Amgen Inc, aiming to secure future sales of its flagship anemia drug Epogen as potential competition emerges, has reached new supply contracts with the two largest operators of U.S. kidney dialysis clinics. The biotechnology company said in a regulatory filing on Friday it signed a seven-year contract to provide DaVita Inc with at least 90 percent of the clinic operator’s anemia drug needs.

Amgen also entered into a “multi-year” agreement, starting in January, to supply Epogen on a “nonexclusive” basis to Fresenius Medical Care, according to Amgen spokeswomen Christine Regan. Fresenius has a U.S. dialysis market share of around 33 percent, while DaVita’s share is about 26 percent. Both contracts include discounts and rebates.
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U.S. device reviewers said a Medtronic Inc device was effective for treating a common heart rhythm disorder, but raised concerns about its safety.

In documents released on Tuesday, staffers from the Food and Drug Administration said they were especially worried about the high rate of stroke for patients who used Medtronic’s Cardiac Ablation System to treat their persistent atrial fibrillation (AF), a major cause of stroke.
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Australia’s government may have to delay plans for the world’s toughest anti-tobacco laws after conservative opposition lawmakers on Wednesday postponed a final vote on the controversial legislation in parliament. The new laws, which will force cigarettes to be sold in plain packaging from 2012, are being closely watched by New Zealand, Canada, the European Union and Britain, which are considering similar restrictions.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon said the conservatives, who managed to postpone an upper house Senate vote on the bills during a rancorous day in parliament for the minority Labor government, were playing into the hands of big tobacco firms. “Given the delays in passing the bill caused by the opposition, the government now has no choice but to reconsider the impact on implementation timeframes,” Roxon said.
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When we grow old, it’s scary. Why? This is because the things that we used to have will slowly fade away from us. Our muscles will become sag; we will have a poor sex drive. If you are attached to your younger features, it will be hard for you to let go. But what’s more dangerous in aging is that we will be prone to diseases of any kind. Unless you boost your immune system naturally, you will slowly become vulnerable to lots of pathogens. That’s more painful than just losing your beautiful and young skin.

Our immune system protects us from the continuous attack of harmful bacteria. They are our best fighting army that’s constantly at work. That’s why we are living normally and we enjoy our success. But the moment we grow old, this defense mechanism also decreases. You can see a lot of old folks that are always inside the hospital. This is a sad truth we must face when we reach the stage called aging. But thankfully we are in the modern world, which means research is very rampant. Now, we have a lot of methods to boost our immunesystemnaturally.
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Obesity now seems to be the main trigger factor for liver diseases, as doctors in the city say that with a sedentary lifestyle obesity is on the rise and that is the main cause of liver disease. With liver transplants bringing in a bill of between Rs. 12 to Rs. 30 lakh, on World Liver Day doctors emphasize the need for nipping the problem in the bud so that liver diseases can be prevented.

With the increase of obesity there seems to be a silent epidemic of non-alcoholic fatty liver problem, which gradually leads to severe liver damage. With changing dietary habits and a sedentary lifestyle, more obese people are showing up with fatty liver disease.
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Generic Lexapro is a prescription drug that is very effective in relieving the severity of depression as well as any other generalized anxiety disorder. In case you happen to have a current prescription, you can obtain Lexapro through online means and have it delivered straight to your home. However, when you buy Generic Lexapro online, it is imperative to ensure that you are purchasing it from a valid pharmacy to avoid the risk of obtaining counterfeit medication. Read on to learn the best strategies that you can use to purchase Lexapro online.
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A new study suggests Americans with heart failure may benefit less from recommended medications than patients in other countries. The findings, which one doctor called “provocative,” point to an emerging problem in drug development: As research becomes increasingly international, the outcomes may be less dependable in individual countries. In the new work, researchers drive that point home for drugs known as beta blockers, which gold-standard tests have shown can extend the life of people with heart failure.

Breaking those drug trials down by country, it turns out U.S. patients didn’t benefit appreciably, whereas the number of deaths during the trials fell by more than five in 100 in the rest of the world. Lead researcher Dr. Christopher O’Connor, a cardiologist at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, said earlier studies had hinted of geographical differences in outcomes, but never as clearly as the new results.
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Buoyed by trials of drugs to prevent the spread of HIV, a global AIDS conference on Monday debated how to draft recommendations and muster funds to transform these dramatic results into action in the field. Researchers from around the world were getting their first look at full peer-reviewed data from a trial that, say veteran campaigners, could slow the 30-year-old juggernaut of AIDS.

It was carried out among 1,763 couples where one partner was infected by the human immunodeficiency virus while the other was HIV-free. When the infected partner was given an early start on HIV drugs, this slashed the risk of transmitting the virus to the other by 96 percent — a figure readily comparable to the effectiveness of a condom.
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