Genzyme’s new osteoarthritis drug received recommendation from Food and Drug Administration panel, giving the company’s shares a boost Wednesday.
Genzyme’s stock was up $2.24, or 3.54%, at $65.50 in at midday.
A five-member FDA panel unanimously recommended approval of a single-injection version of Synvisc, which relieves pain between the joints. A three-injection version of Synvisc has already received approval.
Though the FDA doesn’t have Read the rest of this entry »

Marshall Wood was a successful businessman for years.
He sold medical supplies, did consulting and lived comfortably in Amherst.
But when it was time to sell the business a few years ago and slow down, he soon experienced the financial pain of paying for private health insurance.
“It was getting expensive. We made a decision since my wife and I were both veterans to transfer our care to the VA,” said Wood, who noted the move saved Read the rest of this entry »

QUAKERTOWN, Pa. — These are scary times for David and Karen Hammerschmidt.
Like most Americans, they’re improvising their way through the current economic downturn.
When cash was short, they rented out their two guest bedrooms to bring in extra money. When carpentry work dried up locally, David, 43, took a lower-paying job outside the area even though the travel costs were greater.
But as their health problems worsen and their money Read the rest of this entry »

THURSDAY, Feb. 19 (HealthDay News) — Between 1997 and 2006, hospital admissions for uninsured Americans rose by 34 percent, from 1.7 million to 2.2 million stays, a new report finds.
The increase is more than double the 14 percent rise in overall hospital admissions during that same period, according to a just-released report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
In the South and Northeast, uninsured hospital admissions increased Read the rest of this entry »

: Drinking too many cups of joe might not only bring on a case of jitters, but it could provoke hallucinations, a study by England’s Durham University finds. The study, published in the journal
, concludes that people with a high caffeine level from coffee, tea, or energy drinks are more likely to see things or hear voices that are not real. High caffeine users, defined as those who drank the equivalent of seven cups of instant coffee a day, were Read the rest of this entry »

Shares of
Alpharma Inc.
jumped Friday, bucking a declining market, as the prospects for approval of its tamperproof morphine drug brightened following a positive Food and Drug Administration panel for a potential rival.
The stock rose $4.25, or 13.9 percent, to end at $34.75. Shares have traded between $17.55 and $38.14 over the last 52 weeks.
The company has asked the Food and Administration to approve Embeda, a tamperproof morphine pill, Read the rest of this entry »

Health care spending in the U.S. grew 6.1 percent in 2007 to $2.2 trillion, or $7,421 per person, the slowest rate of growth since 1998, according to the
.
The growth rate is 0.6 percent lower than the 6.7 percent growth in 2006. However, health care spending outpaced overall economic growth, which grew by 4.8 percent in 2007.
The slower growth in 2007 was attributed mostly to slower growth in both retail prescription drug spending and Medicare Read the rest of this entry »

Shares of
Inc. advanced Friday after the biotechnology company reported its fourth-quarter loss narrowed on benefits from a restructuring program.
The stock gained 65 cents, or 4.1 percent, to close at $16.65. Shares have traded between $4.32 and $18.90 over the last 52 weeks.
Late Thursday, the South San Francisco, Calif.-based company said its fourth-quarter loss narrowed to 26 cents per share from 54 cents per shares in the year-ago period, Read the rest of this entry »

Shares of Genzyme Corp. jumped Wednesday after advisers to the Food and Drug Administration recommended approval of a new osteoarthritis treatment formula.
The stock gained $1.45, or 2.2 percent, to reach $64.64 in morning trading. Shares have traded between $57.61 and $83.97 over the past 52 weeks.
The Cambridge, Mass.-based company wants the FDA to approve a single-dose version of Synvisc, an injectable drug that relives knee pain by providing Read the rest of this entry »

Associated Press
10.07.08,
8:07 PM ET
Shares of Dendreon Corp. tumbled Tuesday as investors backed off the prior day’s big gains on data showing that a developing prostate cancer vaccine could meet its goal in a late-stage study.
The stock declined $1.33, or 19.2 percent, to $5.60 Tuesday. On Monday, shares had reached $10 intraday, their highest point in more than a year, but reversed course to close at $6.93 – still a 33 percent gain Read the rest of this entry »