Health News

Novel vital signs monitoring device gets $10.5m funding

Date: Nov-13-2013
The vast array of smartphone apps available today means we can use our cell phones for almost anything, including self-monitoring of our health. Now, health electronics company Scanadu has received $10.5 million in funding for its new monitoring device that can send vital signs straight to a cell phone. The Scanadu Scout is a health monitoring device that creators say is able to read a person's vital signs, such as temperature, blood pressure and respiratory rate, in 10 seconds. The device then sends the readings to a smartphone...

Biologics R&D Leaders Forum, 25th - 27th February 2014�, Brussels

Date: Nov-13-2013
This three-day event will develop upon the previous, highly successful meeting to further provide focused and in depth industry, regulatory and scientific perspectives in terms of what the factors are that hinder the progression of biologics in clinical development. Industry experts will talk about their experiences and give insight into the vital components that make up a successful early-stage strategy for biologic studies...

3rd Annual Medical Affairs Leaders Forum, 11th - 12th February, 2014�, Berlin

Date: Nov-13-2013
This 2 day forum is the "must attend" event for those senior decision-makers looking to drive their medical affairs teams and departments and enhance their KOL & stakeholder engagement at all levels...

2nd Annual Pharma & Medical Device Nordic Market & Patient Access Forum, March 4-5, 2014, Stockholm

Date: Nov-13-2013
With changes in the cost-containment policies across the Nordic region (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland) for pharmaceutical & medical device pricing controls, value-assessment and reimbursement listing now taking shape, this event will bring together experts from a European and Nordic perspective to discuss how the region is evolving its value assessment and technology assessment mechanisms...

First live case with Apica's transapical access technology

Date: Nov-13-2013
The use of Apica's innovative transapical access technology was successfully demonstrated for the first time at the 27th European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) congress in Vienna. EACTS is one of the largest cardiac congress in the world, with around 6,500 participants. A transapical aortic valve replacement procedure using the Apica access, stabilisation, and closure (ASC) system, conducted by Dr. Joerg Kempfert and Dr. David Holzhey live from the Hertzzentrum in Leipzig, Germany, received a very positive response...

Perinatal outcomes after bariatric surgery: nationwide population based matched cohort study

Date: Nov-13-2013
Women with a history of obesity surgery are at increased risk of giving birth to preterm or small-for-gestational age babies and should be regarded as an at-risk group, a paper published on bmj.com suggests. In 2008, an estimated 0.5 billion people were obese globally. Obesity is estimated to result in a 2-4 year shorter life span which increases to 8-10 years in those morbidly obese. Obesity is a risk factor for adverse pregnancy and perinatal outcomes (relating to the time immediately before and after birth)...

Ferinject® reduces or delays requirement for alternative anaemia management compared with oral iron therapy

Date: Nov-13-2013
Results from the FIND-CKD study were presented at the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Kidney Week in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The FIND-CKD results demonstrate that Ferinject® (ferric carboxymaltose) targeting a serum ferritin of 400-600 ug/L in patients with non-dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease (ND-CKD) and iron deficiency anaemia significantly reduces or delays the need for alternative anaemia management (such as erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) or blood transfusion)...

Clinical significance and benefit from SCENESSE® in US Phase III EPP study

Date: Nov-13-2013
Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Limited has announced that analyses of its Phase III US study (CUV039) evaluating the administration of SCENESSE® (afamelanotide 16mg) to patients diagnosed with erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP) had shown a clinically meaningful treatment effect. The drug was well tolerated with no safety concerns identified. The study's independent Data Safety Monitoring Board stated that the drug treatment offered had been clinically meaningful and safe for use in patients...

Prosthetic hands viewed as eerie by the public new study shows

Date: Nov-13-2013
Members of the public would prefer to look at human hands or robotic hands rather than prosthetic hands which they view as eerie, a new study by The University of Manchester has shown. But prosthetic hands which looked more human-like were rated as less eerie, the academics found. Researchers hope their study, published in the Journal Perception, and future work in this area will help improve designs for prosthetic limbs. Earlier research has shown that people find robots that look as close to being human more uncomfortable than those which are clearly not human...

Study shows increasing levels of disclosure for industry-sponsored clinical trials, UK

Date: Nov-13-2013
The publication today (11 November) of a study assessing clinical trial transparency is a baseline on the current position of clinical trial reporting by industry and makes an important contribution to assessing a complex global issue. The study, published in the peer-review journal Current Medical Research and Opinion (CMRO), highlights a positive trend of increasing levels of disclosure for industry-sponsored clinical trials, but shows that more remains to be done...