Retail Clinics

SAN DIEGO Comparing the situation with a hypothetical B-movie about a whale eating New York, Harvard University economics professor David Cutler showed a chart describing the fiscal collision course the United States could be on if it doesn’t successfully tackle healthcare costs.

NEW YORK Despite concerns that this year's flu vaccine production will be affected by the recent salmonella outbreak, a Food and Drug Administration official and a drug maker advised that is not the case, according to published reports.

Although chicken eggs, which were said to be the source of this summer's salmonella outbreak, are used to make the flu vaccine, an FDA spokeswoman said that chicken eggs used in creating the flu vaccine are fertilized, unlike those used for consumption.

WASHINGTON The American Academy of Pediatrics released a policy statement regarding its recommendations for routine use of trivalent seasonal influenza vaccines and antiviral medications for the prevention and treatment of influenza in children.

BOSTON A new study conducted by investigators at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital suggested that the dietary supplement S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe) can be an effective, relatively well-tolerated, adjunctive treatment for adults with major depressive disorders who do not respond to their treatment with antidepressant medication, Pharmavite announced Tuesday.

SILVER SPRING, Md. The Food and Drug Administration has posted a new list of drugs from its Adverse Event Reporting System, designed to address potential signals of serious risks and new safety information about drugs on the market.

NEW YORK Those with Type 2 diabetes may be at greater risk of developing the brain plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease, new research suggested.

According to a Japanese study, which appeared in the Aug. 25 online issue of the journal Neurology, those individuals with the highest levels of insulin resistance had nearly six times the odds of developing plaque deposits between the nerves in the brain, after adjusting for other risk factors, compared with those with the lowest levels of fasting insulin.

EAST HANOVER, N.J. The Food and Drug Administration has approved a single-pill combination of two drugs made by Novartis for treating high blood pressure, the Swiss drug maker said Friday.

The FDA approved Tekamlo (aliskiren and amlodipine besylate) tablets, which combine Tekturna (aliskiren) with amlodipine, a channel blocker available as a generic. The drug is approved for treating patients who are likely to need multiple drugs to lower their blood pressure or as a replacement for patients who can’t control it using one of the drugs alone.

PITTSBURGH Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh found that mothers who did not breast-feed their children have higher rates of Type 2 diabetes later in life compared with those who breast-fed.