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| Philip Morris to stop cigarette production in Australia Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 09:02 PM PDT  American cigarette and tobacco company Philip Morris International Inc plans to stop manufacturing cigarettes in Australia by the end of the year, citing government production regulations that restrict its export opportunities. Philip Morris said it would shift manufacturing from Victoria state to South Korea, where it would not be bound by so-called "reduced-fire risk" laws which mean it must use particular paper and construction methods. "With any significant export opportunity restricted by Australian government regulations, our Moorabbin factory is significantly under-utilized, operating at less than half of its currently installed capacity," John Gledhill, managing director for Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands, said in a statement. But it said the introduction of the government's reduced-fire risk requirements in 2010, which are designed to ensure a cigarette self-extinguishes when dropped on the ground, led to taste changes that did not match consumer preferences in Asia. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. senator urges budget neutrality on Obamacare risk provisions Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 06:03 PM PDT  By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, a prominent Republican critic of President Barack Obama's healthcare law, unveiled legislation on Tuesday to make sure Obamacare would not add to the deficit by compensating insurance companies for possible losses. The 2010 healthcare law includes provisions to safeguard insurers against losses if they saw unexpectedly high enrollments of sick or older people, who are costlier to insure than young, healthy consumers. The Florida senator has labeled the provisions a "bailout" for insurance companies. Rubio's two-page bill, dubbed "the ObamaCare Taxpayer Bailout Protection Act," requires the administration to ensure that the law's risk provisions "reduce to zero the cost ... to the federal government." "The White House has said ... it will have to be budget neutral, that no money from taxpayers or general revenue will be spent in bailing out the exchanges. Full Story | Top |
| Obamacare has thousands of 'Cinderella' would-be enrollees Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 05:12 PM PDT  By Sharon Begley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Call them the "Cinderella customers" - those who tried to enroll in coverage under President Barack Obama's healthcare law but were unable to do so when midnight tolled on April 1. Tens of thousands of Americans are in that position after 2014 Obamacare enrollment officially closed, the heads of two of the most successful state-based insurance exchanges, California and Connecticut, told the Reuters Health Summit on Tuesday. The Obama administration has offered a grace period for people who tried to sign up in time for Monday's deadline but could not complete the process. Covered California, the Obamacare exchange in America's most populous state, had "more than 30,000 people" who began an application for health coverage and were told to "come back later," Executive Director Peter Lee told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. FDA advisers back MannKind's inhaled diabetes drug Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 04:49 PM PDT By Susan Heavey HYATTSVILLE, Maryland (Reuters) - U.S. health advisers on Tuesday recommended approval of MannKind Corp's inhaled diabetes drug, and said the experimental treatment could help some patients, especially those wary of needles typically used with traditional insulin therapy. The Food and Drug Administration's panel of outside advisers said that while the therapy, called Afrezza, did not appear as beneficial for adults with type 1 diabetes, it was clearly safe and effective for those with the more common type 2 form of the chronic disease. Overall, it voted 13-1 to recommend approval for patients with type 1 diabetes and unanimously backed it for those with type 2, adding that longer-term studies would still be needed to monitor possible side effects such as lung cancer. According to the American Diabetes Association, more than 25 million U.S. children and adults have diabetes, a chronic condition that affects insulin needed for digestion and impacts blood sugar levels. Full Story | Top |
| Breast cancer screening a complex mix of benefits, risk -report Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 04:47 PM PDT By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A review of 50 years of studies on the risks and benefits of yearly mammograms has tied them to a 19 percent drop overall in breast cancer deaths, but whether a woman benefits depends on factors such as age and family history, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday. A report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association is the latest attempt to sort out mixed messages about mammogram screening, once an annual chore whose merits have been questioned by some studies suggesting that mammograms save far fewer women than previously thought. "It would be easier for everyone if there was a clear, pre-specified pathway with a given risk profile, but we don't have that because our data is not perfect and everyone is different," Dr. Lydia Pace of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who led the study, told Reuters Health. "I wish that we had more certainty." Five years ago, U.S. women routinely started getting annual mammograms at age 40. Full Story | Top |
| Stallergenes gains U.S. FDA approval for Oralair allergy drug Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 04:29 PM PDT (Reuters) - France's Stallergenes said on Tuesday it received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's green light to sell its immunotherapy pill Oralair for treating grass allergies. The drug is a fast-dissolving tablet to be placed under the tongue that contains extracts from five grass pollens: sweet vernal, orchard, perennial rye, timothy and Kentucky bluegrass. Oralair is the first oral immunotherapy drug for treating grass allergies to be approved in the United States. In December, both drugs received strong recommendations from outside advisers to the FDA. Full Story | Top |
| GSK's ViiV unit adds new HIV drug to AIDS patent pool Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 04:10 PM PDT GlaxoSmithKline's AIDS drugs business is to add one of its latest HIV medicines to a patent pool - cutting its future price for developing countries and pooling intellectual property rights. ViiV Healthcare, which is majority owned by the British drugmaker, said the agreement covered dolutegravir, a new antiretroviral medicine, for use in both adults and children with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS. The move is a further victory for the new Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), which is trying to convince major drugmakers around the world to share rights to important medicines for developing countries with makers of cheap generic drugs. Full Story | Top |
| FDA defends generic drug label proposal at U.S. House hearing Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 04:00 PM PDT (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday defended its proposal to require generic drugmakers to update the prescribing information on their products if they become aware of new safety information, a move the industry says will open them to product liability lawsuits and raise drug costs. Speaking at a hearing before a U.S. House of Representatives health subcommittee, Dr. Janet Woodcock, the FDA's top pharmaceuticals official, said the move is needed to "create parity" between branded and generic drug makers regarding labeling changes. Generic drugmakers are not currently allowed to alter the labels on their products without prior agency approval since generic drugs are supposed to be the same as their brand name counterparts, from the active ingredient to dose strength to the information on the label. Full Story | Top |
| Republican Ryan's budget sets political course for party in 2014 Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 03:39 PM PDT  By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Representative Paul Ryan, the leading Republican voice on budget policy, rolled out a fiscal blueprint on Tuesday that calls for deep cuts in domestic programs, increased defense spending and a goal of erasing annual deficits within a decade. Ryan's budget has no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate. But for the November congressional elections, it will serve as a manifesto of Republican priorities - a plan the party will use to draw contrasts with Democratic President Barack Obama's push to trim federal spending more gradually, boost taxes on the wealthy and increase protections for lower- and middle-class Americans. He would cut social programs such as food stamps and Medicare, the national insurance program for older Americans. Full Story | Top |
| Cigna says signed up 75,000-100,000 for Obamacare Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 03:11 PM PDT  By Caroline Humer WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cigna Corp has enrolled between 75,000 and 100,000 people in Obamacare health plans for 2014, Chief Executive David Cordani said on Tuesday at the Reuters Health Summit. Among those, about two-thirds signed up through the public exchanges created as part of President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law, popularly called Obamacare, Cordani said on the day after the enrollment period for the plans ended. The rest signed up directly with Cigna. Full Story | Top |
| Obamacare enrollment exceeds 7 million target despite setback Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 03:08 PM PDT  By Jeff Mason and Mark Felsenthal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's national healthcare program signed up more than 7 million people by the end of March, the president said on Tuesday, notching a rare victory after a months-long, glitch-filled rollout of the law. Appearing in the White House Rose Garden, the president said 7.1 million people had signed up for coverage under the law, known as Obamacare, and called for Republicans to end their bid to repeal it. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner repeated his pledge to repeal the law on Monday. It's working," Obama said, with Vice President Joe Biden standing at his side. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. insurers fear backlash over new Obamacare rate increases Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 02:40 PM PDT By Caroline Humer and David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As the first Obamacare enrollment period comes to a close, U.S. insurers are already anticipating the need to raise prices for 2015 and fear that it will put them at the center of the political blame game over President Barack Obama's healthcare law. The Obama administration declared victory on Tuesday over signing up more than 7 million people for this year, overcoming technology failures that stymied enrollment in the program's early weeks and Republican efforts to discredit it in the eyes of consumers. But insurers have already said that the first group of new enrollees under Obamacare, as the law is widely known, represent a higher rate of older and costlier members than hoped. To keep their health plans from losing money in the coming years, many expect monthly premium rates to rise by double-digit percentages in some parts of the country. Full Story | Top |
| Better diet associated with less risk of preterm birth Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 02:37 PM PDT By Shereen Jegtvig NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Norwegian mothers-to-be who maintained "prudent" eating patterns during pregnancy were less likely to have preterm births compared to women who ate a more typically "Western" diet, according to a new study. Both prudent and traditional Scandinavian eating patterns were linked to a lower likelihood of early delivery, according to the results published in the British Medical Journal. While the observations don't prove cause and effect, the authors say, the findings support the idea that dietary advice should be given to pregnant women. "Diet really matters when it comes to preterm delivery and it is very important for pregnant women to choose or to increase the intake of an overall healthy diet consisting of fresh and raw vegetables, fruit, whole-grain products, certain fish and to drink water," Dr. Linda Englund-Ögge told Reuters Health in an email. Full Story | Top |
| Rubio to decide on 2016 White House run 'around this time next year' Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 02:26 PM PDT  By Gabriel Debenedetti WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, a potential Republican candidate for president in 2016, said on Tuesday he would make a decision about his political future around this time next year. "For me, the choice in 2016 will be whether I run for re-election and serve in the Senate for another six years, whether the time has come to perhaps go to the private sector, or whether I want to run for another office like the presidency, because I feel passionately about some of the things our country needs to be doing," the freshman senator from Florida said at a Reuters Health Summit in Washington. He has since established himself as a leading voice on issues such as immigration reform. He was considered as a possible running mate in 2012 with former White House candidate Mitt Romney, but Romney eventually settled on U.S. Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Full Story | Top |
| Ohio mumps outbreak grows to 116 cases, mainly at Ohio State Tuesday, Apr 01, 2014 01:50 PM PDT The number of mumps cases from an outbreak in central Ohio has more than quadrupled over the last two weeks, to 116, mostly students at Ohio State University or people connected to the school, authorities said Tuesday. The outbreak had been limited to the university and those connected to it initially, but health officials said in late March it had spread to other parts of the Columbus, Ohio, area. Four people have been hospitalized in the outbreak, which includes 93 students, staff members or relatives of students at the school, the Columbus Health Department said. At least three of the infected people are confirmed as not having received vaccinations for the mumps, said Jose Rodriguez, a Columbus health department spokesman. Full Story | Top |
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