Premature birth may increase the risk for serious mental illness in adolescence and young adulthood, a recent study reports.Researchers reviewed birth and hospital admissions records of more than 1.3 million Swedes born from 1973 to 1985. They found that compared with those born at term, young adult

In the year after an expert panel’s recommendation that women delay regular breast cancer screenings until age 50, the number of women in their 40s undergoing mammograms slightly declined, a new study shows.The study, carried out by the Mayo Clinic, found a drop of roughly 6 percent in the number of

The settlement is part of a broad crackdown on bribery by multinational companies in foreign countries that has hit several of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies.Pfizer in 2004 became the first pharmaceutical company to volunteer information about past wrongdoing to the Justice Department,

A website offering parents advice on vaccines has been ordered to remove information about the MMR jab after claiming it could be linked to autism.Babyjabs.co.uk said the three-in-one jab may be causing “up to 10%” of autism in children in the UK.But the Advertising Standards Authority ruled the cla

After decades of controversy, the Food and Drug Administration approved a new H.I.V. test on Tuesday that for the first time makes it possible for Americans to learn in the privacy of their homes whether they are infected.The availability of an H.I.V. test as easy to use as a home-pregnancy kit is y

(Reuters Health) – For people conscious about their heart health, a new study suggests it may be best to eat fish instead of taking individual omega-3 fatty acids in supplement form.After reviewing information on the habits and fatty-acid blood levels of more than 20,000 male doctors, researchers fo

To learn how best to prescribe powerful drugs to children, Congress passed a law in the 1990s that rewarded drug makers for conducting clinical studies involving children. Among the incentives for cooperating companies was a possible six-month extension of protection from generic competition after a

The Food and Drug Administration has agreed to give priority status to its review of three new uses for the anticlotting drug Xarelto, Johnson & Johnson announced Monday.The company is asking the agency to approve the drug to treat deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, and to prevent recu

In the largest settlement involving a pharmaceutical company, the British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges and pay $3 billion in fines for promoting its best-selling antidepressants for unapproved uses and failing to report safety data about a top diabetes drug, f

(Reuters) – Europe’s medicines regulator, criticised in the past for excessive secrecy, is opening its data vaults to systematic scrutiny in a move that will let independent researchers trawl through millions of pages of clinical trial information.The change is a landmark in transparency that puts E