MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Individual mandate challenge gets May date. The Richmond, Va.-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit agreed to expedite its consideration of challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s requirement that all Americans have health insurance, setting arguments for May, reports Reuters.
Cass Sunstein gets summons from Congressional oversight committee. White House regulatory chief and Harvard Law School professor Cass Sunstein be the first administration official to appear before the Energy and Commerce Committee this year. The Oversight Subcommittee wants to talk to him about President Obama’s new executive order on regulatory review, reports Politico.
CDC counts 105 million with prediabetes or full blown diabetes. Almost 26 million Americans of all ages suffer from diabetes and 79 million people have what doctors call “prediabetes,” according to 2011 estimates released by theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention, reports HealthDay.
Cardiac imaging radiation fears outstrips knowledge on the risks. Physicians and patients have little data with which to estimate the long-term risks of radiation from cardiac imaging, despite a recent surge in research and public attention on the link between imaging and cancer risks, reports theheart.org.
The Innovation Debate. President Obama’s State of the Union has now triggered deeper debates about innovation. The GE Global Innovation Barometer says executives are looking for innovation through collaboration and via small companies. Others think President Obama’s speech actually gave biomedical short shrift, and there’s a risk the president will fund other less-promising sectors away from healthcare.
The tired argument reappeared that government can’t fuel innovation (SBIR anyone?), though there’s a greater concern that there can’t be innovation spending without specific government cuts.
Eight tips for medical school. Medical students should: get a large widescreen computer monitor; the book “Robbins Pathologic Basis of Disease;” a smartphone; a stethoscope; a “good” bed; question and review books; and a good anatomy atlas. And finally, they should attend an affordable medical school.
Pharma perp walk? The Pharmaceutical Fraud Pilot Program is less than one-year-old and is investigating several companies for off-label promotion issues, fraud related to Good Manufacturing Practice issues, and falsified clinical trials documents. “The big question, though, is whether any execs will do the perp walk,” asks Pharmalot.
Dealflow and more. Tennessee hospitals will invest $10 million through a healthcare venture capital fund; diabetes biotech Elcelyx Therapeutics raised $6 million; fibrosis drugmaker Stromedix raised $2 million but wants to raise $15.5 million; drug clot monitor MicroVisk Technologies raised $9.5 million; brain diagnostics company Nexstim raised $15.5 million.
There is a health app in there somewhere. A new study says social media leads to sex earlier and breakups later.
Material from MedCity News was used in this report.
