Author: creative

  • U.S. prosecutors launch review of failed FedEx drug case

    SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice has begun a rare internal examination of what went wrong in the prosecution of a controversial drug conspiracy case against delivery service Federal Express , the department's top prosecutor in San Francisco told Reuters. The review plays into a broader debate about how the government prosecutes…

  • FDA panel supports Novartis version of Amgen arthritis drug

    Novartis AG's cheaper version of Amgen Inc's arthritis drug Enbrel is highly similar in potency and safety to the original and should be approved, an advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concluded on Wednesday. The panel voted 20-O that there is no clinically meaningful difference between Novartis's drug, a biologic made of…

  • Magnesium may modestly lower blood pressure

    By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) – Magnesium supplements taken daily for three months may result in slightly lower blood pressure, according to an analysis of more than 30 existing studies. Previous evidence has suggested that magnesium deficiency may be related to cardiometabolic disorders, including high blood pressure, said lead author Yiqing Song. “Taking oral magnesium…

  • Health spending in U.S. to rise 5.8 percent a year through 2025: CMS

    Healthcare spending in the United States will likely grow by an average 5.8 percent per year over the next decade, a bit faster than the past two years, due to an aging population, rising medical prices and faster economic growth, according to updated projections from the federal government released on Wednesday. The annual growth of…

  • Grammy-winning singer Chaka Khan enters rehab for drug abuse

    Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Chaka Khan has postponed all performances for this month after checking herself into a drug addiction rehabilitation program, her representatives said in a message posted on her website. The treatment was described only as “an addiction rehabilitation and aftercare program” that would require her to “postpone all dates scheduled for the…

  • Thumb suckers less prone to allergies: New Zealand study

    Infants who suck their thumbs or bite their nails appear less prone to allergies as adults, New Zealand researchers have found. Researchers then followed up by giving them allergy skin prick tests when they were aged 13 and 32. The allergy level fell to 31 percent for children who did both.

  • China healthcare costs forcing patients into crippling debt

    China healthcare costs forcing patients into crippling debt

    By Adam Jourdan and Ben Hirschler SHANGHAI/LONDON (Reuters) – As China's medical bills rise steeply, outpacing government insurance provision, patients and their families are increasingly turning to loans to pay for healthcare, adding to the country's growing burden of consumer debt. While public health insurance reaches nearly all of China's 1.4 billion people, its coverage…

  • Sanders’ TPP stance shot down by Democrats’ platform committee

    Sanders’ TPP stance shot down by Democrats’ platform committee

    By Alana Wise WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A trade deal fight led by U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Saturday failed to fully materialize as rival and presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton announced a compromise to expand mandatory healthcare funding over the next decade. At a meeting of the Democratic Party draft platform committee in Orlando,…

  • Uruguay wins case against US tobacco firm

    Uruguay wins case against US tobacco firm

    Uruguay won an arbitration case against US tobacco giant Philip Morris, which sued the state claiming its strict anti-tobacco law harmed the cigarette maker's business, both sides said. “The Uruguayan state has emerged victorious and the tobacco company's claims have been roundly rejected,” Uruguayan President Tabara Vasquez said in a televised address. Philip Morris reacted…

  • From tweets to streets, Zimbabwe social media anger erupts into anti-Mugabe protests

    By MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE (Reuters) – Organisers of a general strike against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe pledged on Thursday to continue action until he falls, as a spontaneous social media movement has coalesced into the biggest uprising against his rule in nearly a decade. Zimbabweans have been using the Internet in recent weeks to mobilise…