CDC says gonorrhea is drugresistant
Fri, 13 Apr 2007 05:44:34 GMTBy DANIEL YEE, Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA - The sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea is now among the "superbugs" resistant to common antibiotics, leading U.S. health officials to recommend wider use of a different class of drugs to avert a public health crisis.
The resistant form accounts for more than one in every four gonorrhea cases among heterosexual men in Philadelphia and nearly that many in San Francisco, according to a survey that led to Thursday's recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Gonorrhea, which is believed to infect more than 700,000 people in the United States each year, can leave both men and women infertile and puts people at higher risk of getting the http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr
Board druggists must fill prescriptions
Fri, 13 Apr 2007 09:20:13 GMTBy CURT WOODWARD, Associated Press Writer
SEATTLE - Druggists who believe "morning-after" birth control pills are tantamount to abortion can't stand in the way of a patient's right to the drugs, state regulators have decided.
In a unanimous vote Thursday, the state Board of Pharmacy ruled that drug stores have a duty to fill lawful prescriptions despite an individual pharmacist's personal objections to any particular medication.
Pharmacists or drug stores that violate the rules could face discipline from the board, which has the power to revoke state licenses.
The Washington State Catholic Conference and Human Life Washington, an anti-abortion group, predicted a court challenge, saying the rule wrongly forces pharmacists to administer medical treatments they consider immoral.
"I don't think pharmacists who adhere to traditional moral precepts are going to allow their conscience to be overrun by the Board of Pharmacy," said Dan Kennedy, Human Life's chief executive.
http://www.governor.wa.gov
Pharmacy Board: http://www.doh.wa.gov/Pharmacy
Senate panel OKs negotiating drug prices
Fri, 13 Apr 2007 03:21:45 GMTBy KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - An effort to let the government negotiate drug prices on behalf of the elderly and the disabled moved a step closer to reality Thursday with the approval of legislation by a Senate committee.
Democratic lawmakers used their majority status to pass the measure. They said government negotiations in some cases could lower the cost of prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries. People in Medicare drug plans now rely on their insurers to conduct those negotiations.
"When you're negotiating on behalf of 43 million people, that's leverage," said Sen. Kent Conrad , D-N.D.
The legislation approved Thursday simply strikes a clause that prohibits the secretary of Health and Human Services from interfering in the negotiations between drug makers, insurers and pharmacies. The committee approved the bill 13-8, with two Republicans, Sens. Olympia Snowe of Maine and Gordon Smith of Oregon, voting with the Democrats on the committee.
Sen. Max Baucus , D-Mont., the bill's author, said the prohibition on government negotiations went too far. "We eliminated the government's role in getting fair drug prices for seniors," he said.
Republicans noted that the Congressional Budget Office, in reviewing the measure, found it would have a "negligible effect" on federal spending. Sen. Charles Grassley , R-Iowa, said the bill made for a good sound bite, but not effective policy. He said the program is already costing less than expected and that Medicare beneficiaries say they're happy with the drug benefit.
"This bill does nothing more than keep alive a political pandering approach Democratic leaders have committed against Medicare beneficiaries and the public on the issue," Grassley said.
The Bush administration also objects to giving the secretary the authority to negotiate drug prices.
"This is not a debate about lowering the drug costs for seniors. That's already happening," HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt told reporters earlier. "This is a surrogate for a larger issue, which is government-run health care."
FDA panel frowns on Vioxx successor
Fri, 13 Apr 2007 01:45:38 GMTBy ANDREW BRIDGES, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - A painkiller proposed as a successor to http://www.fda.gov/
Merck and Co., Inc.: http://www.merck.com/
Medicines make 10000 China children deaf a year
Fri, 13 Apr 2007 08:02:17 GMTBEIJING - Medicine abuse is making about 10,000 Chinese children deaf each year, state media said on Friday, putting the blame on doctors and parents alike.
&;The improper use of antibiotics is the main culprit,&; the People's Daily ed Chen Zhensheng, deputy director of the China Rehabilitation Research Centre for Deaf Children, as saying.
Parents had &;blind faith&; in antibiotics and doctors, who often take kickbacks from drugs middlemen, were more than willing to prescribe them, the newspaper said.
&;Doctors should be clear about medicines that may harm hearing and it is highly undesirable for parents to think expensive antibiotics are the most effective,&; Liu Jinfeng, director of the research centre, was ed as saying.
Some 30,000 Chinese children lost their hearing every year because of heredity, infection, adverse drug reaction and other reasons, according to official figures.
Chinese readily resort to antibiotics for ailments such as colds and soar throats and experts say overuse and resulting resistance pose serious health implications for the 1.3 billion population.
Spending on antibiotics accounted for 30 percent of chemists' drug revenues and a quarter of the prescriptions were &;unreasonable,&; the People's Daily said.
In the last couple of years, the government has made it harder for people to buy antibiotics but many hospitals still rely on selling strong and expensive antibiotics for their profits.
Drug curbs repetition in Alzheimer39s patients
Thu, 12 Apr 2007 19:22:11 GMTNEW YORK - Treatment with the Alzheimer's drug galantamine reduces repetitive verbalization by people with Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study.
&;Verbal repetition is common in people with Alzheimer's disease, clinically important, and easily identified,&; Dr. Kenneth Rockwood, of Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and colleagues write in the medical journal Neurology.
The team previously found that another Alzheimer's drug often improved verbal repetition, along with other aspects of the condition. This prompted them to look at data from a 4-month clinical trial of galantamine versus an inactive placebo in 130 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease.
After 4 months, 58% of galantamine-treated patients and 24% of placebo-treated patients showed a decrease in verbal repetition. Furthermore, a reduction in verbal repetition correlated with improvement in clinical measures.
&;Although inadequate on its own as an assessment of treatment response, tracking changes in verbal repetition in patients in whom it is identified as a problem offers a convenient way to begin discussions about treatment and a valid example for patients and families about the sorts of benefits that treatment with galantamine can offer some patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease,&; Rockwood's team concludes.
SOURCE: Neurology, April 3, 2007.
Yoga shown to help women with breast cancer
Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:35:02 GMTNEW YORK - Women with breast cancer that has spread beyond the breast may benefit from participating in a tailored yoga program that includes gentle yoga postures, breathing exercises, and meditation, new research suggests.
&;The benefits could include less pain and fatigue, and more vigor, relaxation, and acceptance,&; study leader Dr. James W. Carson, from Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, told Reuters Health.
Effective ways to curb cancer-related symptoms are needed for women with advanced breast cancer, Carson and his associates note in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. The &;Yoga of Awareness&; program, which is specifically designed and tailored to address patients' pain, fatigue, and emotional distress, seems to fit the bill, according to results of a pilot study.
Thirteen women with breast cancer that had spread to other sites in the body attended the yoga classes once weekly for 8 weeks. The women were an average of 59 years old and had been first diagnosed an average of 7 years beforehand.
The program proved &;helpful in significantly boosting daily invigoration and a sense of acceptance,&; the investigators report. &;There were also trends for improvement in pain and relaxation.&;
They also found that &;greater practice on a given day was associated with improvements not only on the same day, but the next day as well.&;
This study &;provides some of the first, tentative evidence for yoga's potential benefits in this vulnerable population of women with limited life expectancy,&; Carson and colleagues conclude.
SOURCE: Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, March 2007.
