WASHINGTON — The outgoing Bush Administration announced late Friday that the current science chief of the Food and Drug Administration, Frank Torti, will be its acting director, while the transition team for incoming president Barack Obama considers the nominees for permanent commissioner.
Sources close to the decision say that job of FDA commissioner has become one of the most difficult to fill because there are so many differing interests with Read the rest of this entry »

Since announcing our intention not to renew the lease for Community Hospital of Los Gatos, we have diligently worked with the hospital owner, HCP, as it sought a new facility operator. Once informed that HCP had selected El Camino Hospital to fill this role, we engaged in negotiations with the hope of transitioning a fully functional and operating hospital to ECH.
Unfortunately, we were unable to reach an agreement with ECH. After being informed Read the rest of this entry »

(NaturalNews) A group of federal scientists has sent a letter to President-elect Obama’s transition team describing serious managerial misconduct within a division of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The letter was dated last week and was written on FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health letterhead.
“The purpose of this letter is to inform you that the scientific review process for medical devices at the FDA has been corrupted and Read the rest of this entry »

Sharfstein came to Baltimore in 2005 after four years as a health policy adviser to Rep.
. Waxman, a California Democrat with close ties to the incoming Obama administration, will take over the House committee that oversees the FDA in January.
Sharfstein wouldn’t comment yesterday on the speculation. “I love my job and I’m looking forward to another year of public health progress in the city,” he said.
Sources close to the situation say no decision Read the rest of this entry »

A recent directive from John Podesta, chair of
President-Elect Obama’s transition team, informs transition team staffers of a
sweeping transparency policy that will make public all policy documents and
recommendations from meetings staffers conduct with outside organizations.  Apparently, they mean it: dozens of
transition documents drafted for the transition team by advocacy groups ranging
from the American Association of Airport Executives to the Read the rest of this entry »

ORLANDO, Fla. – Common citizens are being called upon to help President-elect Barack Obama reform the nation’s health care system.
The University of Central Florida will be host to a health care community discussion at the request of the Obama Transition Team.
The team said it wants to have citizens from all walks of life identify the problems with health care and suggest ways to fix them.
The meeting will be held at noon on Monday in room 247 Read the rest of this entry »

ScienceDaily (Jan. 28, 2009)
— An evaluation of 203 women as part of the multifaceted Los Angeles Atherosclerosis Study (LAAS) found that those who transitioned more quickly through menopause were at increased risk for a higher rate of progression of “preclinical atherosclerosis” – narrowing of arteries caused by the thickening of their walls.
Cardiologist C. Noel Bairey Merz, M.D., is principal investigator of the study. She is director Read the rest of this entry »

Vice chancellor for clinical research, director of the Translational Medicine Institute and professor of medicine in the division of cardiology at
.
Califf, 57, has served on the
committees, including the Pharmaceutical Roundtable. He is a member of the IOM Forum on Drug Discovery, Development and Translation. He was the founding director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute and of the coordinating center for the Centers for Education and Read the rest of this entry »

It doesn’t take a Stanford MBA to figure out why Tenet Healthcare wants to close Los Gatos Community Hospital as quickly as possible. The Dallas-based corporation is losing about $1 million a month.
But Tenet must not be allowed to ignore its ethical responsibility to the Los Gatos community in order to protect its bottom line. If Tenet follows through on its surprise announcement to close the hospital April 10, six weeks earlier than planned, then Read the rest of this entry »

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding the
development of ELND005 (AZD-103) under the collaboration agreement
between Elan and Transition. These statements are based on Elan’s
and Transition’s current beliefs and
expectations. ELND005 may not be successfully developed or
commercialized under the collaboration agreement. Factors which
could cause actual results to differ materially Read the rest of this entry »