[Kaiser] The head of the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which funded “two projects that created a highly pathogenic [H5N1] flu virus mutation, has welcomed a two-month moratorium on further research while defending the value and safety of the experiments,” the Financial Times reports. NIAID Director Anthony Fauci [...]

(PharmPro / AP) — Following fatal shootings in two New York pharmacy robberies, a U.S. senator is warning that a new batch of “super painkillers” now under review could force repeats of recent violent robberies that left six people dead.
“It’s tremendously concerning that at the same time policymakers and law enforcement professionals are waging a [...]

[medpagetoday] Drug research, even from clinical trials sponsored by the federal government, routinely is suppressed, harming patients and increasing healthcare costs, according to a series of reports published by BMJ.
“The current situation is a disservice to research participants, patients, health systems, and the whole endeavor of clinical medicine,” according to an editorial published with [...]

(CBS/AP) Scientists are worried that the government’s unprecedented action to ask two top scientific journals to withhold details of upcoming bird flu studies might impede scientific progress.
The scientists fear a chill may be descending on their field, particularly related to key studies on how viruses that normally infect birds and pigs evolve to infect people. [...]

How ’sham’ brain surgery could be killing off valuable therapies for Parkinson’s disease.
[Nature] Peggy Willocks was 44 when she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. It progressed quickly, forcing her to retire four years later from her job as a primary-school principal in Elizabethton, Tennessee. Soon, her condition had deteriorated so much that she was often [...]

[FirstWord]- The World Health Organization called for “urgent and concerted” efforts by the pharmaceutical industry, governments and health professionals to work together to combat the growing global threat of drug resistance. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan warned that “in the absence of urgent corrective and protective actions, the world is heading towards a post-antibiotic era, in [...]

[Washington Post]  Federal law protects pharmaceutical companies from lawsuits by parents who claim that vaccines harmed their children, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
The court ruled 6 to 2 that going before a special tribunal set up by Congress is the only way parents can be compensated for the negative side effects that in rare instances [...]

[biotech-now] In a first report on synthetic biology, the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues has called for the U.S. government to foster and promote innovation in this emerging field while also taking precautions to avoid misuse of the technology.

The commission identified five ethical principles and highlighted 18 recommendations in the report, “New [...]

[Medscape] “Honesty is the best policy” and “the patient always comes first.”
As absolute and correct as those aphorisms may be, they can be hard for doctors to apply in the complex world of modern medicine.
A recent Medscape medical ethics survey of over 10,000 physicians found that when it comes to patient treatment, a significant number [...]

[HinduStandTimes] Indian scientists are more likely to cheat when reporting scientific results than scientists from other countries, says a new study in the US — a view endorsed by independent reviews. “India does have the lowest (worst) E/F [error to fraud] ratio,” said R. Grant Steen, the US-based consultant who carried out the study, published in [...]