthcare system, Chicago’s Cook County Health & Hospitals System has made its first profit in 180 years. Seven hundred miles south, the fortunes of Atlanta’s primary public hospital, Grady Health System, haven’t improved, and it remains as…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Various organizations recommend dozens of screening and monitoring tests for patients with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis who are using systemic biologic agents, despite sparse evidence to support any of them. “At a population level, these medications have proven to be very safe and the evidence does not support such extensive and frequent…
(Reuters)—Anthem Inc. said on Friday it would buy Cigna Corp. in a deal valued at $54.2 billion, creating the largest U.S. health insurer by membership. The deal—the biggest ever in the health insurance industry—comes three weeks after Aetna Inc agreed to buy Humana Inc for $37 billion and is part of an industry-wide consolidation following…
In a survey, the Coalition of State Rheumatology Organizations found a consensus among rheumatologists that the FDA should increase safety for biosimilar therapies via naming and labeling regulations…
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—A slowdown in healthcare spending has shored up the funding outlook for the federal program that pays elderly Americans’ hospital bills, trustees of the program said on Wednesday. The Medicare program’s trust fund for hospital care will run out of money in 2030 the trustees said in a report. That was the same year…
In a 25 month Phase 3 trial, abaloparatide-SC reduced the risk of new fractures in patients suffering from postmenopausal osteoporosis. Plus, the FDA launches a new drug safety website.