FDA Extension: the FDA will take an additional three months to see of Merck KGaA oral multiple sclerosis pill cladribine after award of the therapy priority review last summer, the WSJ reports. This fall, a European regulatory advisory recommended against drug approval, doubt about its potential to ever to reach the European markets or the United States; analysts were mixed on what the FDA extension for her fate means, says the newspaper. Rival Novartis in september won FDA approval for own oral MS therapy.
Continued Errors: a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine finds that damage due to medical care in a period of five years in ten ton hospitals decrease, the New York Times reports.The study found that about 18% of the patients injuries due to medical care and that more than 63% of those mistakes to avoid. of the study lead author tells the NYT that he doubts “other regions of the country have fared better.”
NICE Nixes Afinitor: Novartis of kidney cancer treatment Afinitor will not be paid for by the British National Health Service, according to a decision of the country’s health costs organization NICE, WSJ reports. the decision is not final and is based on what NICE calls “uncertainty” about the cost-effectiveness.Novartis says that it will appeal.
Secondhand Smoke Stats: a study published in the lancet estimates that about 603,000 people each year by secondhand smoke, usually from heart disease, but also of respiratory diseases, asthma and lung cancer, the associated press reports to be killed. the study, which was carried out by the WTO anti tobacco initiative believes that Europe and Asia have higher rates of secondhand smoke exposure than America, Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean.
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