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Novavax Announces Selection Of A Respiratory Syncytial Virus Vaccine Candidate For Advanced Preclinical Studies
Novavax, Inc. (Nasdaq: NVAX) announced final selection of a Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccine candidate that will be advanced into additional preclinical studies to support an Investigational New Drug (IND) application. As previously announced, Novavax has been evaluating a number of RSV vaccine candidates, all of which have successfully induced antibody responses in mice. Novavax scientists have now engineered a new vaccine candidate which has been shown to protect mice against RSV disease and can be produced at sufficient yields to allow commercial manufacture. This new candidate is directed against a protein on the surface of the virus, the "F" or "fusion" protein, which is the protein that the virus uses to infect and fuse with cells in the respiratory tract and cause disease.

Los Angeles County Health Officials Release Report On HIV In Adult Film Industry
Twenty-two people in the adult film industry have tested positive for HIV in the last five years in Los Angeles County, according to a new report released on Thursday by county health officials, the Los Angeles Times reports. Officials were prompted to release the report after an adult film star last week tested positive for HIV. An outbreak occurred in 2004, in which at least five people tested positive for HIV, and caused the industry to shut down for one month. The cases in 2004 prompted a series of public hearings over the years that sought to require the industry to adopt safer practices, but no legislation was introduced. "The report ò€¦ is bringing renewed scrutiny to the estimated $12-billion-a-year industry"s long history of resisting regulation and condom use," according to the Times. Michael Weinstein, president of the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said, "This industry screams for regulation," adding that the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health "needs to require that condoms be used in any film." Sharon Mitchell, co-founder of the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, the clinic which tests people in the adult film industry for sexually transmitted infections, said the clinic promotes HIV prevention and testing, but added "we are not the police department of the industry nor wish to be" (Yoshino/Rong-Gong, Los Angeles Times, 6/12).
News of the day
Wave Medical-Clinical Decision Support Now In Hand And Just A Touch Away
Health professionals need to look no further than their iPhone to support them at the point of care. Wave Medical, who provides clinical decision support applications to general practitioners, nurses, emergency doctors and medical students has recently expanded its mobile platform offering to include the iPhone™ and iPod® Touch. Now all healthcare professionals can easily access any of Wave Medical"s specialty-focused clinical decision support applications through iPhone"s innovative platform.
Endocrinology

Battles Loom Over Possible Funding Cuts For MRIs

A Battle looms over possible funding cuts for MRIs amid health care reform efforts. USA Today reports: "As Congress debates a sweeping overhaul of the nation"s health care system, a battle is brewing over one provision that could affect the availability of MRIs and other tests, particularly in rural areas. A coalition of physicians and companies that make medical imaging equipment is lobbying lawmakers to reverse a proposal buried in some versions of health care legislation that would reduce Medicare payments to doctors offering scans in their offices. President Obama and some Democratic lawmakers say the cuts will curtail overuse of MRIs, CT scans and other imaging tests. Opponents counter that some physicians could be forced out of the testing business, reducing access for everyone - including patients with private insurance." USA Today reports: "Medicare spending on imaging tests in doctor"s offices cost $14 billion in 2006, more than double the amount in 2000, according to a Government Accountability Office study. The volume of imaging ordered for Medicare patients in doctor"s offices grew 44% between 2002 and 2007, an independent congressional agency found. Groups lobbying against the change say paying doctors less for performing tests in their offices will make the practice unaffordable for some. If they shut down their in-house machines, doctors would send patients to hospitals that, in rural areas, could be miles away, or that, in large cities, could require long waits." The paper also notes: "Doctors who perform MRIs and other tests in their offices have come under scrutiny in recent years because of financial connections some have to the testing facilities. The arrangement can encourage doctors to order unnecessary tests to increase profits, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a government agency, said in 2007" (Fritze, 7/17). This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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