Nigeria revels in removal from list of polio-endemic nations
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria on Saturday celebrated the announcement by the U.N. health agency that polio is no longer endemic in the West African country.
Democrat Clinton to unveil plan to fight drug ‘price gouging’
By Emily Stephenson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will unveil a plan this week to cap out-of-pocket costs for specialty drugs, she said on Monday, after her tweet accusing companies of “price gouging” sent biotech stocks tumbling. “I'm announcing a detailed plan to crack down on these abuses,” Clinton said during a campaign stop in Little Rock, Arkansas. Clinton is expected to discuss the specifics in Iowa on Tuesday.
U.S. universities lead in innovation, Asia a rising power
By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. universities lead the world in scientific innovation but face strong competition from Asian rivals with close ties to industry, according to a detailed analysis of academic papers and patent filings. Stanford alumni have gone on to create some of the world's biggest technology companies, including Hewlett-Packard, Yahoo and Google. The top nine places are all taken by U.S. schools, with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University ranked second and third.
The Perils of Our ‘On-Call’ Work Culture
In my work as an executive coach and keynote, clients and audience members frequently talk about their lack of “downtime.” Even when they are home, there is rarely a sense of relief from work.In a recent investigation, researchers were curious about how being “on-call” affected various health indicators. Studying a group of shift workers…
Victims want no comforts for Colorado movie gunman
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (Reuters) – One survivor of the Colorado movie massacre demanded the gunman give a televised apology. Another victim said James Holmes should make himself available for study by scientists.
EPA chief: Colorado river hit by mine waste back to pre-spill quality
By Lauren Hammond DURANGO, Colo. (Reuters) – The water quality of a southwestern Colorado river rendered bright orange by toxic waste spewed from an abandoned gold mine one week ago has returned to pre-spill levels, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief said on Wednesday. The statement from EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, whose agency has assumed responsibility for inadvertently causing the spill, came as Colorado health officials cleared the way for the city of Durango, just downstream, to reopen its drinking water intakes from the river. McCarthy also ordered the EPA's regional offices to immediately cease further inspections of mines or mine waste sites, except in cases of imminent risk of danger, during an independent review of the accident.
CVS: ‘all bets are off’ for new cholesterol drug contracts
CVS Health Corp, the No 2 manager of drug benefit plans for U.S. employers and insurers, will wait until a second new cholesterol-lowering drug is approved by regulators before negotiating for price discounts or adding either of the much pricer new drugs to its list of covered medications. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in July approved Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc and Sanofi SA’s Praluent, which works by blocking a protein called PCSK9 that helps “bad” LDL cholesterol stay in the bloodstream. An FDA decision on a second PCSK9 inhibitor, Amgen Inc’s Repatha, is expected later this month.
Hong Kong panda bears down on world record for longevity
By Venus Wu HONG KONG (Reuters) – The oldest giant panda living in captivity is set to challenge the world record for the animals' longevity, with her age said to put her on par with a human centenarian.Hong Kong's giant panda Jia Jia, whose name means “good”, will turn 37 this summer at theme park Ocean Park, matching the Guinness World Records title for the oldest panda survivor in captivity – Du Du, who died in 1999, aged 37. “It is rare for pandas to live to this age,” said Grant Abel, the park's director of animal care. “It's probably equivalent to someone, a human person, who would be over a hundred years of age.” Jia Jia's caregivers say they are considering sending an application to Guinness World Records after the celebration of her birthday, which is observed in summer, although the exact date is not known, as she was captured in the wild.
FDA approves Otsuka and Lundbeck’s schizophrenia treatment
(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Danish drugmaker H. Lundbeck A/S and Japan’s Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co Ltd’s Rexulti, an anti-psychotic drug used to treat schizophrenia. The drug, brexpiprazole, was also approved as an adjunctive therapy for major depressive disorder (MDD), a serious psychiatric condition that can lead to persistent feelings of sadness, frustration or anger, the health regulator said on Friday. Otsuka Pharmaceutical is a unit of Otsuka Holdings Co Ltd. The agency based its decision on seven clinical trials, three of which examined the drug’s effect on schizophrenia and four testing it as an adjunctive therapy for MDD.
British anti-slavery chief enlists Vatican in global pact to end slavery
By Chris Arsenault VATICAN CITY (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Britain’s anti-slavery commissioner received the backing of the Catholic Church on Saturday for a campaign to push for a global pact vowing to eradicate slavery in the next 15 years. Kevin Hyland, who took up the new role last year, is lobbying world leaders to support a commitment to end forced labor and slavery of all forms in a set of global development goals to be adopted at the United Nations in September. While slavery is illegal in every country on earth, an estimated 36 million people are trapped in modern slavery.