(Reuters) – Drug companies that had medicines tested by contractor Cetero Research might have to reevaluate results, U.S. regulators warned after the firm was found faking documents and manipulating samples.
The Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday two 2010 inspections, an internal company investigation and a third-party audit uncovered “significant instances of misconduct and violations” [...]

[The Economist] AIDS researchers, many of whom have been meeting this week in Rome under the auspices of the International AIDS Society, are rightly pleased with the progress they have made. In particular, the use of antiretroviral drugs has not only revolutionised treatment of HIV infection, but also offers the prospect of stopping the spread [...]

[The Economist]- HEALTH care’s biggest firms keep getting bigger. Hospitals are consolidating. Insurers are beginning to provide health care as well as pay for it. And on July 21st Express Scripts, a giant pharmacy-benefit manager (PBM), announced that it would acquire a rival, Medco. The deal would give the combined company about one-third of America’s [...]

[Tampabay]-State Rep. Richard Corcoran recalled a day last year when a doctor recommended an MRI test for his wife’s back pain.
When they asked how much it would cost, “nobody knew,” Corcoran said. “No one would tell me.”
They called around, and found that the price of an MRI varied from $350 to $1,200.
That experience was a [...]

[FierceHealthcare]- With a compensation that totals nearly $21 million in 2010, CEO Wayne Smith of Community Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE: CYH) in Tennessee, ranks number six on the list of overpaid CEOs, according to Business Insider.
Examining companies whose share prices fell but their CEOs made more than $11 million in 2010, Smith’s above-average paycheck follows [...]

[Bloomberg]- Biologists have replaced parts of the E. coli bacterium DNA using a new process that hits many targets at once, a feat that may enable scientists to significantly alter or re-engineer genetic material.
A research team, led by Farren Isaacs and George Church of Harvard University Medical School, was able to make precise changes to [...]

[Bloomberg]- Research using human embryonic stem- cell lines approved under President Barack Obama is accelerating, boosting a scientific field that’s been dogged by legal and political threats.
The U.S. allowed 37 embryonic stem-cell lines for taxpayer- funded research in June, the most of any month this year, according to the National Institutes of Health. The total [...]

[NYT] CHICAGO (AP) — Should parents of extremely obese children lose custody for not controlling their kids’ weight? A provocative commentary in one of the nation’s most distinguished medical journals argues yes, and its authors are joining a quiet chorus of advocates who say the government should be allowed to intervene in extreme cases.
It has [...]

[The Guardian] CIA organised fake vaccination programme in Abbottabad to try and find Osama bin Laden.
The CIA organised a fake vaccination programme in the town where it believed Osama bin Laden was hiding in an elaborate attempt to obtain DNA from the fugitive al-Qaida leader’s family, a Guardian investigation has found.
As part of extensive preparations [...]

[Boston.com]- A survey of top executives of U.S. drugmakers indicates mergers and acquisitions should pick up in the next couple of years, as companies aim to offset rising generic competition.
The survey by audit and advisory consultants KPMG LLP found 83 percent of pharmaceutical executives believe their company likely will be a buyer or a seller [...]