Latest California Healthline Stories
FDA To Reject Requests To Limit Branded Generic Approvals
FDA officials on Tuesday will likely reject requests that the agency end a “little-known” approval process for branded generics that can “shave years off their time to reach the market,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Rate of Severely Obese U.S. Residents Quadruples Between 1986 and 2000, Study Finds
The rate of U.S. residents who are severely obese — at least 100 pounds overweight — quadrupled between 1986 and 2000, according to a study published in the October issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, the Washington Post reports.
Catholic Healthcare West Posts Profit for Fiscal Year 2003
Officials for San Francisco-based Catholic Healthcare West on Monday announced that the not-for-profit hospital chain posted net income of $51 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, its first profit in six years, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Admission Rates to Drug Treatment Programs Increased Since Passage of Proposition 36, Study Finds
Admission rates to drug treatment programs in five counties have increased “sharply” since voters in 2000 passed Proposition 36, which offers some nonviolent drug offenders treatment rather than prison, according to a study to be published in Tuesday’s Evaluation Review journal, the Los Angeles Times reports.
King/Drew Medical Center Accepted Residents After Withdrawal of Radiology Program Accreditation
Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center in March accepted four residents to a radiology program after the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education had withdrawn accreditation for the program, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Medicare Conferees Consider Copayment for Home Health Services
Negotiators attempting to reconcile the House and Senate Medicare bills (HR 1 and S 1) say they are “seriously considering” adding a copayment for home health care services, the New York Times reports.
California Healthline Rounds Up Recent Developments, Coverage on Reimportation
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America spent $8.5 million lobbying Congress and federal agencies in the first half of this year as it worked against a House-passed bill (HR 2427) that would allow the reimportation of lower-cost U.S.-made prescription drugs, the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
The cancer medication letrozole reduced by 43% the rate of breast cancer recurrence among postmenopausal women who had received standard treatment with tamoxifen, according to an international study that will appear in the New England Journal of Medicine next month, the Wall Street Journal reports.
FDA Issues Revised Regulations on Food Imports To Help Protect Safety of U.S. Food Supply
The FDA on Thursday issued two regulations intended to protect the nation’s food supply from terrorist attack by requiring all food importers to give the agency prior notice of shipments and all food manufacturers and distributors to register with the agency, the Washington Post reports.
Sens. Grassley, Baucus Propose Expansion of Health Insurance Tax Credits for Trade-Displaced Workers
Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) have released a proposal to expand a law that provides health insurance tax credits for U.S. workers displaced by international trade to all unemployed workers, the AP/Las Vegas Sun reports.