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Hospitals are worried a new rule from the Federal Communications Commission that will allow unlicensed devices to use the same wireless band as patient monitors could cause dangerous interference with the medical systems… FCC will allow unlicensed devices developed in the future to communicate on the TV and 600 mhz bands, part of which is now used by wireless medical telemetry systems, which allows vital-sign sensors to communicate with patient monitors and nurse station monitors.

there are 182 drugs in development for diabetes,..fewer drugs in development for T1DM...compared with type 2 diabetes (T2DM),..a lot of work focused on defining the genomic makeup of type 1 diabetes, which has allowed researchers to identify biomarkers…"I consider this approach radically innovative."….optimistic about the progress that’s been made in developing a closed-loop system..an automated mechanical glucose-responsive, sensor-guided insulin- infusion system...

While the breach did not result in substantial harm...it highlighted the susceptibility of FDA’s network to attacks and raised questions about the adequacy of FDA’s information security program…The vulnerability of information collected and maintained by the agency is of prime importance to many in the pharma and biotech industries because FDA has the legal obligation to protect companies’ trade secrets and confidential commercial information.

Allergan, which is selling its generics business to focus on branded drugs and aesthetics products, aims to acquire or license products that have already shown promise in studies, and leave the riskier discovery process to small biotechs and academic researchers...."The best way for us to participate in discovery is investing in a more 'virtual' sense, than actually building and running our own labs,"..

As public hospitals like Harbor-UCLA try to cut costs and make patients happier, administrators have turned to an unlikely ally: Toyota. They are adapting the car maker’s production system to healthcare, changing longstanding practices such as how to store equipment, schedule surgeries and discharge patients. The philosophy, known as lean, depends on a continuous team effort to pare inefficiency and improve quality...

Eli Lilly…was cleared of liability in the first trial involving claims that its antidepressant Cymbalta caused severe withdrawal symptoms, including suicidal thoughts and electric shock-like sensations,…Eli Lilly has been sued by roughly 250 plaintiffs who say that the company downplayed warnings about symptoms that can occur when patients quit the popular drug, which has annual sales of about $3.9 billion.

…US regulator awards iclaprim expedited QIDP (fast-track qualified infectious disease product) status, a former FDA antibiotics expert says the scheme boosts antibiotics without enough evidence for efficacy…This drug should not be developed further…the drug industry is forgetting past lessons about what constitutes good evidence…

Greece’s health care system is collapsing, and the tragedy should be a cautionary tale for the United States,…Beds, Drugs in Short Supply… policy of accepting patients only on "emergency days," two or three times a week…"Greek patients are lining the hallways, waiting and hoping for treatment,"… "The Greek health care system is failing to provide needed prescription medicine to its patients,"...

California women who have long had to schedule a doctor’s appointment for a birth control prescription will be able to go straight to the pharmacy for the contraception… state law, passed in 2013 with plans to be implemented in October, gives licensed pharmacists authorization to prescribe self-administered hormonal contraceptives,...SB 493, also allows pharmacists to prescribe nicotine replacement products,…travel medication, and gives pharmacists status as health care providers.

Evotec and Sanofi are launching a strategic collaboration in diabetes drug development that could be worth as much as $330m ...goal … will be to develop a beta cell replacement therapy based on...beta cells derived from...stem cells.…use of human stem cells in drug discovery and development…will increasingly shift the landscape from symptomatic treatments to disease-modifying therapies....