Cord Blood Stem-Cells Help Babies Survive A Fatal Disease
New York Newsday
Doctors have successfully treated babies with a usually fatal genetic disorder of the brain by using stem-cell transplants from umbilical-cord blood. The successes, reported Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine, offer hope for victims of a host of rare diseases brought on by genetic flaws that cause specific protein deficiencies in the brain. There are more than 45 known such diseases, affecting about 5,000 babies of the roughly 4 million born in the United States each year, with some fatal, others severely disabling.

Feds Close Viagra Loophole
CBS Health News
A federal agency has begun notifying all 50 states that they don't have to offer Medicaid-funded Viagra to sex offenders, a step taken after it was discovered that more than 400 convicted sex offenders in New York and Florida were reimbursed for the erectile dysfunction drug. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services acted swiftly Monday, one day after the New York comptroller's office said audits from 2000 through March found that 198 rapists and other high-risk sex offenders in the state received Medicaid-reimbursed Viagra after their convictions.

Bill targets funding for Viagra, others
The Hill
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) yesterday introduced legislation to ban Medicare and Medicaid coverage of drugs for sexual or erectile dysfunction. The ban would include Viagra, Cialis and Levitra. “It is a pretty simple piece of legislation — no payment for drugs prescribed for sexual or erectile dysfunction under any federal program, period,” Grassley said in a floor statement.

Studies on Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)
for breast cancer patients can give false hopes
News-Medical.Net
Women treated for breast cancer who are considering taking Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) should be cautious when using published research to inform their decision. An article published today in the journal Breast Cancer Research reveals that qualitative studies on the recurrence of breast cancer in breast cancer survivors undergoing HRT are unreliable.

Tens of thousands of cases seen over Vioxx
First Coast News
NEW ORLEANS -- A federal judge told dozens of lawyers crowded into a courtroom here Monday that there could ultimately be up to 100,000 cases filed against Merck & Co. over its now withdrawn pain reliever Vioxx, and that he could hear a case as early as the fall. There have been over 2,000 cases filed against the drugmaker so far. The pretrial issues for federal cases are being handled by U.S. District Court Judge Eldon Fallon, and lawyers from both sides met here for a monthly status conference.

Rodent Virus Now Linked to Six Deaths
ABC News
MILWAUKEE -- Doctors are being urged to carefully watch patients who have undergone organ transplant and blood transfusions after at least six deaths were linked to a rodent-borne virus in the past two years. Though there's no evidence that the deaths are anything but rare, recent discoveries that rabies and West Nile virus can spread through donated organs has officials worried that the latest virus might have gone undetected before now.

Defibrillator Maker Didn't Reveal Problem
New York Newsday
INDIANAPOLIS -- The maker of an internal heart defibrillator acknowledged it waited three years before telling some 24,000 patients and their doctors about an electrical problem that caused a small fraction of the implanted devices to short-circuit. Indianapolis-based Guidant Corp. is not recommending that the units be replaced and said Tuesday in statement that the defibrillator "continues to exceed design expectations" and ranks overall as one of the most reliable defibrillators available.

FDA warns of heart risks from Serono drug
Reuters
ZURICH -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers of the risk of heart damage from Serono's multiple sclerosis drug Novantrone, weighing on the Swiss biotech company's shares in Wednesday's premarket. "Reports received through post-marketing surveillance have shown that diminished cardiac function may occur early on in the treatment with Novantrone," Serono said in a statement posted on the FDA's web site.

Study Contradicts FDA on Crestor Risks
The Associated Press
DALLAS -- New research seems to challenge a Food and Drug Administration decision not to pull the cholesterol-lowering drug Crestor off the market, with data showing it causes more kidney and muscle problems than rival medications. The FDA in March contended Crestor's risks were no greater than its competitors, and it rejected consumer efforts to remove the drug, made by AstraZeneca PLC, from store shelves. Instead, the FDA ordered a warning on the label, saying Crestor could cause serious muscle problems and kidney damage, especially among Asians.

New Drug For The Treatment of PE Has Great Results
News-Medical.Net
In new data published this week it has been shown that men taking dapoxetine hydrochloride for the treatment of premature ejaculation (PE) have experienced significant improvements in sexual function, including ejaculatory control, satisfaction with sexual intercourse for men and their partners, and increases in intravaginal ejaculatory latency time (IELT). A new drug application for dapoxetine is currently under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and if approved, it will be the first prescription product indicated for the treatment of PE.