adpowers / flickr.com

Salmonella has found yet another chance to disrupt America’s food industry. According to recent reports, raw alfalfa sprouts produced by Caldwell Fresh Foods—a company in Maywood, Los Angeles—are being labeled as the cause of another Salmonella outbreak in at least 10 separate states.

23 people have reported cases of illness relating to the outbreak, and California leads the pack with 11 reported cases all by itself. So far, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Wisconsin also have residents who have reportedly been affected.

Today, Caldwell voluntarily submitted a recall for all of their alfalfa sprouts in stores around the country. Affected businesses include Wal-Mart, Trader Joe’s stores, and various other grocery stores in 19 different states.

As a means for distinguishing affected plants from clean plants, Caldwell will henceforth be placing green stickers on all of their alfalfa sprouts that are not affected by the salmonella outbreak. Company officials urge consumers to dispose of any raw alfalfa sprouts they think might have been in the “bad batch.”

Those with weaker immune systems, such as infants and the elderly, face the most risk. Also, this case marks the 32^nd time since 1995 that a food poisoning-related incident has involved alfalfa sprouts, thus the troubled plant earns one of the highest risk factors of any organic food on the market.

fingertipformulary.com

HealthLeaders-InterStudy and Fingertip Formulary find that only about half (53 percent) of surveyed pharmacy directors expect their health plans to cover both Merck’s boceprevir and Vertex/Johnson & Johnson/Mitsubishi Tanabe’s telaprevir, when they enter the market for the treatment of the hepatitis C virus

According to the new report cited here, approximately one-third of surveyed pharmacy directors expect to cover one of these drugs, but have not determined which one.

Surveyed pharmacy directors estimate approximately one-third of hepatitis C virus patients fail drug therapy. Additionally, pharmacy directors say they expect an average of 58 percent of their patients who fail drug therapy will seek additional therapy when new agents reach the market.

“While there is a need for emerging therapies for those hepatitis C virus patients who have failed therapy with existing drugs, the second-to-market status will hamper uptake of whichever brand reaches the market second, because some health plans will only include either boceprevir or telaprevir on formulary,” said Michael Malecki, Ph.D., product director, Formulary Forum.

Malecki continued, “However, there’s a high percentage of pharmacy directors who do not know the costs associated with drug failure. Surveyed national health plans that do have an estimate for the cost of treatment failure report spending an average of $138,000 over the lifetime of a hepatitis C virus patient who fails drug therapy. For marketers of emerging therapies, pharmacoeconomic analyses of these costs may be persuasive tools to gain formulary inclusion.”

The new Formulary Forum report is based on a survey of 51 U.S. pharmacy directors who control formularies at national, regional and state-level managed care organizations, as well as historical formulary data from Fingertip Formulary.

unitedbiosource.com

Abt Associates announced today the sale of its wholly-owned subsidiary Abt Bio-Pharma Solutions, Inc. (ABS) to United BioSource Corporation (UBC), a global scientific and medical affairs organization that partners with life science companies to develop and commercialize biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, and other health care technologies.

The addition of ABS scientists and resources establishes UBC with the largest presence and operational reach in the New England biomedical corridor and adds to its “best in class” portfolio of scientific and medical affairs solutions to support biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies.

ABS was based in Lexington, Massachusetts and provided health economics and outcomes research, registries and observational studies, and market access solutions to the biopharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostics industries. ABS originated in the early 1980s when Abt Associates’ staff of biostatisticians, clinicians, health economists, and strategic consultants began designing, analyzing, and reporting on clinical trials for a broad variety of drugs and devices covering many therapeutic areas. It developed into the Abt Associates Clinical Trials division and in 2008 it was renamed and established as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Abt Associates.

Abt Associates President and Chief Executive Officer Kathleen Flanagan stated, “After building ABS into a respected player in its field, we are gratified to see our colleagues join a company that shares our values and can realize even greater potential. At UBC, there will be new resources and increased reach that translates into new opportunities for our clients to support their products.”

“The scientists and capabilities that we gain with ABS are an excellent fit with our strategy,” said Ethan Leder, CEO of United BioSource Corporation. With this acquisition UBC further expands its industry-leading team of senior experts in comparative effectiveness and comparative value; increases its registry and observational study practices; and reinforces its commercial strategy and market access capabilities.

Cain Brothers & Company, LLC acted as the financial advisor to Abt Associates in connection with transaction.

co2solution.com

Canada’s national biotechnology industry association, BIOTECanada, has awarded the 2010 Gold Leaf Award for Early Stage Company of the Year in the Industrial and Agriculture category to CO2 Solution Inc.

CO2 Solution was recognized for the high potential of its innovative technology and milestones reached in its mission to commercialize a made-in-Canada low-cost biotechnological solution for carbon capture as a global climate change mitigation tool. Further information on the award can be found at http://www.biotech.ca/en/what-we-do/goldleafawards.aspx.

Commenting on the award, Glenn Kelly, President & CEO remarked, “We are honored to receive this award and thank BIOTECanada for the recognition of our recent achievements along our path to commercialization of our enzyme-based carbon capture technology. We believe that our made-in-Canada technology will help position Canada as a clean energy leader and address one of the greatest energy and environmental challenges facing the world today: how to meet the need for energy and other materials that are key to sustaining growth and well-being in communities around the globe in a way that reduces harmful greenhouse gas emissions.”

BIOTECanada serves as the national voice for industry leadership for Canada’s biotechnology sector, with over 250 member companies representing the broad spectrum of biotech constituents including emerging and established firms in the health, industrial, and agricultural sectors, as well as academic and research institutions and other related organizations. Dedicated to the sustainable commercial development of biotechnology in Canada, BIOTECanada’s goal is to inspire the domestic and international communities to recognize the value of biotechnology in Canada.

kainet, flickr.com

The fight against malaria has been ongoing for many years, and yet every minute a person dies from malaria.

On Sunday, April 25, 2010, Bestnet Europe Ltd., in cooperation with partners all over the world, took an active role to lead the fight against deadly mosquito bites.

“Hope Is the Light,” the hit song, was written and produced in the HIP CAT Studios in Denmark for World Malaria Day by local producers Michael Skouboe and Danny Otto, accompanied by South African rapper “Edward V,” to shed light on the world’s malaria problem. It is a song that brings hope for the many small children and pregnant women who live every day at risk of suffering from deadly malaria.

With a superb James Sampson in the vocal foreground, the ear-catching tunes of “Hope Is the Light” go straight to the heart.

This summer, a music video for the song will be produced in Africa. Along with movie producer Johannes Berggreen, Bestnet will send James Sampson to Uganda – both of whom are donating their time and effort to create awareness about malaria.

On Sunday, April 25, 2010, events took place worldwide in favor of World Malaria Day and Roll Back Malaria, and in Denmark, Bestnet participated with James Sampson signing CDs in Copenhagen.