- UNR student in end-of-life case dies in Reno (rgj.com)Fight over UNR student on life support back in court (rgj.com)
A 20-year-old woman at the center of an end-of-life court battle over her treatment at a Reno hospital has died while still on life support...Aden Hailu died about 4:30 p.m. Monday at Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center, where she never awoke from anesthesia after surgery April 1, said David O’Mara, the attorney representing Hailu’s father and family...Hailu’s father, Fanuel Gebreyes, lost a bid in court last week to delay brain electroencephalogram, or EEG, tests that the hospital said would show she was brain dead and wouldn’t recover...Hailu was from Las Vegas and was a freshman at the University of Nevada, Reno...Doctors say she suffered severe low blood pressure and a lack of oxygen to the brain during surgery to remove her appendix and explore the cause of unspecified abdominal pain, according to court documents.
- Pharmacists recognised in 2016 New Year’s honours list (pharmaceutical-journal.com)
Several pharmacists and former pharmacists have been recognised in the New Year’s honours list, with four being made Officers of the Order of the British Empire...
- Bill Scott, Scotland’s former chief pharmaceutical officer ...recognised for services to healthcare.
- Norman Morrow, chief pharmaceutical officer for Northern Ireland...was recognised for his contribution to pharmacy.
- David Cowan, professor of pharmaceutical toxicology and director of the drug control centre at King’s College London...was recognised for services to anti-doping science.
- Alan Willson, who began his career as a pharmacist, was honoured for services to the quality and safety of healthcare in Wales.
- Zameer Choudrey — was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his contribution to the UK wholesale industry.
- Baxalta in deal to expand immuno-oncology business (reuters.com)
Baxalta Inc has signed a deal with privately held Symphogen under which the companies will develop immuno-oncology drugs to treat rare cancers...The agreement holds a total potential value up to 1.4 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in option fees and milestones over the long term, in addition to royalties on worldwide sales...The deal with Symphogen comes as Baxalta approaches the final stages of negotiating a potential sale to rare diseases drugmaker Shire Pharmaceuticals....Baxalta and Symphogen said...they expect to conduct the first early-stage study in 2017...Immuno-oncology is a new field that uses the method of activating a patient's immune system against tumor growth. Both single and combined immuno-oncology therapies are likely to improve outcomes for a variety of cancers...
- 3 Undiscovered, Undervalued Health Care Stocks Poised to Outperform the Sector in 2016 (thestreet.com)
Small investment ideas can sometimes offer a powerful boost to your portfolio. While they may lack the glitz of the bigger players, these stocks can deliver a strong foundation and long-standing value. Here are three health care stocks that have largely zipped over the heads of Wall Street analysts. They might seem a little riskier in addition to being unknown, but we believe they've got great times ahead of them.
- PetMed Express is a nationwide pet pharmacy. The company markets prescription and nonprescription pet medications and other health products (for dogs, cats, and horses, among other animals) directly to the consumer.
- Meridian Bioscience is an integrated life science entity, involved in the complete diagnostic test kit product development lifecycle. The key applications are for certain strains of viral, respiratory, gastrointestinal and parasitic infectious diseases.
- Amphastar Pharmaceuticals is a specialty pharmaceutical company. It develops, manufactures, markets and sells generic and proprietary injectable and inhalation products. In 2014, the company commenced sales of insulin active pharmaceutical ingredient products.
- Alibaba health care unit stumbles into 2016 as deal on online pharmacy business runs into delays (scmp.com)
The expansion plans of Alibaba Health Information Technology, the Hong Kong-listed health care subsidiary of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, have stumbled out of the gate this year as the US$2.5 billion deal to acquire its parent’s online pharmacy business gets delayed...In a regulatory filing on Monday, Ali Health chief executive Wang Lei said “additional time is required for the relevant conditions” to complete that proposed acquisition...Beijing Chuanyun is an offshore holding vehicle that controls Alibaba’s online pharmacy operations, which is run under internet shopping platform Tmall.com...In April, Alibaba agreed to transfer that online pharmacy business to Ali Heath in exchange for US$2.5 billion worth of newly issued shares and convertible bonds...The delay in completing the online pharmacy acquisition could further challenge Ali Health with turning a profit as it continues in investment mode...Alibaba’s online pharmacy business on Tmall recorded a gross merchandise value of 4.74 billion yuan in the company’s fiscal year...There are 186 online-licensed pharmacies offering over-the-counter drugs, medical devices, contact lenses and other general health care products on Tmall...
- 2015: Another Strong Year for Patients in Need of New Drug Therapies (blogs.fda.gov)Novel New Drugs Summary 2015 (fda.gov)I’m (John Jenkins,Director of the Office of New Drugs) pleased to report another strong year for FDA approvals of novel new drugs, which offer many patients new treatment options for serious and life-threatening conditions. In 2015, FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research approved 45 novel new therapies – significantly more than the average of 28 we have approved during the previous nine years of this decade...During this past year, we approved many new drugs to treat various forms of cancer, including four to treat multiple myeloma, and others to treat lung, skin, breast, brain, colorectal, and other cancers. We also approved new drugs to treat heart failure, high cholesterol, cystic fibrosis, and irritable bowel syndrome, as well as the first approved reversal agent for a commonly-used blood thinner...Here are a few highlights of these approvals:
- More than one-third of the novel new drugs CDER approved in 2015 were identified by FDA as “first-in-class,” for example, drugs that use a new and unique mechanism of action for treating a medical condition;
- More than 40% of these new therapies were approved to treat rare or “orphan” diseases that affect 200,000 or fewer Americans–Americans who often have few or no drug treatment options;
- 60% of CDER’s novel new approvals for 2015 were designated in one or more categories of Fast Track, Breakthrough, Priority Review, or Accelerated Approval. Each of these designations helps speed the development and/or approval process and is designed to help bring important medications to the market as quickly as possible; and
- 64% of CDER’s novel new approvals were approved first in the United States before any other country.
- Oregon greenlights pharmacist-prescribed birth control (upi.com)How Oregon Pharmacists Are Prescribing Birth Control (pharmacytimes.com)
Pharmacists in Oregon are now permitted to prescribe birth control pills to qualifying women as part of a wave of new state laws for 2016...Oregon is the first U.S. state to put such a law into effect, with California reportedly looking to follow suit...A doctor's approval is no longer needed for a supply of pills, although experts urge women not to overlook preventative health care in the form of doctor visits...having birth control accessible through a pharmacist doesn't mean preventative health care isn't important...women over age 18 will still be required to fill out a health questionnaire trained pharmacists will use to determine whether to write a prescription. Pharmacists are reportedly still free to refuse prescriptions for religious reasons, but must refer a customer somewhere else.
- Poor sales prompt Sanofi to pull plug on Mannkind inhaled insulin (reuters.com)
Sanofi is to stop selling an inhalable insulin developed by Mannkind, following disappointing sales of the product since its launch in February 2015...The decision to terminate the collaboration marks a blow for the idea of delivering insulin through an inhaler, rather than by injection...Rights to Afrezza will revert to Mannkind from Sanofi...Mannkind said it was reviewing strategic options for the product, although analysts questioned if the drug had any future...We can't imagine that another legitimate diabetes company would show serious interest in this asset...With little hope for resuscitating Afrezza and a dismal balance sheet (net debt), we see Mannkind in an increasingly precarious position...
- Cancer database goes 3D to help drug design (upi.com)
The new imaging adds information on 3 million cavities on the surfaces of nearly 110,000 human molecules to the canSAR database...A large database used for cancer drug development has been improved to include three-dimensional structures...which scientists say could improve approaches to treating cancer...The...database...is used by more than 140,000 researchers around the world to research the effects of more than a million drugs on human proteins....Scientists need to find all the information there is about a faulty gene or protein to understand whether a new drug might work...These data are vast and scattered, but the canSAR database brings them together and adds value by identifying hidden links and presenting the key information easily...Finding new treatments for cancer can be a long and expensive process, so anything that cuts times and costs will help to bring the next generation of therapies to patients even sooner...
- California Set To Allow Birth-Control Pills Without Prescription (losangeles.cbslocal.com)California Law To Allow Pharmacists To Prescribe Birth Control (npr.org)
California is set to become one of the first states where women can get birth control from a pharmacist without a prescription with the goal of reducing unwanted pregnancies...Proponents of the new law say it will give younger women easier access...But doctors like gynecologist Kathleen Valenton have concerns...“I think that’s very dangerous,” she said, since pharmacists cannot perform health screenings, including STD checks...Many of the details of the law are still being worked out in Sacramento. It is set to take effect in March.