Protein test ups diabetes diagnoses in some races

2010-09-03T09:30:09Z

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Efforts to adopt a more accurate test for diagnosing diabetes may have hit a snag. Comparing the age-old oral glucose tolerance test to the newer hemoglobin A1c test confirms earlier evidence that race may influence test results, Danish researchers report. "The prevalence of diabetes differed considerably according to diagnostic method," they write in the

Diabetes drug fights lung cancer in mice: study

2010-09-01T22:31:12Z

A popular drug that is used by millions of diabetics around the world significantly decreases tobacco-induced lung tumors in mice, a study published Wednesday found. Researchers led by Philip Dennis, a senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), gave the diabetes drug metformin to mice which had been exposed to a carcinogen derived from nicotine. Mice treated orally...

Diabetes research pioneer William Kirtley dies, 96

2010-08-25T15:30:54Z

Diabetes research pioneer William R. Kirtley dies at 96, helped pioneer groundbreaking drugs

Dr. William R. Kirtley, a medical researcher pioneer who helped develop drugs after World War II that greatly improved the lives of diabetics, has died at age 96. Jane Kirtley said her father died Sunday at a hospital near his Hilton Head Island...

Study links Chinese kidney problems to genes

2010-08-25T09:15:45Z

Variants of a gene contribute to the high risk of kidney disease among diabetics of Chinese descent compared with Caucasians, a study said Wednesday. Asians tend to have a higher likelihood of kidney failure, a major cause of death among diabetics. Diabetes rates have been soaring in China as rising prosperity changes lifestyles. Writing in the CHICAGO (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline's diabetes drug Avandia was no riskier to the heart than a rival, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday, a finding that contradicts earlier studies and adds new fodder to the roiling debate over the drug's safety. The study of more t...

Gene variants put diabetics at risk of kidney disease

2010-08-24T13:30:09Z

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Some diabetics are at risk of developing chronic kidney disease if they have mutations of a certain gene, a long-term study in Hong Kong has found. Kidney failure is an important cause of death for people with type 2 diabetes, and ethnic Chinese diabetics are more prone to developing chronic kidney disease than Caucasians. The finding would help identi...

A look at recent recalls of medical products

2010-08-23T13:30:18Z

A look at some recent recalls in the US of prescription medicines and medical devices

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS _The Medicines Company, March 17, Cleviprex (a calcium channel blocker to rapidly reduce high blood pressure). Stainless steel particles in some vials. _Reuters Life!) - Eating more green leafy vegetables can significantly cut the risk of developing diabetes, scientists said on Friday. British researchers reviewed six earlier studies on links between diabetes and the consumption of fruits and vegetables and found eating an extra serving a day of vegetables like spinach, cabbage, and broccoli reduced adults' risk of getting type 2 diabetes by 14 percent. The findi...

Eye disorder common among diabetic adults

2010-08-10T13:30:12Z

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Nearly 30 percent of U.S. diabetics over the age of 40 may have a diabetes-related eye disorder, with 4 percent of this population affected severely enough that their vision is threatened, suggests a new study. The condition, known as diabetic retinopathy, involves damage to the eye's retina and is the leading cause of new cases of legal ...

Astra pays $198 mln to settle Seroquel lawsuits

2010-08-09T05:15:11Z

AstraZeneca pays $198 million to settle US lawsuits over antipsychotic drug

AstraZeneca PLC says it has paid around $198 million to settle U.S. lawsuits over its antipsychotic drug Seroquel. AstraZeneca said Monday it has paid out to around 17,500 claimants regarding allegations the drug causes ...

Study raises hope for safer diabetes drugs

2010-07-21T15:30:50Z

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A new understanding of the link between diabetes and obesity may help drug companies design safer versions of treatments like GlaxoSmithKline's Avandia, U.S. researchers said on Wednesda...

FDA issues hold on much-debated Avandia study

2010-07-21T09:45:22Z

FDA bars new patients from enrolling in safety study of diabetes drug tied to heart risks

Federal health officials say new patients should not be enrolled in a study of GlaxoSmithKline's controversial diabetes pill Avandia, after experts last week said the drug increases heart risks. The Bristol-Myers expected to focus on drug research progress, approval prospects in 2Q report

Drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. is expected to focus on a raft of recent positive research data and plans to seek approval for several drugs when it reports its second-quarter results before the stock market opens Thursday. WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Analysts anticipate detailed updates on sev...

FDA warns Abbott on blood sugar monitors

2010-07-20T16:00:45Z

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned Abbott Laboratories' diabetes care unit about manufacturing problems at its Alameda, Product recalls: dietary supplements

The following recalls have been announced: _ Good Health Inc., of Canutillo, Texas, is recalling select lots of the dietary supplement Vialipro because they could contain a compound that is chemically similar to the erectile dysfunction drug sildenafil. This compound could i...

Experts urge US to restrict drug Avandia

2010-07-14T22:15:38Z

A majority of members of a key advisory committee recommended that the US government allow diabetes drug Avandia to stay on the market with greater restrictions on its sale. Most of the panel's members agreed that the drug increases the risk of heart problems, but only 12 of the 33-member expert panel voted to remove Gl...

Glaxo's diabetes drug Avandia faces moment of truth

2010-07-14T10:16:00Z

Diabetes drug Avandia faces a moment of truth Wednesday, when a committee will decide whether to recommend pulling it from the market because it has been associated with increased heart problems. The committee, convened at the request of the Food and Drug Administration, began its work on Tuesday as two US senators said Avandia manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline hid the dangers of its top-selling diabetes drug Avandia and secretly wrote scientific articles about it, two US lawmakers charged Tuesday. The allegations came as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) opened a two-day meeting of experts who ...

Indian doctors hail diabetes breakthrough

2010-07-13T11:16:33Z

Indian scientists said Tuesday they had made a breakthrough that could lead to diabetics needing to inject themselves only once a month or less, rather than every day. Researchers at the National Institute of Immunology in New Delhi said they had successfully concluded a two-year trial on mice, rats and rabbits of a drug which slowly releases i...

Glaxo withheld info on diabetes drug's risks: US lawmakers

2010-07-13T11:16:38Z

UK pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline kept the dangers of its top-selling diabetes drug Avandia out of the public eye and ghostwrote scientific articles about it, US lawmakers charged Tuesday. The allegations came as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) opened a two-day meeting of ex...

Glaxo 'withheld info on diabetes drug's heart risks'

2010-07-13T08:16:32Z

British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline withheld from US drug safety regulators information about the possible dangers of top-selling diabetes drug Avandia, a report in the US press said Tuesday. The allegation was made in the Wall Street ...

Glaxo withheld info on diabetes drug's heart risks: report

2010-07-13T08:15:52Z

U.S. meeting nears on risks of Glaxo diabetes drug

2010-07-13T01:30:15Z

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A heated three-year safety debate about a GlaxoSmithKline Plc diabetes pill reaches a climax this week as opponents and backers face off at a U.S. meeting that will help decide the drug's fate. A panel of scientific experts meets later Tuesday and again Wednesday to consider...

From texting to apps, using cell phones for health

2010-07-12T12:32:09Z

What if my blood sugar's too high today? Is it time for my blood pressure pill? With nagging text messages or more customized two-way interactions, researchers are trying to harness the power of cell phones to help fight chronic diseases. "I call it medical minutes," says Dr. Richard Katz of George Washington University Hosp...

Diabetes drug Avandia gets new setback ahead of US decision

2010-07-09T14:15:51Z

GlaxoSmithKline's blockbuster diabetes treatment Avandia suffered a new setback Friday when US health officials offered more evidence of the drug's increased link to heart problems. A document released by the Food and Drug Administrat...

FDA review spotlights heart risk of diabetes pill

2010-07-09T07:16:01Z

FDA scrutinizes Avandia's safety risks ahead of meeting to decide fate of diabetes pill

A review by federal health scientists reinforces potential ties between the diabetes pill Avandia and heart attack and death, opening the door for government action, including a possible withdrawal of the once blockbuster drug. The FDA posted an ...

European agency to review safety of GSK's Avandia

2010-07-09T03:30:13Z

European Medicines Agency to review safety of GlaxoSmithKline's diabetes drug Avandia

The European Medicines Agency says it will review the safety of the diabetes drug Avandia following research suggesting it is linked to a higher risk of heart problems, strokes and dea...

EU agency probes safety of Glaxo's Avandia drug

2010-07-09T03:15:21Z

LONDON (Reuters) - European regulators are launching a new probe into the safety of GlaxoSmithKline Plc's diabetes pill Avandia, adding to pressure on a medicine that already faces a grilling from U.S. experts next week. The Europea...

Western fast food fuelling SE Asia diabetes boom

2010-07-06T19:15:49Z

The growing popularity of Western junk food is fuelling a diabetes boom across Southeast Asia, Australian researchers warned on Wednesday. Studies found about 11 percent of men and 12 percent of women in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City had type 2 diabetes without knowing it, on top of the four percent of people who are diagno...

Blood pressure goals for diabetics -- too tough?

2010-07-06T13:30:44Z

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Aggressively controlling blood pressure in diabetics with heart disease may do little to reduce their risks of dying early and may even be dangerous, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday. They found that using a combination of drugs to keep diabetic patients' top blood pressure readings below 130 offered ...

Intensive diabetes treatments give mixed results

2010-06-30T11:16:48Z

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Aggressive drug treatment to lower blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol in diabetics does little to prevent heart disease and strokes, but it does help prevent diabetic eye disease, nerve and kidney disease, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday. The five-year, U.S. government-backed study, presente...

No pancreatitis risk seen in Byetta, Januvia drugs

2010-06-28T15:00:45Z

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two widely used diabetes medicines, Januvia and Byetta, pose no additional risk for cases of inflamed pancreas compared with other diabetes drugs, according to an analysis of medical claims data released on Sunday. The study also found that diabetics generally are at increased risk of acute pancreatitis, compared ...

New research links diabetes drug to heart ailments

2010-06-28T13:16:14Z

Patients taking the anti-diabetes drug Avandia may be at increased risk of cardiovascular ailments compared to those taking other drugs to treat diabetes, a US government study found Monday. The analysis by the US Food and Drug Administration was in line with a spate of recent studies which have rai...

Lay volunteers can play a key role in diabetes care

2010-06-28T11:45:29Z

ORLANDO (Reuters Health) - Investigators are reporting early promising results with a program that trains lay volunteers to help people with diabetes achieve better control of their blood sugar. The community-based program was launched in the greater St. Louis, Missouri, area late last year. "We have seen improvements in dieta...

Studies see heart risk with Glaxo diabetes drug

2010-06-28T07:15:27Z

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two studies released on Monday reported serious heart risks with GlaxoSmithKline Plc diabetes pill Avandia as U.S. regulators decide whether the drug should stay on the market. An analysis of 56 clinical trials found Avandia increased the chances of a heart attack by 28 percent to 39 pe...

FDA OKs Abbott's new diabetes testing strips

2010-06-24T14:31:11Z

Abbott Laboratories wins FDA approval for new blood sugar testing strips

Drug and device maker Abbott Laboratories said Thursday it received U.S. regulatory approval for its Freestyle blood sugar testing strips. The Food and Drug Administration

Sales of diabetes meds, tests, supplies

2010-06-22T14:45:16Z

A look at global diabetes treatment sales, J&J's sales of tests and other equipment

ANNUAL GLOBAL SALES OF DIABETES TREATMENTS: YEAR
TOTAL SALES CHANGE FROM PRIOR YEAR 2004
$16.79 billion
up 9.9 percent 2005
$18.79 billion
up 12.6 percent 2006
$21.31 billion
up 12.7 percent 2007
$24.4 billion
up 10.8 percent 2008
$27.55 billion
up 10.1 percent 2009
$30.41 billion
up 13.4 percent J&J SALES OF DIA...

Use of proposed diabetes test may depend on race

2010-06-14T14:30:45Z

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new test to diagnose diabetes, recommended earlier this year by the American Diabetes Association, may not work well in black Americans, according to new research. The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine,...

Mental decline from diabetes can start in middle age

2010-06-11T14:30:34Z

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Diabetes can lead to a decline in memory, thinking speed, and mental flexibility in middle age, but controlling the blood sugar disorder might prevent some of these effects, new research from the Netherlands suggests. While the mental decline may be invisible to the individual, the fact that the drop-off starts accumulating in middle age puts...

Widow of Marvin Isley calls him 'great family man'

2010-06-08T15:00:13Z

Widow of Isley Brother's bassist Marvin Isley says she knew upon meeting him they'd marry

When a United Airlines flight attendant met bass player Marvin Isley on a plane 20 years ago, she immediately told her co-workers he was going to become her husband. And she was right. Sheila Isley said the Marvin Isley, bass player who helped give Isley Brothers their distinctive sound, dies at 56

Marvin Isley, the bass player who helped give R&B powerhouse the Isley Brothers their distinctive sound, has died at a Chicago hospital. He was 56. Isley died Sunday morning at an inpatient hospice at Mississippi Delta once shared more in common with rural Iran — scarce medical supplies, inaccessible health care and high infant mortality rates — than with most of the U.S. Then things in Iran got better. Since the 1980s, rural Iranians have been able to seek treatment at health houses, informal sites set up in small communities as the first sto...

Danish company pulls diabetes drugs from Greece over price cut

2010-05-29T14:15:35Z

Danish pharmaceutical group Novo Nordisk said Saturday it was pulling 17 types of medication for treating diabetes from the Greek market following a government decree to lower prices of drugs. "The products that are pulled from the market are the latest generation of insulin products in the pen system," Mike Rulis, Novo Nordisk's head of corporate communications, told AFP. Th...

Merck launching numerous drugs around the world

2010-05-25T13:45:27Z

Merck & Co. is enjoying a spurt of new drug launches, partly due to its $41 billion November acquisition of New Jersey neighbor Schering-Plough Corp. Some have been on the market in the United States for a while, including blockbuster diabetes medicine Southern California parents get long sentences for death of neglected diabetic daughter

A Southern California couple convicted of murder after their teenage daughter slipped into a diabetic coma and died have been sentenced to prison. Riverside County Judge Raymond Youngquist on Friday sentenced 63-year-old Reuters Health) - People with diabetes are at increased risk of a common type of abnormal heart rhythm known as atrial fibrillation, new research shows. This risk gets worse the longer a person has been taking medications for diabetes, while poor blood sugar control also exacerbates risk, Dr. Sascha Dublin of the

U.S. group urges FDA to halt Glaxo's Avandia trial

2010-05-11T11:30:28Z

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An major trial of Avandia puts patients at risk and should be stopped, a U.S. advocacy group said on Tuesday, calling on regulators to immediately halt the global study of the controversial GlaxoSmithKline Plc diabetes drug. The ...

Bad night's sleep can hamper body's insulin use

2010-05-05T08:15:25Z

LONDON (Reuters) - Just one sleepless night can hamper the body's ability to use insulin to process sugar in the bloodstream, according to a study which scientists say might help explain why diabetes is on the rise. Researchers said their findings suggest it may be no coincidence that while sleep duration has shortened in western societies in the past decade there has also been an increase in cases of "insulin resistance" ...

Bristol-Myers sees big jumps in 1Q sales, profit

2010-04-29T14:45:28Z

Bristol-Myers sees big jumps in 1Q sales, profit, but lowers forecast on health overhaul costs

Drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. on Thursday reported double-digit jumps in first-quarter sales and profit, beating Wall Street expectations, but it lowered its 2010 profit forecast by a nickel due to the impact of the health car...

Vit. B link to diabetic kidney malfunction: study

2010-06-11T21:32:05Z

Patients with diabetic nephropathy, kidney disease caused by diabetes and treated with high doses of vitamin B, suffered rapid deterioration of the kidneys, a recent study has found. Diabetics in addition to kidney function loss also were affected by higher rates of heart attack and stroke than those who took a placebo, according to the clinical research in the April 28 edition of the Tyrone Harvey, 43, of Washington, looks at the program on his cell phone that he uses to input his blood glucose levels and other diabetes related data while at Howard University Hospital in Washington, Friday, July 9, 2010. Harvey uses a cell phone to help manage his diabetes as part of a prog...

Diabesity Surgery

2010-07-07T14:08:36Z

Cristina Iaboni poses for a portrait in her home in Bethany, Conn., on Saturday, June 12, 2010. Iaboni, a diabetic, has found a doctor who is testing weight loss surgery on diabetics who are merely overweight or a tad obese in an attempt to curb the chronic disease. Scientists in recent years have discovered that diabetes all but disapp...

OBESITY_DIABETES

2010-03-29T20:59:29Z

Graph shows counties that are in the top 20 percentile and bottom 20 percentile nationwide for both obesity and diabetes.

...

Celebrities Support "Thirst For Life" And Join The 2009 Juvenile Diabetes Research...

2010-03-30T04:39:25Z

Celebrities Support "Thirst For Life" And Join The 2009 Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's "Walk To Cure Diabetes" Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, CA 11/08/09 SUGAR RAY LEONARD AND Lorenda Donaugh, top, who was treated for gestational diabetes during her pregnancy, is seen with her two-week-old daughter Adelynn at their Westerville, Ohio, residence Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009. Treating even mild diabetes that develops during pregnancy helps keep moms and babies from gaining too much weight and makes for easier deliveries, n...

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