LONDON (Reuters)- WireNews - A new kind of cystic fibrosis drug, designed to bypass a genetic defect to treat the disease, has produced promising results in mid-stage clinical trials, Israeli researchers said on Thursday.The medicine, known as PTC124, is being developed by PTC Therapeutics, a privately owned biotechnology company in South […]

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science EditorWASHINGTON (Reuters)- WireNews - Hormone replacement therapy can improve the quality of a woman’s life, easing the distress of hot flashes, sleep disturbances and restoring lost sexual functioning, researchers reported on Thursday.About three out of four women who suffered night sweats and hot flushes said […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters)- WireNews - Two top Democratic lawmakers on Thursday questioned recent claims by Merck & Co Inc and Schering Plough Corp that incidents of cancer in patients taking their cholesterol drug Vytorin were a fluke.The lawmakers, Rep. John Dingell and Rep. Bart Stupak, both from Michigan, are seeking 10 years […]

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters)- WireNews - Canadian health officials searched for more clues on Thursday into the source and extent of a food poisoning outbreak that has made more than a dozen people sick and caused one death.Most of the confirmed cases are in the province of Ontario, where the associate chief […]

CHICAGO (Reuters)- WireNews - In a new approach to serious stomach bugs like salmonella, U.S. researchers said on Thursday they have developed an antibiotic that works by blocking the bacteria’s communication signals, keeping it from releasing toxins that make people sick.The sensors in bacteria are waiting for the right signal to […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters)- WireNews - Parents refusing to have their children vaccinated against measles have helped drive cases of the illness to their worst levels in a dozen years in the United States, health officials reported on Thursday.In 2008 alone, 131 cases of measles have been reported, with 15 serious enough to […]

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science EditorWASHINGTON (Reuters)- WireNews - The cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins neither cause cancer nor prevent it, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.People with the lowest levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or bad, cholesterol) were more likely to have cancer, but those whose LDL was lowered by statin […]

By Julie SteenhuysenCHICAGO (Reuters)- WireNews - A new understanding of the origins of brown fat cells — the good kind of fat that burns energy and keeps us warm — may lead to new treatments for obesity, two research teams reported on Wednesday.Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston said […]

BALTIMORE (Reuters)- WireNews - A U.S. Medicare advisory panel on Wednesday expressed doubts that industry-sponsored data on the use of PET scans to diagnose and evaluate nine cancers could apply more widely to other cancers.The panel of outside experts also said it did not have a lot of confidence that patient […]

By Gene EmeryBOSTON (Reuters)- WireNews - Preeclampsia, which produces high blood pressure and other problems in 5 percent of pregnancies, can significantly increase the risk of kidney failure decades later, Norwegian researchers reported on Wednesday.The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, verifies something that doctors have suspected for […]