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Texas Lawmakers Divert Millions From Family Planning Clinics To Community Health Centers
Specialty clinics that provide family planning services in Texas have seen a significant decrease in state funding over the past four years because lawmakers have redirected millions of dollars to expand family planning at community health centers, the Dallas Morning News reports. The funding changes began in 2005, when lawmakers said they were shifting funding to community health centers because they offered more comprehensive health care to low-income patients. Advocates for the family planning clinics argue that the policy is an attempt by antiabortion-rights advocates to shut the clinics down. Although clinics that receive state funding are prohibited from offering abortion services, some conservative lawmakers believe that limiting the funding will hurt groups like Planned Parenthood, which offers abortion services at other locations, according to some family planning advocates. The Morning News reports that state lawmakers might return some of the funding to the specialty clinics during the current legislative session; however, the funding only would equal any money left unused by the community health centers.The most significant funding change occurred in 2005, when almost 25% of the state"s $45 million annual family planning budget was set aside for "federally qualified health centers" -- community health centers that offer services to uninsured and underserved people. Advocates for family planning clinics say that the number of patients receiving state-funded reproductive services declined by nearly 22%, from 326,000 patients in 2005 to 255,000 in the last fiscal year. They also note that the community health centers have an unused surplus of more than $11.5 million since 2005, which they say the family planning clinics could have used.According to the Morning News, many public health experts believe that specialty clinics that have family planning services offer more efficient and effective reproductive care than community health centers. David Warner, a health care finance and policy expert at the University of Texas Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, said the specialty clinics are "very targeted" and "don"t have a lot of overhead," whereas the community clinics have "limited enrollment and can be a lot less accessible." He added, "Continuing to starve those clinics means that you"re not going to be reaching the number of people you could be reaching with family planning services." Family planning clinics in Texas offer more than a dozen services ranging from birth control prescriptions to breast and cervical cancer screening and sexually transmitted infection testing. However, reproductive health advocates say many people often associate the clinics with abortion services, which gives antiabortion-rights lawmakers an incentive to shut down the clinics by withholding funding. Fran Hagerty, CEO of the Women"s Health and Family Planning Association of Texas, said, "Some lawmakers believe if they can prevent Planned Parenthood from participating in the state"s family planning program, then they"ve accomplished their goal."Supporters of community health centers say that billing issues and other administrative problems have distorted their data on how many reproductive health patients they are treating. Many women receive care at the community centers for family planning services along with treatment of other health problems, so they often are not recorded as reproductive health patients, according to the centers (Ramshaw, Dallas Morning News, 5/22).
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Philips Introduces Mobile C-arm With Flat Detector For Surgical X-ray Procedures
With rapid change taking place in the surgical environment as the range of interventional and minimally invasive procedures continues to expand, Royal Philips Electronics (AEX: PHI, NYSE: PHG) today announced the availability of the Veradius X-ray system. A mobile C-arm with a super thin, flat detector, Philips Veradius is designed to give the surgeon more flexibility and to improve patient care by streamlining workflow and improving image quality. The system also includes an additional monitor on the C-arm stand, enabling the operator to have an unobstructed view of the live image.
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Ohio State Start-Up To Commercialize MRI-Compatible Treadmill
An Ohio State University researcher is shifting his development of an MRI-compatible treadmill to his start-up company and plans to have a device ready for clinical testing in three months. The treadmill could allow physicians to measure a patient"s heart during peak stress more accurately than the echocardiograph and nuclear imaging processes now widely used.
Nutrition

Antigenics' QS-21 Adjuvant Enters Pivotal Phase 3 Clinical Trial Of GlaxoSmithKline's Malaria Vaccine

Antigenics Inc. (NASDAQ: AGEN) announced that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has launched a Phase 3 study with the world"s most clinically-advanced malaria vaccine, RTS,S, which contains Antigenics" QS-21 Stimulon® adjuvant. "There are now approximately 15 vaccines containing QS-21 in clinical trials of which four have now progressed into Phase 3 studies across multiple indications including non-small cell lung cancer, melanoma and malaria," said Garo H. Armen, PhD, chairman and CEO of Antigenics. "Today"s announcement demonstrates that QS-21 is a critical adjuvant in the development of therapeutic and prophylactic vaccines and is expected to be a significant contributor to Antigenics future royalty income in the event of successful commercialization." QS-21 is a key component in several of GSK"s proprietary adjuvant systems, which play an integral role in a new generation of GSK vaccines currently in development. Under the terms of the license and supply agreements announced in July 2006, GSK will make payments contingent upon successful milestone achievements, and will pay royalties to Antigenics on net sales for a period of at least 10 years after first commercial sale. Recent Phase 2 malaria studies showed that, over an eight-month follow-up period, RTS,S reduced clinical episodes of malaria by 53 percent and had a promising safety and tolerability profile when used alongside standard infant vaccines. The Phase 3 trial builds on more than 10 years of clinical research in Africa, including the first proof-of-concept study in children in 2004 and a proof-of-concept study in infants in 2007. If the RTS,S Phase 3 program progresses as expected, RTS,S could be submitted for initial regulatory review in 2011. If the required regulatory clearances are granted and international and African national public health authorities recommend its use, RTS,S could be introduced in 2012 for children age 5-17 months. Following recommendations for use in infants, full availability is anticipated by 2014, potentially saving hundreds of thousands of lives a year. About QS-21 Stimulon Adjuvant Antigenics" QS-21 Stimulon adjuvant is one of the most widely tested vaccine adjuvants under development. QS-21 has not only become a critical component in the development of preventative vaccine formulations across a wide variety of infectious diseases, but may also be essential in enabling a new generation of therapeutic vaccines to treat cancer, infectious diseases and degenerative disorders. QS-21 is currently being evaluated in approximately 20 vaccine indications, of which several are in late-stage clinical trials by Antigenics" licensees, including GlaxoSmithKline and Elan. Antigenics Inc.


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