MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Ibuprofen may cut Parkinson’s risk. A Harvard School of Public Health study showed that adults who regularly take the anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen have about one-third less risk of developing Parkinson’s disease than non-users. The results of the study were published online in the journal Neurology. "There is no cure for Parkinson’s disease, so the possibility that ibuprofen, an existing and relatively non-toxic drug, could help protect against the disease is captivating," HSPH epidemiology and nutrition professor Alberto Ascherio said in prepared remarks.
Pharmacies can’t keep up with Tamiflu demand. Retail pharmacy chains like CVS are starting to convert Tamiflu capsules into liquid because demand for that version of the antiviral medication is outpacing supply, reports The Wall Street Journal.
FDA takes unapproved cold drugs off the shelves. Food & Drug Administration officials announced a crackdown on the marketing and sale of prescription cold and allergy medications that were never formally proven to be safe and effective by the watchdog agency. Five-hundred products are being targeted.
Measles on the rise in Boston. Five cases of measles have been confirmed by health officials in Boston, reports Reuters. UMass Boston students seem unfazed as the school opens up a measles, mumps and rubella vaccination clinic reports The Boston Globe.
Meanwhile, the healthcare reform debate rages on. Six Republican congressmen voted against the two-week continuing resolution on Tuesday night as a way to protest the bill’s funding of last year’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Art and the absence of larger cuts, reports The Hill. On Wednesday, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said that he is drafting a bill that would make information about how much Medicare reimburses doctors publicly available; Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked the Dept. of Health and Human Services to looking into whether the Castro regime is defrauding Medicare in south Florida; all on the same day that a convicted Medicare fraudster told a House oversight subpanel that bilking the nation’s largest payer of medical bills out of millions of dollars is "incredibly easy."
