Healthcare Matters

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! Be sure to show your mother some love! 

Speaking of…

Happy Mother’s day, Mom! I love you!

A rather large step in the fight against HIV?

Advocates: HIV Prevention Pill Could Save Lives

CHICAGO (AP) — A pill to prevent HIV infection is already being given to some healthy people, but without government approval, it remains out of reach and too costly for many who need it. Doctors, patients and advocates say that would change if the Food and Drug Administration takes a landmark step and allows the pill, Truvada, to be marketed for prevention. The drug has been used for some time as a treatment for those already infected with the AIDS virus…

POPULAR! You’re gonna be popular!

Arena Pharmaceuticals Shares Soar On FDA Panel Support Of Obesity Drug

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Shares of Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ARNA) nearly doubled Friday, hitting their highest point in 20 months, after a panel of experts for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended the company’s obesity drug for approval. Arena said Friday on a conference call that the FDA panel’s recommendation reinforces its belief in the drug, called lorcaserin, as a treatment for obesity management. Company officials said Arena still hasn’t received official word from FDA on whether the drug will require post-market studies…

A warning from the FDA

FDA warns MS patients about risky treatment

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. drug regulators are warning people with multiple sclerosis that an experimental treatment that props open internal veins in the neck and chest can cause death or serious injury. The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday said at least two people had died from the procedure, which uses stents or balloon angioplasties to widen veins that connect the brain and spinal cord to the heart. One person was permanently paralyzed, and others had bleeding in the brain, suffered strokes, blood clots or other side effects…

From Spend Matters

Friday Rant: ISM — The Next Year Counts, Big Time

I had a number of conversations with folks at ISM this week — those inside the organization, those very close to it, those semi-close to it, and those who really know virtually nothing about it. In this last camp, one vendor with a small booth in the exhibit hall this week said “they want to pay more next year to get a speaking slot”. Sorry, folks, ISM does not work that way. Indeed, this cross-section of perspectives was fascinating…

From Spend Matters UK/Europe

GXS Rollstream – social networking for business? More than that, really (Part 1)

A very common theme in much we’ve written about this year from a technology perspective has been the desire of providers to use social media and Business-to-Consumer (B2C) type processes and interfaces in their B2B product design. That also fits with another trend – towards more use and promotion of networks, whether buyer / seller networks focused largely on the transaction, or more general collaborative platforms to enable buyer and seller, or multiple buyers and sellers, to manage processes (such as sourcing), share information or knowledge, and communicate easily…