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HEALTH

  • Merck: FDA approves Oxytrol for Women, creating overactive bladder category in OTC

    WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. — Merck on Friday announced the Food and Drug Administration has approved the switch of Oxytrol for Women (oxybutynin transdermal system, 3.9 mg/day) from prescription-only to nonprescription, creating a new category — overactive bladder in women — in the OTC area. Most notable about this switch is the fact that the FDA approved Oxytrol for Women against the majority opinion of its Nonprescription Drug Advisory Committee, which voted five in favor and six opposed to the switch in November. 

  • Perrigo introduces new packaging for infant formula

    GEORGIA, Vt. — Perrigo Nutritionals is introducing new packaging that the company said would make providing nutrition to infants more convenient.

  • Wellco Brands launches pain relief cream for under the nose of cold, allergy sufferers

    BUFFALO, N.Y. — Wellco Brands on Thursday launched Healerz for Noses, a pain relief cream to soothe the skin under the nose that becomes irritated during cold and allergy season.  

    Healerz is formulated with lidocaine for pain relief, benzalkonium chloride antiseptic to help guard against infection and aloe for its soothing properties.  

    Each package contains six single-use packets.

  • Johns Hopkins researchers track flu through Twitter

    BALTIMORE — "Too sick to go to work, but not sick enough not to tweet about it" Twitter users are helping to predict flu trends. Johns Hopkins researchers recently created a Twitter search method that helps differentiate between people merely tweeting about the flu in general and those who are actually sick, the university announced Thursday. The new tweet-screening method not only delivers real-time data on flu cases, but also filters out online chatter that is not linked to actual flu infections. 

  • CDC: Flu still strong across central U.S.

    ATLANTA — If the flu were a storm cloud, the influenza virus is hovering over America's Bread Basket on its way to the Southwest, according to data provided through the U.S. Outpatient Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Network. 

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday reported that 4.3% of patient visits reported through ILINet were due to influenza-like illness, above the national baseline of 2.2%. But as the map indicates, influenza rates are declining up and down the East Coast and is most virulent in Texas and states west.

  • SymphonyIRI: Due to economy, 1-in-5 consumers choose a product tied to loyalty card discount

    CHICAGO — One-in-5 consumers between the ages of 35 years and 54 years are choosing products due to a loyalty card discount, SymphonyIRI Group reported Wednesday as part of its fourth quarter 2012 MarketPulse survey. And almost one-third are forsaking their preferred brands due to a sale price. The survey found that shopper sentiment dropped to its lowest point since Q3 2011.

  • Research: Smokers who quit before 40 reduce risk of death associated with smoking by 90%

    WALTHAM, Mass. — One-of-every-4 deaths among Americans between the ages of 35 years and 69 years can be attributed to smoking, according to a study published Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine. But smoking cessation efforts can help curb that trend, researchers noted. 

  • New asthma educational website launched

    WASHINGTON — A division of drug maker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is partnering with an advocacy group focused on asthma in the launch of a new educational website about the condition.

    The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America and Teva Respiratory announced the launch of Get Smart About Asthma, which aims to increase understanding of how inflammation in the airways contributes to the disease's persistence and severity, as well as providing other educational materials.

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