Washington, February 9:
Johnson and Johnson (JNJ) has finally got a green signal from The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to market a device that could be a potential cure for the common heart-rhythm disorder called atrial fibrillation. This is the first ever approval given by the FDA for a device of this kind.
The news is welcomed by the already booming device market. As per the estimations made by JPMorgan analyst, Michael Weinstein the Read the rest of this entry »

KENNEWICK, Wash.– Kennewick General Hospital is one step closer to a future expansion.
The hospital got its certificate of need approved from the state. Now the hospital can apply for a loan from the Federal Housing Administration for more funding.
KGH leaders plan to build a new facility on the 40 acres of land known as the Southridge campus. The hospital’s CEO says having a new facility will also help our local job market.
“We’ll be creating Read the rest of this entry »

With an eye to the future, Women’s Healthcare of Illinois hosted a free educational event at the Tinley Park Convention Center.
More than 100 people attending the event Saturday were instructed by four medical professionals on women’s health, ranging from bladder issues and office-based procedures to healthy pregnancies, genetics and ultrasounds.
Each of the four doctors, led by Dr. Kenneth Finkelstein, encouraged questions from the audience Read the rest of this entry »

SANTA ANA, Calif.—An ex-payroll manager who pleaded guilty to embezzling $487,000 from his Santa Ana employer has been sentenced to five years in prison.
Robert Lee Winn received the sentence in a Santa Ana court Tuesday, after pleading guilty last month to 48 felony counts of fraud and unauthorized computer access.
The 43-year-old Norco man used the payroll computer system of Advanced Medical Optics to make direct deposits into a business Read the rest of this entry »

MINNEAPOLIS — The daughter of a pioneering medical device developer has pledged $50 million to the new children’s hospital being built at the University of Minnesota.
Caroline Amplatz pledged the money over 12 years to honor her father, Kurt Amplatz, a former radiology professor who holds more than 30 patents. Amplatz developed a number of non-invasive techniques, including a tiny device to repair a congenital heart defect that allowed thousands Read the rest of this entry »

Dyax Corp.
said Wednesday a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended approval of the company’s developing treatment for a genetic condition that can lead to dangerous swelling.
The drug candidate is called DX-88 and is aimed at treating the condition called hereditary angioedema. While the FDA does not have to approve the drug, it usually follows the advice of its expert panels. The panel vote was slim, with six recommending approval Read the rest of this entry »

The Food and Drug Administration approved Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s generic version of the nicotine gum Nicorette, the company said Wednesday, and Watson plans to start selling the mint-flavored gum in early January.
Watson said the FDA approved its over-the-counter nicotine polacrilex gum in 2 mg and 4 mg strengths. Nicorette is made by British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC, and sold by Johnson & Johnson Healthcare. The FDA approved Nicorette Read the rest of this entry »

Business executive Roger Vang wanted to know what federal plans might affect his company’s health insurance plan so he checked President-elect Barack Obama’s website.
“I wanted to see if Obama had any major changes coming,” said Vang, chief financial officer of Diversified Plastics in Brooklyn Park. “They had a button to click for information on health care, so I foolishly did.”
The button led Vang to a discussion guide for a grass-roots forum Read the rest of this entry »

has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration to begin a clinical trial of a product candidate to treat Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease (PMD), a fatal brain disorder that affects mainly young children.
Palo Alto-based StemCells (NASDAQ: STEM) designed the Phase 1 trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of its HuCNS-SC product candidate cells as a treatment for PMD. Currently, there are no approved treatments for this disease, the company Read the rest of this entry »

WASHINGTON (AP) — It will get vastly cheaper for most people to keep health insurance after losing a job if the government’s stimulus plan becomes law. Some nickel and dime cuts in health coverage for the poor will be reversed, too. Geek jobs in medicine will grow.
The billions to be poured into health care from the economic stimulus package will do little if anything about the chronic conditions behind the nation’s stubbornly large ranks Read the rest of this entry »