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White House Budget Chief Says Issue Of Abortion Coverage In Health Reform Still Under Debate
In an appearance on "Fox News Sunday," White House Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag said that he is "not prepared to say explicitly" whether health care reform legislation would prohibit the use of federal tax revenue to fund abortion coverage, the New York Times reports. Orszag"s statement came in reply to a question asking whether he was prepared to say that "no taxpayer money will go to pay for abortions." Orszag said, "It"s obviously a controversial issue, and it"s one of the questions that is playing out in the debate" (Pear/Liptak, New York Times, 7/20).Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), who also appeared on "Fox News Sunday," said, "No matter what your views are on abortion, you shouldn"t ask people to use their tax dollars if they think that abortion is taking a life." Gregg added, "I would hate to see the health care debate go down over that issue. We do really need health care reform, and it has to be substantive. ... So hopefully we won"t get ourselves wrapped around the wheel of abortion in this debate" (FoxNews.com, 7/19). According to the Times, there is an ongoing behind-the-scenes debate over handling abortion coverage in health overhaul legislation. The debate affects both the public insurance plan the legislation would create and private insurers, who would receive tens of billions of dollars in federal subsidies to expand coverage for low- and moderate-income U.S. residents. A provision in the House health reform bill (HR 3200) calls for a federal advisory committee to advise the HHS secretary on an "essential benefits package" that most insurers would be required to provide. Abortion-rights opponents want abortion coverage excluded from the package, while abortion-rights advocates say the decision should be left to medical professionals. House committees working on health reform legislation have rejected Republican amendments that would have restricted abortion coverage. The Hyde Amendment, first enacted in 1976, prohibits the use of federal Medicaid money for abortion services. However, abortion-rights opponents argue that federally subsidized coverage of the uninsured would not be subject to the existing restrictions. The National Right to Life Committee issued an analysis of the House bill, stating, "There is no doubt that coverage of abortion will be mandated, unless Congress explicitly excludes abortion from the scope of federal authority to define "essential benefits."" According to the group, even if the HHS secretary did not require abortion coverage, "federal courts would interpret the broadly worded mandatory categories of coverage to include abortion" (New York Times, 7/20).

Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute And Inverness Medical Innovations To Develop Commercial Test To Detect Early Alzheimer's Disease
The Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute (BRNI) and Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc. (Inverness, NYSE: IMA) of Waltham, Massachusetts, a global leader in rapid diagnostics and health management, announced today that they will work together to further develop and commercialize a diagnostic test for Alzheimer"s disease first discovered by scientists at BRNI.
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AMA Urges Government To Slash GP Red Tape, Australia
Slashing red tape would allow Australia"s General Practitioners to spend more time caring for patients, AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today.
Sexual Health

Alkermes Initiates Two New Clinical Trials Of ALKS 33

Alkermes, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALKS) announced the initiation of two new clinical trials of ALKS 33, an oral opioid modulator for the potential treatment of addiction and other nervous system disorders. Study ALK33-004 is a phase 1 clinical trial designed to examine the ability of ALKS 33 to block the effects of an opioid following a single oral dose of ALKS 33 in healthy, non-dependent, opioid-experienced subjects. Study ALK33-003 is a phase 1 clinical trial designed to evaluate the pharmacokinetics, safety and tolerability of multiple doses of ALKS 33 in healthy volunteers. The initiation of these studies follows the successful completion of a phase 1 dose escalation study of ALKS 33 in healthy volunteers. Alkermes expects to report data from both ALK33-004 and ALK33-003 in the second half of calendar 2009. "ALKS 33 is an excellent example of how Alkermes is leveraging its new insights about opioid receptor pathways to develop medications with unique advantages over currently available therapies," stated Elliot Ehrich, M.D., chief medical officer at Alkermes. "We expect to use the data from these additional phase 1 studies to shape our plans for phase 2 clinical development." ALKS 33 Study Designs ALK33-004 is a phase 1, randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled, single-dose study designed to test the ability of ALKS 33 to block the effects of an opioid agonist, remifentanil, a commercially available analgesic. Approximately 24 healthy, non-dependent, opioid-experienced subjects will be randomized to receive a placebo dose as well as one of two dose levels of ALKS 33. The ability of ALKS 33 to block the effects of remifentanil will be measured by pupillometry assessments and subjective measures of opioid effects. The pharmacokinetics and safety of ALKS 33 will also be evaluated. ALK33-003 is a phase 1 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-dose study designed to assess the steady-state pharmacokinetics, safety and tolerability of ALKS 33. Approximately 30 healthy subjects will be randomized to receive seven consecutive, daily oral doses of one of two dose levels of ALKS 33 or placebo. About ALKS 33 ALKS 33 is an oral opioid modulator that builds on Alkermes" scientific expertise in brain reward pathways as well as the company"s clinical and commercial knowledge in the field of addiction. In April 2009, Alkermes presented topline data from a phase 1 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of ALKS 33 in 16 healthy volunteers. Data from the study showed that ALKS 33 was generally well tolerated and demonstrated rapid oral absorption, high plasma concentrations and duration of action that supports once daily dosing. The study results are consistent with previous findings that ALKS 33 is not metabolized by the liver, a unique advantage over existing oral therapies for addiction. About Opioid Receptor Pathways Opioid receptor pathways have biological activity throughout the body including the brain, gastrointestinal system, immune system and cardiovascular system. Consequently, opioid receptor pathways play a key role in a broad range of nervous system disorders such as pain, addiction, psychiatric disorders, gastrointestinal disorders and immune disorders. Opioid modulators can act as agonists, antagonists or partial agonists at opioid receptors throughout the body. Emerging biological research and new medicinal chemistry insights now allow for the development of novel opioid modulators with the potential to show enhanced activity at opioid receptor sites and could ultimately lead to improved therapeutic options. Alkermes


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