Here are some of the latest health and medical news
developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:
New U.S. Job Creation Program Linked to Health Care Law
A new job creation plan tied to the nation's health care law was
announced Monday by the Obama administration.
The Department of Health and Human Services will provide up to
$1 billion over three years to create jobs in local programs that
use innovation to improve health care, the
Associated Press reported.
Beginning next spring, the Health Care Innovation Challenge will
award grants ranging from $1 million to $30 million to
organizations such as hospitals, local government agencies and
nonprofits, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said.
The money will come from the health care law but is part of the
Obama administration's job creation initiative called "We Can't
Wait," the
AP reported.
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Diabetes Could Affect 10% of Adults Worldwide by 2030:
Report
One in 10 adults, or 522 million people, worldwide could have
diabetes by 2030, according to a report issued Monday by the
International Diabetes Federation.
The group also said the number of cases of diabetes in Africa
could rise by 90 percent over the next 20 years, the
Associated Press reported.
The projected global number of diabetes cases in 2030 is based
on factors such as aging and demographic changes. But it may be a
conservative estimate because it does not include the impact of
rising obesity rates, the federation said.
Currently, about 346 million people worldwide have diabetes,
according to the World Health Organization.
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Rising Number of U.S. Newborns Addicted to Pain Drugs
Newborn addiction to prescription painkillers is a growing
problem in the United States, according to health experts and
authorities.
The babies are innocent victims of their mothers' addictions to
powerful narcotics such as Vicodin and OxyContin,
USA Today reported.
There is no national data on the number of babies who go through
withdrawal after birth, but some reports suggest that the number of
addicted newborns has increased two or three times or more over the
past decade.
Florida is the hub of the illicit prescription drug trade in the
United States, and the number of newborns in that state with
withdrawal syndrome rose from 354 in 2006 to 1,374 in 2010,
according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration,
USA Today reported.
An American Academy of Pediatrics committee was convened this
year to revise treatment guidelines for newborns with withdrawal
syndrome. The guidelines are scheduled to be published in 2012.
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Pfizer Tries to Delay Sales of Generic Lipitor: Report
Drug company Pfizer and pharmacy benefit companies appear to be
working together to impede prescriptions for a generic version of
Pfizer's Lipitor cholesterol drug,
The New York Times reported.
The generic version of Lipitor will become available Dec. 1,
when Pfizer's patent for the drug expires. But letters have been
sent to many pharmacists asking them to keep filling prescriptions
with the more expensive Lipitor for six months, the newspaper
said.
A letter from pharmacy benefit manager Catalyst Rx indicates
that Pfizer will provide large discounts for benefit managers that
block the use of generic versions of Lipitor,
The Times reported. This is the first time the letters have
been made public.
"I'm stunned," said Geoffrey F. Joyce, an associate professor of pharmaceutical economics and a health policy expert at the University of Southern California, after reviewing the letters.
"This is just an egregious case. Clearly there's been some negotiation between Pfizer and the large P.B.M.s saying we're going to make this cost-beneficial to them, but the plan sponsors are going to eat it," he told the Times.
Raymond F. Kerins, a Pfizer vice president and spokesman, said
in a statement Friday that the company was committed to supporting
continued access to Lipitor for patients. He declined to answer
further questions Friday afternoon, the
Times reported.
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Co-Founder of Pink Ribbon Campaign Dies
One of the creators of the pink ribbon campaign for breast
cancer awareness died Saturday from complications of ovarian
cancer.
Evelyn Lauder, 75, had a long career as an executive at the
Estee Lauder beauty products company. She was diagnosed with cancer
in 2007 but continued to appear at cancer awareness events
worldwide. She died at her Manhattan home, the
Associated Press reported.
Lauder and her friend Alexandra Penney, former editor-in-chief
of
Self magazine, created the pink ribbon campaign in 1992. The
campaign started small but grew to include fund-raising products,
U.S. congressional designation of October as breast cancer
awareness month and $330 million in donations to the Breast Cancer
Research Foundation.
The foundation money helped create the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast
Center that opened in 2009 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer
Center in New York City, the
AP reported.