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Schizophrenia patients treated with an experimental drug from Intra-Cellular Therapies reported fewer antipsychotic symptoms compared to a placebo in a large, phase III study, the company said Wednesday. Intra-Cellular shares climbed 73% to $45.36, an all-time high, on the positive results from the study and the belief that the drug, ITI-007, could generate billions of dollars in schizophrenia sales if eventually approved.

An analysis in Canadian Family Physician casts further doubt on the ability of marijuana to provide pain relief for patients with chronic noncancer pain. Yet,..in the same issue, Roger Ladouceur,...suggests that pain management specialists continue to prescribe it… While acknowledging that the clinical evidence in support of prescribing marijuana is limited, the editorial makes the case that physician involvement in prescribing it avoids a situation in which patients who say that the drug offers them relief are forced to get it wherever and however they can.

A pill meant to prevent HIV infections in high-risk individuals appears to be working, according to two new studies…in…San Francisco…there were no new HIV infections…people who took the daily pill Truvada (emtricitabine and tenofovir)…in the UK taking Truvada had a lower risk of being diagnosed with HIV…

In 2011-2012, the estimated prevalence of diabetes among U.S. adults was 12% to 14% and the prevalence of prediabetes was 37% to 38%, indicating that about half of the U.S. adult population has either diabetes or prediabetes, according to a study in the Sept. 8 issue of JAMA. Though data from recent years suggests that the increasing prevalence of diabetes may be leveling off… Diabetes is a major cause of illness and death in the United States, costing an estimated $245 billion in 2012 due to increased use of health resources and lost productivity.

Hospital pharmacists are aware that they have too many orders to fill on a daily basis – in addition to numerous other job functions, including working with insurers and counseling patients. And now, a new study verifies that the more orders pharmacists fill, the more likely it is for errors to occur… at a large tertiary care medical center… than 1.9 million medication orders that were handled by 50 pharmacists…92 medication error events had occurred during order verification…There was also a lower error rate seen for pharmacists who had a Doctor of Pharmacy degree, compared with those who had a Bachelor of Science degree; however, those results were not statistically significant…

EU needs to better define mercury limits for drugs and dietary supplements say Polish researchers who want pharmaceuticals in Europe to be tested more regularly….because patients are also exposed to environmental sources of the metal those taking pills regularly could build up harmful accumulations of the metal…. Low-quality raw materials, inadequate control during the production and drug counterfeiting can lead to high concentrations of mercury in the final product, which can pose a health threat to consumers, poisoning and even death.

..latest wonder drug to make headlines sounds like a dream for ambitious workers: Modafinil, a narcolepsy pill, has been shown to make you a sharper thinker, a better decision maker, and generally more alert – whether or not you have a sleep disorder, researchers found few safety concerns or side effects from the drug…main problem…no long-term studies of safety and efficacy in healthy people,..Without safety studies,. .."we do not know that modafinil is safe in the long-term for people to use."

People between the ages of 50 and 59 years at an increased risk of heart disease and stroke should take daily low-dose aspirin,…In addition to preventing heart attacks and strokes,…may reduce their risk of colon cancer if they take aspirin for at least 10 years, according to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force,...Under the Affordable Care Act, the task force's recommendations are used to help set health insurance reimbursement policies.

Declaring they had "potentially lifesaving information," federal health officials said on Friday that they were ending a major study more than a year early because it has already conclusively answered a question cardiologists have puzzled over for decades: How low should blood pressure go? The answer: way lower than the current guidelines… The study found that patients who were assigned to reach a systolic blood pressure goal below 120 — far lower than current guidelines of 140, or 150 for people over 60 — had their risk of heart attacks, heart failure and strokes reduced by a third and their risk of death reduced by nearly a quarter.

An article citing the positive impact of prescription drugs on reducing other medical costs in the Medicaid program was published Wednesday by the journal Health Affairs' September issue. "Proper use of prescription medications is paramount in helping to improve patient health, especially for those with chronic conditions,"… "This research is further evidence of the impact of taking medications as prescribed – both in helping patients manage their chronic conditions and reducing emergency or catastrophic medical costs associated with medication non-adherence."