nih news from FierceHealthcare

The NIH has launched a new pilot program designed to find patients with rare, hard-to-detect diseases and treat them--for free. The new Undiagnosed Disease Program is far from a panacea for such Read more...

> Despite other blows to the U.S. economy, it looks like healthcare organizations are still hiring. Read more...

> Tennessee's Medicaid program and one of its Medicaid managed care providers have announced that they plan to kick off an e-prescribing pilot program in 13 of the state's rural counties. Read more...

Here's an unsettling statistic, to say the least. According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the number of germs resistant to antibiotics is growing. The Institute, Read more...

> Sam B. Humphries, president and CEO of urology company HealthTronics, died Tuesday at the age of 64. Read more...

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt has unveiled a new initiative which would merge genetic and clinical data in an effort to individualize and improve patient care.  Leavitt's "Personalized Health Care" program would use the merged data to predict, and hopefully prevent, the onset of many diseases. Leavitt has said that this effort will be one of his top priorities for the next two years. The concept isn't as novel as it may sound--the VA is already combining …

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Concerned about the large and growing cost of antipsychotic drug Zyprexa, a number of states have taken Eli Lilly up on its offer to make sure Medicaid physicians stick to Zyprexa prescribing guidelines. The question, though, is whether states are getting what they're supposed to from these programs.

Zyprexa, which treats bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, generates the biggest single drug cost for state Medicaid programs. These programs spent $1.3 billion on the drug in 2005, …

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In two separate studies this week, evidence has accumulated suggesting that MRI tests have some real advantages in treating cardiovascular incidents. In one study, conducted by researchers at the NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, researchers concluded that MRIs are more sensitive that CT scans when it comes to emergency diagnosis of acute ischemic stroke. In a separate piece of research, meanwhile, doctors at Mount Sinai Medical Center said they'd found MRI …

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Has drugmaker Eli Lilly been promoting the off-label use of antipsychotic Zyprexa for elderly patients with dementia symptoms? According to an investigation by The New York Times, Lilly has been doing just that since late 2000, despite FDA rules to the contrary. Materials given to the NYT outline a campaign called Viva Zyprexa, in which sales reps are told to suggest the drug for older dementia patients. However, such marketing would run afoul of FDA rules, as Zyprexa is …

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> Former NIH geriatric psychiatry head Pearson "Trey" Sunderland pleaded guilty this week to violating conflict of interest rules. Sunderland had failed to disclose that he had accepted $285,000 in payments from Pfizer while serving as a researcher at NIH. Article

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