HEALTH

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday launched the advisory committee membership nomination portal, an online, interactive system that allows interested individuals to submit nominations for membership to any of the agency’s 33 advisory committees.  

WASHINGTON — According to an economic impact analysis released Tuesday by Martin Kennedy, a former professor of economics who spent seven years on the faculty of Middle Tennessee State University, adopting a prescription requirement for pseudoephedrine products in Tennessee would result in an influx of more than 497,000 additional physician office visits at a direct cost of $44.3 million annually.

MUNDELEIN, Ill. — Medline on Tuesday introduced the Curad Antiviral Face Mask, a face mask that inactivates flu viruses within five minutes of contact, according to the company.

The Curad Antiviral Face Mask was found to inactivate 99.99% of laboratory-tested flu viruses, including imminent pandemic and seasonal strains of influenza viruses, such as H1N1, this year's dominant flu strain in the United States. Traditional face masks act only as a simple barrier or filter and do nothing to neutralize the harmful germs that remain active on the mask itself.

CHICAGO — After a year of sluggish economic growth in 2013, it is no surprise that consumers are beginning the new year with a conservative outlook. An IRI MarketPulse survey released Wednesday found that shopper sentiment dropped in fourth quarter 2013, and this gloomy attitude is spilling over into 2014 across all age groups. 

It is particularly evident among millennials, who reported a 10-point decline since third quarter 2013 and have consistently struggled since the economic downturn began.

BOSTON — A new NPR/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health poll released Tuesday found that Latinos in America see diabetes as the biggest health problem for their own families.

Nearly 1-in-5 (19%) Latinos said diabetes is the biggest health problem facing their families. The next most cited problem, cancer, is mentioned by just 1-in-20 Latinos (5%). Diabetes was the biggest health problem reported by both immigrant (16%) and non-immigrant Latinos (22%).

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — McNeil Consumer Healthcare has returned approximately 75% of its OTC portfolio to store shelves, Alex Gorsky, Johnson & Johnson chairman and CEO told analysts Tuesday. "Growth in the consumer segment was achieved in part as a result of our success in restoring a reliable supply of OTC products to the United States marketplace, and we’re starting to see them gain traction as well, once they’re back in the market," he said. Gorsky outlined a number of brands that have grown J&J's U.S.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Healthcare Products Association on Monday responded to Sen. Charles Schumer’s, D-N.Y., recent call for the Food and Drug Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission to require flow restrictors on all bottles of children's liquid medicines.

NEW YORK — Novo Nordisk has launched a new insulin pen designed for children with diabetes.

The new NovoPen Echo is the first and only prefilled pen device in the United States that allows for half-unit dosing in combination with a memory function, the company said.