GE Healthcare IT, leading provider of healthcare information technology, announced a global reseller agreement with Ormed Information Systems. The agreement will allow GE to resell select applications across the Ormed portfolio, including supply chain management, e-commerce, human resources, and general accounting software.

Merck’s Gardasil vaccine for cervical cancer isn’t cheap — it’s a three-shot series that costs about $360. Whether it’s worth the money depends on several variables, suggests an analysis in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine.

Assuming the vaccine provides lifelong immunity, vaccinating girls at age 12 costs $43,600 per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gained — a figure the authors, from Harvard’s School of Public Health, call “economically attractive.”

But the cost per QALY goes up significantly for vaccinating older girls and women, who are more likely to be infected already with HPV, the sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer.

The vaccine was introduced only two years ago; a temporary catch-up program to vaccinate girls up to age 18 would cost $97,300 per QALY, and extending vaccination to age 26 costs $152,700 per QALY, the analysis found. A Merck researcher told Dow Jones Newswires that the company’s estimates put the cost at less than $50,000 per QALY for women up to age 26.

(QALY, a standard metric used to analyze cost-effectiveness of medical interventions, is explained here.)

Likewise, the vaccine becomes less cost-effective if vaccine-induced immunity wears off after, say, 10 years.

Merck’s Gardasil vaccine for cervical cancer isn’t cheap — it’s a three-shot series that costs about $360. Whether it’s worth the money depends on several variables, suggests an analysis in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine.

Assuming the vaccine provides lifelong immunity, vaccinating girls at age 12 costs $43,600 per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gained — a figure the authors, from Harvard’s School of Public Health, call “economically attractive.”

But the cost per QALY goes up significantly for vaccinating older girls and women, who are more likely to be infected already with HPV, the sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer.

The vaccine was introduced only two years ago; a temporary catch-up program to vaccinate girls up to age 18 would cost $97,300 per QALY, and extending vaccination to age 26 costs $152,700 per QALY, the analysis found. A Merck researcher told Dow Jones Newswires that the company’s estimates put the cost at less than $50,000 per QALY for women up to age 26.

(QALY, a standard metric used to analyze cost-effectiveness of medical interventions, is explained here.)

Likewise, the vaccine becomes less cost-effective if vaccine-induced immunity wears off after, say, 10 years.

The trend towards more healthful school meal choices continues this fall with district nutrition programs emphasizing whole grains, fruits and vegetables while cutting back on trans fats, added sugar and sodium, according to the School Nutrition Association's 2008 Back to School Nutrition Trends Report released recently.

Just when it seemed Vytorin was getting back on track, results of a study showing that patients taking the cholesterol-fighter had more cancers than those taking a placebo surprised everyone last month.

Merck and Schering-Plough, which jointly market the medicine, delayed their second-quarter earnings announcements so that scientists involved in analyzing the study could present the information publicly. They concluded that Vytorin doesn’t really increase cancer risk. Not everyone is so sure, including Rep. John Dingell, who asked to see how the researchers decided that Vytorin was safe.

Investors fretted that even though the cancer data weren’t that scary to the scientists, the public might be alarmed by press coverage of the complex issue. Sanford Bernstein’s Tim Anderson explained the immediate drop in the companies’ stock prices as investors worrying “about how press headlines about the cancer finding might impact prescribing trends.”

Our colleagues at Dow Jones Insight, who track press coverage, took a look at Vytorin mentions over the last year. There was a huge spike in coverage of Vytorin to 512 stories during the week starting July 21. But, as the chart at right shows, the attention was short-lived, and even at its peak the coverage was less intense than the jump at the end of March when disappointing data from the Enhance trial were presented at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology.

New prescriptions for Vytorin in the US have held steady at more than 80,000 a week over the last month, according to data from Wolters Kluwer Health. And investors seem to have recovered from the initial shock. After falling to a low of $17.95 the day after the cancer data were released, Schering-Plough shares closed at $20.46 today. Merck hit a low of $31.15 the day after the came out, and closed at $34.94 today.

Just when it seemed Vytorin was getting back on track, results of a study showing that patients taking the cholesterol-fighter had more cancers than those taking a placebo surprised everyone last month.

Merck and Schering-Plough, which jointly market the medicine, delayed their second-quarter earnings announcements so that scientists involved in analyzing the study could present the information publicly. They concluded that Vytorin doesn’t really increase cancer risk. Not everyone is so sure, including Rep. John Dingell, who asked to see how the researchers decided that Vytorin was safe.

Investors fretted that even though the cancer data weren’t that scary to the scientists, the public might be alarmed by press coverage of the complex issue. Sanford Bernstein’s Tim Anderson explained the immediate drop in the companies’ stock prices as investors worrying “about how press headlines about the cancer finding might impact prescribing trends.”

Our colleagues at Dow Jones Insight, who track press coverage, took a look at Vytorin mentions over the last year. There was a huge spike in coverage of Vytorin to 512 stories during the week starting July 21. But, as the chart at right shows, the attention was short-lived, and even at its peak the coverage was less intense than the jump at the end of March when disappointing data from the Enhance trial were presented at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology.

New prescriptions for Vytorin in the US have held steady at more than 80,000 a week over the last month, according to data from Wolters Kluwer Health. And investors seem to have recovered from the initial shock. After falling to a low of $17.95 the day after the cancer data were released, Schering-Plough shares closed at $20.46 today. Merck hit a low of $31.15 the day after the came out, and closed at $34.94 today.

Just when it seemed Vytorin was getting back on track, results of a study showing that patients taking the cholesterol-fighter had more cancers than those taking a placebo surprised everyone last month.

Merck and Schering-Plough, which jointly market the medicine, delayed their second-quarter earnings announcements so that scientists involved in analyzing the study could present the information publicly. They concluded that Vytorin doesn’t really increase cancer risk. Not everyone is so sure, including Rep. John Dingell, who asked to see how the researchers decided that Vytorin was safe.

Investors fretted that even though the cancer data weren’t that scary to the scientists, the public might be alarmed by press coverage of the complex issue. Sanford Bernstein’s Tim Anderson explained the immediate drop in the companies’ stock prices as investors worrying “about how press headlines about the cancer finding might impact prescribing trends.”

Our colleagues at Dow Jones Insight, who track press coverage, took a look at Vytorin mentions over the last year. There was a huge spike in coverage of Vytorin to 512 stories during the week starting July 21. But, as the chart at right shows, the attention was short-lived, and even at its peak the coverage was less intense than the jump at the end of March when disappointing data from the Enhance trial were presented at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology.

New prescriptions for Vytorin in the US have held steady at more than 80,000 a week over the last month, according to data from Wolters Kluwer Health. And investors seem to have recovered from the initial shock. After falling to a low of $17.95 the day after the cancer data were released, Schering-Plough shares closed at $20.46 today. Merck hit a low of $31.15 the day after the came out, and closed at $34.94 today.

The Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN) has designated November 1-7, 2008, as "Medical-Surgical Nurses Week" to encourage hospitals, facilities and other employers to honor the nurses who provide compassionate care to adult patients and their families.

Ending a 15 month-long contract fight which included three strikes, registered nurses at Sutter Mills Peninsula Health Services in San Mateo and Burlingame reached a precedent-setting tentative agreement after meeting with a federal mediator late Friday afternoon, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee announced recently.

Ending a 15 month-long contract fight which included three strikes, registered nurses at Sutter Mills Peninsula Health Services in San Mateo and Burlingame reached a precedent-setting tentative agreement after meeting with a federal mediator late Friday afternoon, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee announced recently.