MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Senate to vote on healthcare reform repeal. Politicians in Washington love to grandstand as indicated by Senate Republicans’ efforts to bring a repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to a vote, despite its futility in the Democrat-majority Senate, reports The Wall Street Journal. And all this happened while while potential Republican White House contenders took turns urging them on, according to The Associated Press.
Massachusetts Sen. Brown takes aim at medical device tax. Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) said he will file legislation to to repeal the medical device tax, which he he says will hurts job growth in Massachusetts, reports State House News. It was just one of several measures targeting innovation and jobs that the Bay State Senator is trying to push through Congress, reports The Boston Globe, including the Innovate America Act, which Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) is cosponsoring.
Scientists identify more factors in Parkinson’s prediction. Researchers added five genetic variants to the list of six believed to play a role in Parkinson’s disease, reports HealthDay. The study was published online today The Lancet.
Enzyme could predict cancer metastasis. A team of government-funded researchers said they’ve found a biomarker than may predict the spread of cancer. The scientists said the chemical, a molecular variation of an enzyme that’s involved in activating insulin and other hormones, will prove “invaluable” in predicting cancer recurrence. Their report was released yesterday in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, reports NPR.
FDA rejects Contrave: What it means. “If there was one pill in the latest crop of experimental weight-loss medicines that stood a chance of getting the nod from the Food and Drug Administration, it looked like Orexigen’s Contrave,” writes NPR’s Scott Hensley. But that didn’t happen. Instead, the FDA rejected the drug. As a result, “The field of obesity drugs is effectively dead,” writes Matthew Herper on Forbes.
“The clear lesson is that weight-loss medicines simply do not have enough of a benefit to justify any risk ’ and that this makes getting them approved just about impossible,” Herper added.
The newest coursework in medical school… art, writing, literature and — hopefully — empathy.
Layoffs at Zimmer, Pfizer. Orthopedics company Zimmer Holdings announced an unspecific number of layoffs; while Pfizer is laying off 1,100.
Eight out of 10 Internet users… search the Web for health information, making it the third most common use of the Internet behind e-mail and using search engines.
Streamlined stem cells. Johns Hopkins researchers say they have a better way to create induced pluripotent stem cells that will make the cells more reliable in research studies, among other things.
Dealflow and more. Proton therapy specialists ProCure raised $40 million; wound care business Spiracur raised $35 million; spinal implant company VertiFlex raised $14 million.
Material from MedCity News was used in this report.
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