Cancer medicines desperately needed by sick children and adults are in short supply, undermining the ability of U.S. doctors to administer treatments, top oncologists warned this week.
Many drugs are scarce because there is no incentive for drugmakers to manufacture low-cost generics, which have slim profit margins for pharmaceutical companies. Doctors do not expect that equation to change any time soon, making them scramble to find acceptable alternatives, or to ration or delay treatment when they cannot.
US cancer drug shortage has doctors scrambling
FDA sends US marshals to seize elderberry juice concentrate, deems it 'unapproved drug'
Wyldewood Cellars, a Kansas-based producer and distributor of elderberry juice, is the latest raid target of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which recently sent US marshals to the company's winery in Mulvane to confiscate the "unapproved drug." According to the rogue agency, Wyldewood had violated provisions in the US Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) that restrict health claims for food items, warranting the sudden invasion.
Study: BPA chemical exposure is underestimated
Exposure to the hormone-disrupting chemical Bisphenol A (BPA) has been underestimated, because prior lab tests have looked at single exposures rather than daily diets, the University of Missouri reports.
The study, released online Monday, is billed as the first to examine BPA concentrations in any animal after exposure through a steady diet, which mirrors the chronic exposure that humans receive through food packaging. The chemical, linked to breast cancer, heart disease, diabetes, male infertility and other health problems, is widely used in bottles and cups and in the linings of metal cans, including infant formula.
Forensic evidence emerges that European e.coli superbug was bioengineered to produce human fatalities
This particular e.coli variation is a member of the O104 strain, and O104 strains are almost never (normally) resistant to antibiotics. In order for them to acquire this resistance, they must be repeatedly exposed to antibiotics in order to provide the "mutation pressure" that nudges them toward complete drug immunity.
So if you're curious about the origins of such a strain, you can essentially reverse engineer the genetic code of the e.coli and determine fairly accurately which antibiotics it was exposed to during its development. This step has now been done (see below), and when you look at the genetic decoding of this O104 strain now threatening food consumers across the EU, a fascinating picture emerges of how it must have come into existence.
So how, exactly, does a bacterial strain come into existence that's resistant to over a dozen antibiotics in eight different drug classes and features two deadly gene mutations plus ESBL enzyme capabilities?
Breast cancer trial hailed as big leap
MILLIONS of women facing an elevated risk for breast cancer could slash their chances of getting the widely feared malignancy by taking a hormone-blocking pill used to treat the disease or prevent a recurrence, researchers say.
A compound known as an aromatase inhibitor cuts the breast cancer risk by 65 per cent for women prone to the disease for any reason, such as having risky genes, a relative who had the disease or being older than age 60, a long-awaited international study of more than 4500 women has concluded.
Tests for E. coli strain not required in U.S.
The bacterium that has killed more than a dozen Europeans, sickened nearly 2,000 more and raised international alarms would be legal if it were found on meat or poultry in the United States.
If the bacterium were to contaminate fruits or vegetables grown here, there would be no way to prevent an outbreak, because farmers and processors are not required to test for the pathogen before the food heads to supermarkets.
Government to lower prices, ease rules on health plans for people with preexisting conditions
The Obama administration, expanding a program created by the new healthcare law, moved Tuesday to make health insurance more affordable and accessible for Americans who have been denied coverage because they are sick.
Across the country, the federal government is reducing premiums on special coverage available to uninsured people with preexisting conditions such as cancer or diabetes. And the administration is loosening restrictions on who can sign up for so-called preexisting condition insurance plans.
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