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More than 20 new drugs were added to the Fall 2000 edition of Newtown, PA-based Scott-Levin's Managed Care Formulary Drug Audit. Betapace AF™ (sotalol HCl), a cardiovascular therapy manufactured by Berlex Laboratories Inc., Montville, NJ, was the new product with the highest level of formulary acceptance, according to the audit.

President Bush has sent his temporary prescription drug proposal for low-income families - called "An Immediate Helping Hand" - to Congress. The plan would provide block grants to states to cover drug costs for seniors 65 and older who have incomes of up to $11,600, and up to half the drug costs of seniors with incomes of up to $15,000. The plan would also cover drug costs for any Medicare patient, regardless of income, if his or her yearly drug costs exceed $6,000.

For the past four years, the volume of healthcare services mergers and acquisitions has always slowed in the fourth quarter. While the fourth quarter of 2000 was no exception, the size of the decline was larger than usual and the number of transactions fell below 100, hitting a seven-year low, according to New Canaan, CT-based Irving Levin Associates Inc. In its fourth quarter 2000 Healthcare M&A Report, the firm points out that there were just 90 healthcare services mergers and acquisitions announced, representing a 30% decline from the third quarter and a 43% plunge from the fourth quarter of 1999.

Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala released the nation's first standards for protecting the privacy of Americans' personal health records.

A new report by New York-based Datamonitor reveals that both traditional and innovative therapy opportunities will exist for breast cancer in the near future.

No one wants to hang around people who are sad all the time, or who have a chip on their shoulder.

Prioritize, manage and monitor daily activities.

Finding the right physician is the "best advice" irritable bowel syndrome patients would give to fellow IBS sufferers, according to Andover, MA-based DrugVoice's new 200-plus-question survey of over 1,700 IBS patients.

An updated version of the "Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in HIV-Infected Adults and Adolescents" has been released by the Panel on Clinical Practices for the Treatment of HIV Infection, a joint effort of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Menlo Park, CA-based Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

America's registered nurses feel that deteriorating working conditions have led to a decline in the quality of nursing care, according to a national survey released by the Washington-based American Nurses Association.

According to a recently released survey by the Bethesda, MD-based American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, over half (51%) of American adults take two or more medications each day. In addition, almost half (46%) of Americans take at least one prescription medicine every day, while more than a quarter (28%) take multiple prescription medications daily. The survey of 1,000 Americans focused on consumers' use of prescription and nonprescription medications, including herbal supplements and vitamins.

A General Accounting Office examination of prescription drugs withdrawn from the U.S. market determined that most posed more health risks to women than to men. According to the GAO, ten prescription drugs have been withdrawn since January 1997, eight of which caused more adverse events in women; four of the drugs' users were mostly women, and four were widely prescribed to both men and women.

An article in the New England Journal of Medicine (vol. 344, no. 3) asserts that the increased penetration of managed care organizations actually increases the amount of time patients spend with their doctors. The article debunks most physicians' perception that managed care limits the time they have to spend with their patients.

London, UK-Changes to the law on human embryo research could herald a new era for UK biotech research. The government feared its proposals to allow the cloning of embryos as sources for stem cells for research would be thrown out by the House of Lords-where a powerful body of opinion holds that they represent a slippery slope toward reproductive cloning-but the proposals passed by a surprisingly large majority.

Sodertalje, Sweden-After two consecutive years of robust postmerger growth, AstraZeneca is facing a tough 2001. The company recorded a 16 percent increase in pretax profits for 2000, but CEO Tom McKillop advises that this year}s growth will be in the 5}6 percent range when Losec/Prilosec (omeprazole)-the world}s best-selling medicine-goes off patent and the US launch of its successor Nexium (esomeprazole) is delayed.

Of course, Digital Pharma and the drug Virtua are fantasy. But the digital technologies highlighted in the fictional news story are available today.

New Delhi, India-Anthrax, a disease that most commonly infects livestock, has been diagnosed at an increasing rate in humans in the southern states of India. The disease has been eradicated in the developed world but remains endemic in South India, mostly due to a lack of effective human and animal vaccines.

Beijing, China-Chinese scientists registered more than 110 patents on genes cloned last year from the human hypothalamus}pituitary}adrenal axis. They profiled the axis} gene expression, cloning more than 300 previously unknown genes discovered during its sequencing.

FDA proposals for expanding the pediatric study program include tax incentives and }transferable exclusivity.}

Sidney Taurel Takes His Global Team Beyond Prozac

Huntingdon, UK-Huntingdon Life Sciences, a contract research organization under siege by animal rights activists, secured its short-term future through a refinancing package offered by overseas institutions.

United States-At this time last year, the United States} supply of tetanus vaccine was easily met by the two companies licensed to produce it there, Aventis Pasteur and Wyeth-Ayerst. But in June 2000, the latter ran into regulatory problems, and FDA seized thousands of substandard doses of acellular pertussis vaccine from the company}s Marietta, Pennsylvania, plant.

Socioeconomic Reform in Japan Clears the Path for Pharma Companies' Success There.

}Drug costs continue to rise at an alarming rate. Two major reasons for the increasing costs are introductions of new drugs and direct-to-consumer advertising campaigns that have been effective in marketing expensive name brand drugs.}

Privacy isn}t your worst nightmare, but ignoring consumers} fears might be.

Americans are notoriously obsessed with health. In fact, more than 40 million go online to visit health sites, the vast majority seeking information about pharmaceuticals. As a result, drug manufacturers} product sites play a leading role in consumers} healthcare knowledge.

Surgeon General David Satcher announced a year-long effort to develop a national action plan for reducing the prevalence of obesity in the United States. Satcher said the process would be inclusive and collaborative, and would include open public comment periods, listening sessions, federal and non-federal dialogue, interactive workshops, and the formation of working groups to implement strategies.

The Department of Health and Human Services published new rules in the Federal Register to help more low-income Americans with high medical expenses gain healthcare coverage under Medicaid.