Boston Herald - Boston Herald

Royalty Pharma increases bid for drugmaker Elan

Associated Press — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:33:38 -0400

NEW YORK — Royalty Pharma has raised its offer to buy Elan on the condition that shareholders reject the Irish drugmaker's push to refocus its business through a string of recently announced deals, including two new deals unveiled Monday.

Royalty said Monday it will pay $12.50 in cash for each share of Elan Corp. PLC. That adds up to a total value of about $7.5 billion.

Royalty had offered in February to buy Elan for $11 per share and later raised that bid to $11.25 per share.

FDA grants ‘breakthrough’ designation to Synageva drug

Ira Kantor — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:33:01 -0400

Synageva BioPharma Corp., a Lexington-based biopharmaceutical company that develops drugs for rare diseases, said today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted breakthrough therapy designation to a drug called sebelipase alfa to treat early onset lysosomal acid lipase deficiency, also known as Wolman disease.

The designation was based on data generated from clinical trials with sebelipase alfa in patients with early onset LAL Deficiency, officials said.

FDA has safety concerns with Merck insomnia drug

Associated Press — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:42:50 -0400

WASHINGTON — Federal health regulators say an experimental insomnia drug from Merck can help patients fall asleep, but it also carries worrisome side effects, including daytime drowsiness and suicidal thinking.

The Food and Drug Administration on Monday released its review of the company's sleep aid, suvorexant, ahead of a public meeting on Wednesday. The pill works by temporarily blocking chemical messengers that keep people awake.

Court: woman can seek lawyer fees in vaccine case

Associated Press — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:21:15 -0400

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court says a woman can seek lawyers' fees from the government even though her lawsuit over damage she said was caused by a vaccine was ruled untimely.

The high court on Monday ruled for Melissa Cloer, who wanted lawyers' fees for her lawsuit over damage she says was caused by hepatitis B vaccines. Shortly after finishing the vaccine, she started having symptoms of what was later diagnosed as multiple sclerosis. Cloer sued, but courts said her lawsuit was too late.

Flesh-eating disease victim gets prosthetic hands

Associated Press — Fri, 17 May 2013 22:11:56 -0400

ATLANTA — A metro Atlanta woman who lost both hands, her left leg and right foot after contracting a flesh-eating disease was on her way back from Ohio Friday after being fitted with prosthetic hands.

Aimee Copeland, 25, is returning from Hilliard, Ohio, where she was fitted with a pair of "bionic" hands with 24 programmable functions that will improve her dexterity, her father, Andy, told the Associated Press.

Blue Cross Blue Shield online tool tracks health-care system

Ira Kantor — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:27:21 -0400

The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation said today it has launched an online tool that allows users to track the changing makeup of the state’s health-care delivery system.

The foundation added its new website provides easy access to information about ownership and major contracting relationships for the state’s acute care hospitals, hospital systems, medical groups, physician networks and community health centers.

MIT-made nanogel may be sweet treatment for diabetes

Ira Kantor — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:16:46 -0400

A new nanogel developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology could be a game-changer for diabetes patients, with the potential to dramatically reduce the frequency of blood-sugar checks and insulin injections, researchers told the Herald.

The goal of the as-yet unnamed injectable gel, which has a texture similar to toothpaste, is to create a “reservoir of insulin” in the body that only becomes available when needed, said Daniel Anderson, an MIT associate professor of chemical engineering.

Another round for the House on 'Obamacare'

Associated Press — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:45:11 -0400

WASHINGTON — One more time, with feeling! The Republican-led House voted yet again Thursday to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law, knowing full well that won't stop it.

Only months away from the rollout of coverage for uninsured Americans, it was the 37th attempt in a little more than two years by House Republicans to eliminate, defund or partly scale back the Affordable Care Act. The Democratic-led Senate and the president will simply ignore the House action, which came on a virtual party line vote, 229-195.

Andover firm’s contract with VA extended

Ira Kantor — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:05:39 -0400

Andover-based technology and management consulting company Dynamics Research Corp. said today a subsidiary, High Performance Technologies Inc., has been awarded a federal contract extension from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The contract, which was awarded to the DRC subsidiary in May 2010, is now extended through May 10, 2014. The contract has a five-year period of performance through May 2015 and could have a total contract value of $125.5 million, officials said.

Mass. health insurers report mixed 1Q results

Associated Press — Thu, 16 May 2013 06:23:13 -0400

BOSTON — The four largest health insurers in Massachusetts have reported mixed first-quarter financial results, with two posting income gains, one registering lower earnings, and one reporting a loss.

Each cited unique factors influencing financial performance in the three months ending March 31.

The Boston Globe (http://b.globe.com/YLBWkP ) reports that Harvard Pilgrim Health Care turned in the strongest quarterly results, reporting a net income increase of 150 percent to $8.5 million from $3.4 million in the year-ago period.

Obama planning June 3 mental health conference

Associated Press — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:02:20 -0400

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is planning a mental health conference next month in response to gun violence.

Presidential spokesman Jay Carney said Obama and Vice President Joe Biden plan to host the conference June 3 at the White House. Carney said attendees will include mental health advocates, health care providers, faith leaders, government officials, educators and people who have experienced mental health problems.

Carney said they will discuss how to reduce the stigma for those struggling with mental health problems so they will reach out for help.

Prostate cancer drug developer Tokai raises $35.5M

Ira Kantor — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:04:06 -0400

Tokai Pharmaceuticals Inc. said today it has raised $35.5 million in a fifth round of funding based on “encouraging clinical progress and investor support” for the Cambridge-based biopharmaceutical company’s lead prostate cancer drug candidate, galeterone.

The funding will be used to expand an ongoing ARMOR2 Phase 2 clinical trial of the drug, also known as TOK-001, in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer and prepare for registration studies, officials said.

Stem cells recovered from cloned human embryos

Associated Press — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:39:28 -0400

NEW YORK — Scientists have finally recovered stem cells from cloned human embryos, a longstanding goal that could lead to new treatments for such illnesses as Parkinson's disease and diabetes.

A prominent expert called the work a landmark, but noted that a different, simpler technique now under development may prove more useful.

Boston docs: Given risk level, Angelina Jolie made right choice

Tenley Woodman, Jill Radksen, Ira Kantor — Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Boston medical experts say the latest science backs up 37-year-old actress Angelina Jolie’s bold, heartbreaking choice to undergo a double mastectomy.

Women with a family history of breast cancer should get genetic counseling and DNA testing to see what their own risk level is, and if it’s as high as Jolie’s was due to the BRCA1 genetic mutation, then they need to consider the extreme procedure.

89 charged in Medicare fraud busts in 8 cities

Associated Press — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:36:59 -0400

WASHINGTON — Nearly 100 people, including 14 doctors and nurses, were charged for their roles in separate Medicare scams that collectively billed the taxpayer-funded program for roughly $223 million in bogus charges in a massive bust spanning eight cities, federal authorities said Tuesday.

Angelina Jolie's double mastectomy: Q&A

Associated Press — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:12:02 -0400

Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie disclosed Tuesday that she had a preventive mastectomy after learning she had a gene mutation that significantly raised her risk of breast cancer. A look at the procedure:

Q: What kind of surgery did Jolie have?

A: Jolie had a preventive double mastectomy, meaning she chose to have both her breasts removed even though she had not been diagnosed with cancer.

Q: Why did she have the operation?

Women have new options for breast cancer surgery

Associated Press — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:51:20 -0400

CHICAGO — Treating breast cancer almost always involves surgery, and for years the choice was just having the lump or the whole breast removed. Now, new approaches are dramatically changing the way these operations are done, giving women more options, faster treatment, smaller scars, fewer long-term side effects and better cosmetic results.

It has led to a new specialty — "oncoplastic" surgery — combining oncology, which focuses on cancer treatment, and plastic surgery to restore appearance.

Drug manufacturer agrees to $500 million penalty

Associated Press — Mon, 13 May 2013 23:32:36 -0400

WASHINGTON — A subsidiary of India's largest pharmaceutical company has agreed to pay a record $500 million in fines and penalties for selling adulterated drugs and lying to federal regulators in a case that is part of an ongoing crackdown on the quality of generic drugs flowing into the U.S.

Federal prosecutors say the guilty plea by Ranbaxy USA Inc. represents the largest financial penalty against a generic drug company for violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, which prohibits the sale of impure drugs.

US government files morning-after pill appeal

Associated Press — Mon, 13 May 2013 17:21:24 -0400

NEW YORK — The Obama administration on Monday filed a last-minute appeal to delay the sale of the morning-after contraceptive pill to girls of any age without a prescription.

The legal paperwork asked the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan to postpone a federal judge's ruling that eliminated age limits on the pill while the government appeals that overall decision.

Hospital to probe East German medical trials

Associated Press — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:16:00 -0400

BERLIN — Berlin's renowned Charite hospital said Monday it plans to investigate allegations that patients in communist East Germany were used as unwitting guinea pigs in medical trials for Western drug companies.

Claims that the dictatorship allowed tests that would have been considered unethical or even illegal in the West were first made shortly after German reunification in 1990, but no wrongdoing was found at the time.