(Reuters) – An experimental drug from Novartis may help up to half of heart failure patients for whom no effective treatment is available, although the evidence so far is indirect.Results of a mid-stage clinical trial of the drug known as LCZ696, unveiled on Sunday, gauged its effectiveness by measu

Patients in England will soon be able to see if their local health authority is offering the latest approved drugs and treatments, as scorecards rating hospitals become public.The scheme, to be rolled out before autumn, aims to create a level playing field for treatments such as IVF.Authorities foun

Fear of being stigmatized as an AIDS patient is still a major barrier to good medical care for pregnant young women in many countries, a new study and a literature review have found.The study, based on a survey of 1,777 women in rural Nyanza Province in Kenya, was published Wednesday in PLoS Medicin

Echinacea, a favourite herbal remedy for parents to give children with the sniffles, should not be given to the under-12s, said the Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency last week.The herb, said to reduce symptoms of colds by boosting scavenger cells called macrophages in the immune sys

(Reuters) – Abbott Laboratories Inc won a U.S. panel’s support on Tuesday for wider use of its blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drug, Humira, for treating a type of inflammatory bowel disease.A panel of outside advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted 15 to 2 that the benefits of Humira ou

The warning, stemming from an April inspection by U.S. regulators, does not restrict production or product shipments from the plant in La Aurora de Heredia, Costa Rica, Hospira said on Tuesday in a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.Among the issues cited by the FDA w

The Disease Control Department is seeking to ease public fears over a disease found in Thailand with HIV-like symptoms, saying it is not contagious.The disease, identified by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and reported in the New England Journal of Medicine last Thursday, has been found

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 greatly expanded women’s access to free preventive services, particularly for sexual and reproductive health . Men didn’t fare nearly as well.The ACA guidelines’ promise of free contraception may have generated the most controversy, but the law also provides many othe

(Reuters) – Scientists have found alarming levels of the lung disease tuberculosis in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America that are resistant to up to four powerful antibiotic drugs.In a large international study published in the Lancet medical journal on Thursday, researchers found rates of both

While the drug has never been approved for treatment of PAH in children, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s warning is against off-label use of the drug.Revatio, which has the same active ingredient as Pfizer’s erectile dysfunction drug Viagra, is used to improve the ability to exercise in peop