Category: IT

MEwens
In an upcoming Big Issues special report on health care, The Wall Street Journal will explore the pros and cons of email communication between doctors and patients.
Although patients overwhelmingly have said they would like to be able to use email to discuss clinical issues with their doctors, only 31% of practices say […]

MEwens
The pharma industry has been waiting for guidance from the FDA on what is — and is not — permitted in terms of marketing online and via social media. (For example — who’s responsible for consumer Tweets about a drug?)
Hearings on the topic were held in November 2009 but so far there hasn’t […]

WSJ Staff
Testing blood-glucose levels without drawing blood may be part of a diabetic’s futuristic dream. But for now, patients might find helpful a new device just being introduced that allows test results to be transmitted instantly to a private online database, writes Personal Technology columnist Walt Mossberg in today’s WSJ.
The device, a glucometer […]

MEwens
Drugs for Late-Stage Breast Cancer: Research presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and published online by the New England Journal of Medicine shows that adding two drugs to standard therapy for metastatic breast cancer can halt tumor growth for several months, the WSJ reports. One study found that adding Roche’s pertuzumab […]

MEwens
Doctors: they’re just like us!
General web browsers like Google and Yahoo are behind only professional journals and colleagues as a source of information physicians frequently use to diagnose and treat patients, according to a survey of more than 300 doctors.
The survey, from Wolters Kluwer Health, covered a sample of American Medical Association members, […]

MEwens
A new federal proposal to give all patients in the U.S. direct electronic access to their lab results could make it easier to track important health markers like cholesterol levels and the body’s response to blood thinners – – with an iPhone.
The rules proposed by the Dept. of Health and Human Services are […]

MEwens
Harnessing Watson’s Power: Insurer WellPoint will use IBM’s “Jeopardy”-playing Watson computer system to offer diagnosis and treatment suggestions to physicians, particularly those who manage patients with complex chronic conditions, the WSJ reports. Physicians said they’d want to be sure Watson was making recommendations on the basis of effectiveness, not cost.
Pulling Turkey: Cargill is […]

MEwens
More Mesh Studies: An FDA advisory panel yesterday backed plans by the agency to require pre-approval studies for new surgical-mesh products inserted transvaginally to treat pelvic-organ prolapse as well as to conduct research on products already on the market, the WSJ reports. The products, whose manufacturers include Johnson & Johnson and Boston Scientific, […]

MEwens
Early Focus: Research increasingly suggests that Alzheimer’s disease damages the brain years before symptoms appear, raising the possibility that treatments should be focused on this early phase if there’s a hope of slowing or reversing the disease, the WSJ reports. That’s why Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb are looking to treat […]

MEwens
Pfizer Reports: Pfizer earnings rose 5.5% in the second quarter, to $2.61 billion, or 33 cents a share, from $2.48 billion, or 31 cents a share, the WSJ reports. Excluding restructuring charges, earnings fell by a penny to 60 cents. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected 59 cents. Sales slipped to $16.98 […]