Despite protests, Rhode Island instituted a mandate for flu shots for all healthcare workers. This includes doctors, nurses, other employees, and volunteers at hospitals, nursing homes, and health-related organizations.
Earlier this week, the FDA announced it would be taking action against thousands of illegal Internet pharmacies. This initiative is targeted towards protecting consumers from potentially unapproved, dangerous drugs or medical products.
British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline released its findings on data for drug trials while also pledging to devote more resources towards the discovery of new medicines. This move towards transparency and collaboration is thought to be a response to critics suspicious of secretive pharmaceutical practices.
In the midst of a recent meningitis outbreak spread from the use of medical steroids that have left over 130 sickened, lawmakers have calling for increased regulation of the pharmacy industry. Despite this, pharmacies have resisted and argued that regulation will only worsen the industry.
After a US government advisory panel in January suggested that research using deliberately modified strands of the bird flu could possibly endanger the public, most research was halted. However, 9 months after this moratorium, the debate continues.
On Thursday, the Journal of the American Medical Association published on online guide to the major health care and health policy issues that are shaping discourse in the 2012 election. Included are diagrams and tables representing voter demographics, political views, and economic implications of the different policies.
When two stem-cell scientists were announced to share the 2012 Nobel Prize for Medicine this week, some began to question the ethical implications of this award. A Bioedge article probes some of these concerns and finds the scientists should be also honored with a “Nobel Prize for Ethics” for their upstanding handling of contentious bioethical issues.