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My parents recently showed me an old news photo of my brother being moved from one hospital to another, in his iron lung. The year was 1950. Just seven years old, visibly smiling as usual in his overhead mirror, Gary lay prone as a small crowd of medics guided the huge wheeled cylinder toward a waiting ambulance. Polio had widely destroyed the motor neurons in his brain and spinal cord, and his muscles had atrophied from lying still. The iron lung pushed and pulled his chest through the breathing cycle. Gary lived only a few months after the photo's dateline.

Though the borders seperating the pharmaceutical and biotech industries may be increasingly foggy, the two groups still remain deliberately distinct.

The Department of Health and Human Services has announced the 2001 rates for the Medicare part A deductible and part B monthly premium amounts paid by beneficiaries.

According to a study released by the Reston, VA-based National Pharmaceutical Council, coordinated pharmaceutical therapy offers improved treatment outcomes and increased total cost savings compared with component-based management of pharmaceuticals, especially when treating elderly and chronic care patients.

Competition is a key component of sales.

Scientists have determined the structure of a key protein from a paramyxovirus, a leading cause of respiratory disease in children throughout the world.

Understanding the stress of physicians and other health professionals such as pharmacists allows representatives to enhance their rapport and relationships with these clients.

According to the Greenwich, CT-based market research company InsightExpress, online consumers are staying away from online pharmacies.

First Horizon Pharmaceutical Corp. announced that it is expanding its sales force to provide the opportunity for coverage in excess of 70% of the nation.

In an effort to reduce medical errors, The Business Roundtable unveiled a market-based effort to improve patient safety across the nation.

Joanne St. John attributes her success in her three years as a sales rep for Princeton, NJ-based Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals to the freedom she has been given to determine her own strategies and take advantage of her personal background and skills.

More states are telling HMOs and other health insurers to pick up the tab for pharmaceuticals and other forms of obesity treatment.

Healthcare provider organizations that hung tight during the dark days of risk contracting are beginning to see a payoff for their persistence, according to a new report.

According to an editorial published in the British Medical Journal (vol. 321, no. 7263), discontinuing medication before surgery can actually increase the risk of complications.

Establishing and maintaining positive business relationships is a key challenge in selling to the growing number of foreign-born physicians practicing in North America.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that it is proposing new rules to enable more low-income Americans to gain Medicaid coverage.

The Federal Trade Commission has announced that it will conduct a focused study of generic drug competition.

A new study, based on interviews with international headache experts and published by Waltham, MA-based Decision Resources Inc., predicts strong growth in the market for prescription drugs to treat migraines.

California Governor Grey Davis has signed into law a bill that will require California hospitals to submit a "formal" plan for reducing medication-related errors in their facilities to the state by Jan. 1, 2002.

Half the people who have used the Internet to get health and medical information say this information has improved the way they take care of themselves.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released "Revised Guidelines for HIV Counseling, Testing and Referral" and "U.S. Public Health Service Recommendations for HIV Screening of Pregnant Women," two draft documents for public comment.

Healthcare was not the determining issue during last November's presidential election, but healthcare issues were on the minds of the voters.

The American Medical Association, more than 90 national provider and health organizations, and national, state and medical specialty associations encouraged the Institute of Medicine to support constructive learning and shared experience in the development of a properly constructed healthcare error reporting system.

By the time this issue of Pharmaceutical Representative reaches its readers, the new Prescription Drug Marketing Act regulations will finally have taken effect.

Total retail prescription drug sales for 2000 are expected to reach a record $143.5 billion, according to the National Association of Chain Drug Stores.

The FDA has suspended clinical trials at the Garden State Cancer Center until violations at the center are addressed.

Sales of drug delivery products are expected to increase by 100% over the next five years.

Seasonal parties and gift-giving made easy.

A new initiative launched by the National Institutes of Health encourages private-sector involvement in attacking several of the world's most deadly infectious diseases.

An international conference on drug safety at Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, found many drug safety problems facing patients, physicians, pharmacists, regulators and researchers.