The Food and Drug Administration ordered St. Jude Medical on Thursday to conduct additional studies on patients implanted with heart-device components that were recalled last year and that have been linked to as many as 20 deaths. It also recommended that patients receive X-rays or other imaging to

(Reuters) – India’s highest court will hear final arguments starting this week in a landmark case over drug patents that could change the rules for the country’s healthcare sector and potentially curb its global role as a supplier of cut-price generic medicines.The Supreme Court hearing pits Swiss d

(Petchburi, Thailand) 14-16 May 2012, the HTAsiaLink, the health technology assessment-HTA collaboration in Asia organized its first academic annual conference in Petchburi, Thailand. The Health Intervention and Technology Assessment (HITAP, Thailand) hosted the conference together with other HTAsia

(Reuters) – An experimental drug from Novartis may help up to half of heart failure patients for whom no effective treatment is available, although the evidence so far is indirect.Results of a mid-stage clinical trial of the drug known as LCZ696, unveiled on Sunday, gauged its effectiveness by measu

Fear of being stigmatized as an AIDS patient is still a major barrier to good medical care for pregnant young women in many countries, a new study and a literature review have found.The study, based on a survey of 1,777 women in rural Nyanza Province in Kenya, was published Wednesday in PLoS Medicin

The warning, stemming from an April inspection by U.S. regulators, does not restrict production or product shipments from the plant in La Aurora de Heredia, Costa Rica, Hospira said on Tuesday in a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.Among the issues cited by the FDA w

The Disease Control Department is seeking to ease public fears over a disease found in Thailand with HIV-like symptoms, saying it is not contagious.The disease, identified by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and reported in the New England Journal of Medicine last Thursday, has been found

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 greatly expanded women’s access to free preventive services, particularly for sexual and reproductive health . Men didn’t fare nearly as well.The ACA guidelines’ promise of free contraception may have generated the most controversy, but the law also provides many othe

(Reuters) – Scientists have found alarming levels of the lung disease tuberculosis in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America that are resistant to up to four powerful antibiotic drugs.In a large international study published in the Lancet medical journal on Thursday, researchers found rates of both

The government has rejected British Medical Association claims that the NHS is risking patients’ health by rationing drugs and operations.BMA head Dr Mark Porter told the Guardian that financial pressure on the NHS meant its “offer” had shrunk and it was no longer a comprehensive service.Fears patie