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| Cubist to pay up to $1.6 billion for two antibiotics makers Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 06:57 PM PDT By Vrinda Manocha and Zeba Siddiqui (Reuters) - Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc has agreed to pay up to $1.6 billion for Trius Therapeutics Inc and Optimer Pharmaceuticals Inc, expanding its heft in antibiotics at a time when the number of drug-resistant viruses are on the rise. The widely praised deals will give Cubist, one of the few big players in U.S. antibiotics in the United States, an additional $600 million to $1 billion in revenue on an annual basis from the companies' lead drugs. Antibiotics has often been shunned by many big pharma firms as a field of research due to poor returns. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sexuality under the microscope in Showtime's 'Masters of Sex' series Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 06:54 PM PDT  By Piya Sinha-Roy BEVERLY HILLS, California (Reuters) - The sexual revolution has been well-documented on TV shows like HBO's "Sex and the City," but a new Showtime drama "Masters of Sex" turns the lens on the pioneering couple who started the public conversation about sexuality. The show, which premieres on September 29, explores the early relationship of groundbreaking sex researchers Virginia Johnson and William Masters. It documents their discoveries based on Thomas Maier's 2009 biography "Masters of Sex. ... Full Story | Top |
| Florida pain doctors convicted of money laundering Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 06:04 PM PDT By Zachary Fagenson MIAMI (Reuters) - A jury acquitted two South Florida doctors of causing the deaths of patients who overdosed on pain medication, but convicted them of money laundering for their role in a conspiracy involving a chain of pain clinics. The two doctors, Cynthia Cadet, 43, a retired U.S. Air Force major, and Joseph Castronuovo, 74, faced life in prison and fines up to $2 million each for their role at the clinics. Seven of Cadet's patients and two of Castronuovo's patients died of drug overdoses. ... Full Story | Top |
| Florida, Georgia say insurance rates to spike under Obamacare Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 05:16 PM PDT By Caroline Humer (Reuters) - Florida and Georgia, two states where politicians oppose U.S. President Barack Obama's healthcare law, said on Tuesday that insurance rates for individuals would rise sharply in 2014 under the reform. The remarks are part of an increasingly polarized debate over whether "Obamacare" will prove affordable for millions of uninsured Americans when new health plans become available on state-based exchanges as of October 1. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tighter motor insurance rules needed to stop fake claims - MPs Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 04:08 PM PDT By Sebastian Salek LONDON (Reuters) - British road accident insurance rules should be overhauled to root out fraudsters making fake claims for whiplash which drive up premiums, MPs said on Wednesday. False and exaggerated motor insurance claims could represent more than 60 percent of all claims for whiplash, the Transport Select Committee of MPs said in a report. The report suggests reducing the limitation period for claims and requiring whiplash claimants to provide proof they had either been seen by a doctor or attended a hospital emergency department shortly after the accident. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bloomberg's ban on big sodas is unconstitutional: appeals court Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 03:58 PM PDT  By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's controversial plan to keep large sugary drinks out of restaurants and other eateries was rejected by a state appeals court on Tuesday, which said he had overstepped his authority in trying to impose the ban. The law, which would have prohibited those businesses from selling sodas and other sugary beverages larger than 16 ounces (473 ml), "violated the state principle of separation of powers," the First Department of the state Supreme Court's Appellate Division said. ... Full Story | Top |
| 'Obamacare' mandate delay will cost $12 billion, affect 1 million workers Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 03:38 PM PDT  By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's decision to delay implementation of part of his healthcare reform law will cost $12 billion and leave a million fewer Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance in 2014, congressional researchers said Tuesday. The report by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office is the first authoritative estimate of the human and fiscal cost from the administration's unexpected one-year delay announced July 2 of the employer mandate - a requirement for larger businesses to provide health coverage for their workers or pay a penalty. ... Full Story | Top |
| Cubist to buy Trius Therapeutics, Optimer Pharma for up to $1.62 billion Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 03:24 PM PDT (Reuters) - Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc said it would buy Trius Therapeutics Inc and Optimer Pharmaceuticals Inc for up to $1.62 billion to boost its antibiotics portfolio. Cubist said it would buy all outstanding shares of Optimer for a total of $15.75 per share in cash, including contingency payments. The offer represents a premium of 18 percent on Tuesday's closing price. Cubist said it would pay a total of $15.50 per share for Trius, including contingency payments. The offer represents a premium of 32 percent to the stock's closing price on Tuesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pfizer settles U.S. marketing case related to Rapamune Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 02:25 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc will pay $490.9 million to resolve accusations of illegal marketing of the drug Rapamune dating to Pfizer's 2009 acquisition of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday. Wyeth trained its national Rapamune sales force to promote the use of the drug in situations not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), prosecutors said. Pfizer disclosed the settlement on a preliminary basis in a November 2012 securities filing. U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange in Oklahoma City unsealed the final court papers on Tuesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Cost controls help Pfizer, Merck weather weak quarter Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 02:16 PM PDT  By Bill Berkrot and Ransdell Pierson (Reuters) - Big Pharma is still relying on belt-tightening to prop up financial results. Pfizer Inc and Merck & Co said on Tuesday their quarterly results were again hit by generic competition for once top-selling products and the toll of a strong dollar on overseas revenue. Controls on marketing and administrative expenses, and other costs, helped them report earnings slightly above Wall Street estimates. ... Full Story | Top |
| Print, web aids help men decide on cancer screening Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 01:16 PM PDT By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Both print and online tools outlining the possible benefits and harms of prostate cancer screening can help men understand the disease and feel more confident in their screening-related decisions, a new study suggests. Researchers found, however, that men who had access to those decision aids weren't any more or less likely to be screened in the following year than those who didn't receive extra information. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. differences on abortion widen along regional lines: survey Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 12:47 PM PDT  By Carey Gillam (Reuters) - U.S. attitudes on abortion are split along regional lines, and opposition to legal abortion has grown in some parts of the South while Americans in the Northeast and on the West Coast still strongly favor abortion rights, according to a new study. While a little more than half of all Americans continue to favor abortion rights and two in five oppose them, the divide is reflected in legal and legislative battles over the issue this month in the two regions with the most opposition to legal abortion: the South Central and Midwestern states. ... Full Story | Top |
| Senate Republicans feud over defunding 'Obamacare' Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 12:45 PM PDT  By David Lawder and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A nasty, name-calling spat between Tea Party conservatives and older, more moderate Republican senators is playing out in public this week, fueling a battle over the best way to kill President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare law. Senators usually reserve for private conversations words such as "silly", "dumb," "dishonest" and "feckless" when referring to ideas being floated by members of their own political party. ... Full Story | Top |
| Court-ordered mental health treatment may save money Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 12:42 PM PDT By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - State-run programs that compel people with serious mental illness to get treatment may reduce costs, according to a new analysis of New York State's system known as Kendra's Law. Addressing the concerns of some lawmakers, researchers found that treatment costs dropped by about half among those covered under the program in New York City and even more for those in other counties throughout the state, largely as a result of fewer hospital admissions. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kidney transplants not as successful among teens Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013 11:58 AM PDT By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Teenagers who undergo a kidney transplant are more likely to have their new organ stop working within a few years than both younger and older recipients, according to a new study. Researchers analyzed data on 169,000 kidney transplant recipients and found 14- to 16-year-olds had the highest risk of so-called graft loss starting one year after their transplant. "There can be a dramatic change at the transplant event," said Dr. Kenneth Andreoni, who led the study at the University of Florida in Gainesville. ... Full Story | Top |
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