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Cougar Biotechnology Presents Positive CB7630 (Abiraterone Acetate) Phase II Data At ASCO Annual Meeting
Cougar Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ:CGRB) announced that results from ongoing Phase II clinical trials of Cougar"s investigational drug CB7630 (abiraterone acetate) were presented at the 2009 ASCO Annual Meeting that is currently taking place in Orlando, Florida. The data were released today in three poster presentations. These presentations are further detailed below:
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Boston Globe Examines Hospital's Attempt To Reduce Emergency Department Visits, Hospital Stays Among Elderly
Efforts by Massachusetts General Hospital to reduce health spending could be indicative of the difficulty the health industry faces in trying to reduce spending growth, the Boston Globe reports. Industry groups last week pledged to seek a 1.5% overall reduction in health care spending over the next 10 years.Massachusetts General"s program, which began in 2006, aims to reduce hospitalizations among the elderly by 15% to 20%, as well as to improve the quality of care the elderly receive. A study looking at 35 efforts to improve elderly care found that only six, including Massachusetts General"s program, saved money or covered their costs, the Globe reports. Massachusetts General"s program relies on nurses in primary care practices to be in regular contact with patients and provide assistance with nonmedical services. The program also uses electronic health records to coordinate care. The hospital spent $8 million to $9 million over the first three years of the program to provide enhanced services to patients. Hospital readmissions fell by 19%, admissions decreased by 17% and ED visits dropped by 15% between 2007 and 2008, according to preliminary research. The program saved enough by reducing hospital admissions and emergency department visits to cover its costs and also to generate savings of $7 million to $10 million. The overall cost for the program was about 5% less than for a group of other patients treated in a more traditional way.According to Harvard University health care economist David Cutler, improving care and reducing costs among the elderly is a necessary component of health reform. He said, "If we can"t do this, it doesn"t bode well for health reform." Eric Weil, a primary care physician and medical director of the program at Massachusetts General, said, "Medicare is looking for any and every way to save money," adding, "This is a population of patients who are sick and will get sicker over time. Any opportunity to demonstrate savings in this group of patients is good, and 5% is very good" (Kowalczyk, Boston Globe, 5/17).
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The Bazelon Center Welcomes President Obama's Pledge To People With Mental Disabilities On Olmstead's 10th Anniversary
The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law welcomes President Obama"s announcement today of his commitment to the promise of the landmark Supreme Court case, Olmstead v. L.C., on its 10th anniversary. In a statement released by the White House today the President launched a "Year of Community Living" and tasked the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to identify initiatives that will develop and improve services and supports to assist people with disabilities who wish to live in the most integrated settings possible.
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Project To Develop HIV/AIDS Strategy For Libya Led By Liverpool School Of Tropical Medicine

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) is leading a project to provide technical assistance to the Libyan government to finalise the development of a national HIV strategy and programme of support. The project is supported by a 1 million euro grant from the Delegation of the European Commission to Libya. Between 2009 and 2010, The International Health Group of LSTM in partnership with Libyan institutions and Harvard University"s Biostatistics Department (HUBD), will produce updated and comprehensive information on the current epidemiology of HIV infection in the country in order to produce an effective national HIV strategy. Libya is faced with the challenge of controlling HIV and the provision of appropriate treatment, care and support to children and adults with HIV and AIDS. The problem of the provision of quality care to HIV infected children is compounded by the need to control a concentrated HIV epidemic affecting mainly persons most at risk for which there is limited epidemiological data. The disease is still the object of stigma and fear and there is little known about the drivers of the epidemic among those most at risk as well as the perception of risk and knowledge of HIV among influential sectors of the community. A skilled and diverse team will work with Libyan institutions to: * formulate a national HIV strategy that addresses Libya"s priority issues for HIV prevention and care * obtain critical biological, social and behavioural estimates to guide and assess the strategy * analyze the data and draw evidence-based conclusions from them * develop policies and procedures to effectively promote best practice and evidence-based harm minimisation activities amongst key high risk groups (intravenous drug users, female sex workers, men who have sex with men), especially in prisons * coordinate the dissemination of key HIV strategy messages and policies LSTM"s Professor Joseph Valadez will manage the project. He is one of the pioneers of methods to rapidly assess Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP), having utilised them within HIV assessment programmes throughout the world. The KAP studies will be designed to gather knowledge and misconceptions about HIV transmission and prevention, attitudes associated with stigma and discrimination and high risk behaviours. Surveys will be based on international instruments already field tested but adapted to the Libyan context and will be used to determine how to improve training and capacity building among health facility workers, religious leaders and young people. Commenting on the programme, Professor Valadez said: "This project will establish an overall HIV strategy for Libya and provide a framework for making important decisions about how to control HIV. It will also aid Libya to join the other countries of North Africa who have HIV strategies and participate in the international UNAIDS community. We hope this project will also allow us all to better understand how HIV is progressing in North Africa and hopefully provide us with information about how to better control it." Alan Hughes Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine


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