A deep learning algorithm developed using imaging data from more than 1,000 Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients can accurately predict the presence of AD more than six years before a doctor finalizes a diagnosis, researchers reported in Radiology Nov. 6. While it’s globally acknowledged that a timely diagnosis is linked to prognosis in Alzheimer’s patients, physicians… Read More »

A simple pop-up alert on a computer screen could help save the brains and hearts of many hospital-bound people with an irregular heartbeat, a new clinical trial reveals. Rates for heart attack and stroke plunged by close to 90 percent in people helped by the new program, the study found. The computer alert warns doctors… Read More »

The FDA has granted a fast track designation to selinexor for the treatment of patients with previously treated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) who are ineligible to receive high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell rescue or chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, according to Karyopharm Therapeutics, Inc., the manufacturer of the first-in-class SINE compound.1 The designation… Read More »

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama has announced new changes to its opioid policy, including a decision that the insurer will no longer cover the standard formulation of OxyContin. The news, released Tuesday, is at least the second time this year that the insurer has changed its handling of opioids. In March it set… Read More »

ZURICH, Nov 5 (Reuters) – Swiss drugmaker Novartis, which is shifting into rare diseases, said on Monday it believes its new gene therapy for the deadly disease spinal muscular atrophy could be cost-effective to healthcare systems at $4 million to $5 million per patient. “Four million dollars is a significant amount of money, but we… Read More »

 How Manufacturers, Middlemen, Providers, PBMs, and the Government Are Keeping Us in the Dark • The healthcare industry is rife with secrets                     • Drugs and device efficacies are elusive • Prices are kept opaque                                                         • Payers/patients lack clarity Someone got screwed. I mean that literally, though not in that way. I have a patient’s… Read More »

By Harris Meyer | October 22, 2018 A set of 14 hospital-acquired conditions that the CMS considers avoidable accounted for 48,771 adverse patient outcomes, 3,219 deaths and more than $2 billion in excess hospital costs in 2016, according to a new research brief. Patients experiencing these hospital-acquired conditions (HACs) were in the hospital about 8… Read More »

“Within 24 hours of taking the pill combination, patients were puffing less, their sinuses were clearer, they had more energy,” one researcher said. All newborns in the U.S. are tested for the genes that cause cystic fibrosis. There is no cure, but new medications may improve symptoms.BSIP / UIG via Getty Images A three-drug cocktail… Read More »

Phil Baker is the founder and CEO of Memphis-based Good Shepherd Pharmacy. (Houston Cofield/Daily Memphian file) After three years, the last domino finally fell. Phil Baker, founder of Good Shepherd Pharmacy, took a call from The Daily Memphian while standing at the foot of the Washington Monument. “Wow,” he said. “I didn’t realize how much… Read More »

When the European Society of Medical Oncology Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale (ESMO-MCBS) was used to evaluate trials in cancer that were the basis of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals, researchers found that only one-third of the studies demonstrated a substantial clinical benefit, which was defined as grade A or grade B for… Read More »