recent years

One of the factors which has given med tech an edge over pharma and biotech in recent years has been a comparative lack of regulation. That may be changing. The FDA this week released an internal report that concedes the agency could be doing more to regulate medical devices.

According to researchers, the Center for Medical Devices and Radiological Health, the agency body responsible for tracking potential problems, often does not have access to the data it needs to evaluate …

It's well known that VA hospitals have improved care quality in recent years. However, what may be more surprising is that its patients and consumers appear to be much happier than those in the private sector, according to a report in The Washington Post. The American Customer Satisfaction Index, conducted by the University of Michigan Business School, ranks organizations on a scale of one to 100. Virginia received an 83 for in-patient care and an 80 for out-patient …

San Francisco-based pharmaceutical wholesaler McKesson appears to be finally righting itself after a difficult five years following its disastrous purchase of IT vendor HBO. The company reported earnings of $167 million for the second quarter, about twice what it earned in the same period last year. Analysts say much of McKesson's recent success has come as a result of its core business: the distribution of prescription drugs to hospitals and pharmacies. Sales for the company's …

A news study conducted by researchers at Tufts argues that quicker FDA approval times for new drugs has had little or no impact on drug safety. That argument runs counter to critics who in part blame looser rules for the jump in safety problems in recent years. Researchers at the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development found that in the 1980s, 3.2 percent of drugs approved for sale in the US market were recalled. The authors note that since the year 2000, that number has fallen to …

One of the "Big 3" PBMs, Express Scripts, said that it has extended its alliance with IT outsourcing firm EDS through 2010. The IT services giant, which has been trying to extend its healthcare business away from dependence on a few major Blues plans in recent years, provides Express Scripts with various IT services,
including mainframe and midrange hosting, communications networking and Web
hosting. Release

The Indonesian government said on Monday that it is launching an innovative program which allows the public to report disease outbreaks to authorities in Jakarta using mobile phone text messaging, or SMS. Mobile phone ownership in Indonesia has risen sharply in recent years. The Indonesian Health Ministry faces public health threats from a number of directions at once. Indonesia is coping with the ever present threat of an outbreak of avian flu on top of dealing with recent outbreaks of …

The Food and Drug Administration said this morning it is approving Tygacil, a member of a new class of antibiotics developed to fight drug-resistant infections. Developed by pharma giant Wyeth, the intravenously administered drug has been shown to be useful against the kind of dangerous infections which have become an increasing concern at hospitals in the US and elsewhere in recent years. In particular, research has shown the drug to be useful for treating the "Superbug" MRSA. Tygacil is …

Carnitas Christi Health Care has agreed to conduct an immediate review of environmental conditions at all 66 of its hospitals in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The healthcare provider has 60 days to complete the inspection process and is required to notify the Environmental Protection Agency of any problems it finds. Hospitals across the country have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years as the EPA has turned its attention to the problem of medical waste generated by hospitals, …

A proposed merger which would unite two or more Houston hospitals, creating a massive new healthcare provider, could violate federal antitrust laws. Word of the proposed merger came earlier this week. St.Luke's Episcopal is considering an offer from Memorial Hermann and a competing offer from Texas Children's and Methodist Hospital. University of Houston Law Professor Darren Bush, formerly with the Justice Department's antitrust division, told the Houston Chronicle that …

A new survey by Harris Interactive finds public attitudes towards companies in the healthcare sector are improving. Despite their collective problems in recent years, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and managed care providers are all doing a little better than they have in the past. Pharma companies did surprisingly well in the poll, showing an improvement of 17 points over a year ago. Fifty-six percent of respondents say drug companies "do a good job of serving their customers." …