By Chris Kenning CHICAGO (Reuters) – Illinois Republican Governor Bruce Rauner signed a controversial bill into law on Thursday to expand state-funded coverage of abortions for low-income residents on Medicaid and state employees. The bill, approved by the state legislature in May, would also keep abortions legal in Illinois if the U.S. Supreme Court follows […]
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By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) – A new typhoid vaccine developed by privately-held Bharat Biotech proved safe and highly immunogenic in a study and could be used to prevent millions of infections if it succeeds in final-stage clinical trials, researchers said on Friday. Typhoid fever affects between 12 and 20 million people worldwide in regions […]
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By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization told governments on Thursday not to get involved in a foundation funded by tobacco firm Philip Morris International to look at ways of reducing the harm from smoking. The U.N. health body said there was a conflict of interest in a tobacco firm funding such […]
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By Michael Erman NEW YORK (Reuters) – Makers of fast-acting opioids will have to fund voluntary training for healthcare professionals who prescribe the drugs, including education on safe prescribing practices and non-opioid alternatives, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Thursday. The FDA sent letters to 74 manufacturers of immediate-release opioids, notifying them […]
Read More By Bill Berkrot (Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday it approved an Eli Lilly and Co drug to treat advanced breast cancer that has progressed following prior treatment. The drug, abemaciclib, which will be sold under the brand name Verzenio, will carry a list price before any discounts or rebates […]
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By Toni Clarke (Reuters) – PTC Therapeutics Inc’s experimental drug to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a devastating degenerative disease that mostly affects young boys, may work but the company will need to do more work to prove it, an advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concluded on Thursday. The panel’s vote reduces […]
Read More By Lisa Rapaport (Reuters Health) – People with psoriasis, a chronic inflammatory disease, may be more likely than others to experience heart attacks and strokes at least in part because inflammation damages their vascular system, a recent study suggests. The longer people had lived with psoriasis, the more inflammation they had in their blood vessels, […]
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By Nate Raymond (Reuters) – Washington state on Thursday sued OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP, becoming the latest state or local government to file a lawsuit seeking to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for a national opioid addiction epidemic. The city of Seattle also filed a separate lawsuit against Purdue as well as units of Teva […]
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two U.S. senators from both parties are close to finalizing a bipartisan deal to shore up the health insurance exchanges created under Obamacare, the chamber’s top Democrat said on Thursday. The move, which Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said was “on the verge” of completion, would stabilize the market for individuals who […]
Read More By Lisa Rapaport (Reuters Health) – Nearly two-thirds of children and teens with terminal cancer receive intense care at the end of life, often in hospitals and intensive care units, a U.S. study suggests. Certain patients, including kids under age 5 and teens aged 15 to 21 as well as ethnic minorities and patients with […]
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By Diane Bartz WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Abbott Laboratories has won U.S. antitrust approval to buy Alere Inc on condition that it sell two point-of-care medical testing businesses, the Federal Trade Commission said on Thursday. Canada also announced on Thursday that it had approved the proposed transaction on similar terms. Alere’s shares were up 3.5 percent […]
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By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) – A single genetic change that occurred in 2013 may explain how Zika acquired the ability to attack fetal nerve cells, causing a severe birth defect in babies whose mothers were infected while pregnant, Chinese and U.S. researchers reported on Thursday. Scientists have posited many theories about why Zika, a […]
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