Industry - Health latest news

SAN DIEGO, CA (MARKET WIRE) The alarming fact is that over half of all Americans have oral herpes and at least twenty percent (one out of five) suffer from genital herpes or herpes simplex 2 (HSV-2). Studies indicate that more than 500,000 new cases of genital herpes are diagnosed in the United States each year and an untold number go untreated. Combine these figures with the number of other sexually transmitted diseases (S.T.D.s), added to the number of urinary tract infections (U.T.I.s) contracted every year, and the result is that bacterial and viral-borne diseases represent the single largest category of human

The companies will launch generic versions of Ortho-McNeil's drug Razadyne.

WESTPORT, CT (MARKET WIRE) Save the Children has dispatched an emergency response team to the Gulf Coast to expand its ability to assist children and families who might be displaced by Hurricane Gustav, which is bearing down on the Louisiana coast as a possible category-3 storm.

BusinessWeek Online - The last time Washington tried to fix health care, powerful industry interests scuttled the Clinton Administration's initiative as Big Pharma, managed care, doctors, and employers all scrambled to protect their turf.

PALO ALTO, CA (MARKET WIRE) Today's Vice Presidential nomination of Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin, mother of a child with Down syndrome, brings national attention to the approximately 350,000 individuals with Down syndrome living in the United States.

As more drugs lose their patents, generic competition is becoming a more dominant force.

HARRISBURG, PA (MARKET WIRE) On Wednesday, September 17 at 6 p.m., PinnacleHealth will broadcast a minimally invasive hysterectomy, performed by Gregory Willis, DO, online. During the broadcast, Dr. Willis, surgeon and gynecologic oncologist at PinnacleHealth, will complete a total hysterectomy with lymph node dissection for a patient diagnosed with uterine cancer. Dr. Willis will be available to answer questions electronically from the online audience during the premiere.

Companies have fought to release generic versions of drugs, which has yielded mixed results.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Inc. purchased Florida Health Care Plan for $85 million, expanding the state's largest insurer by 58,000 members.

A Hawaii federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a health advocacy group against the state that sought to overturn a $1.5 billion Medicaid contract, which was awarded to two Mainland health plans instead of to a local health maintenance organization.