MEDICINE

A pharmacist asked to provide powerful medications for late Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith described the combination of drugs as a prescription for pharmaceutical suicide and refused to fill the order, according to court documents released on Tuesday.

Genetic-testing specialist Qiagen is buying its British peer DxS Ltd to expand its cancer diagnostics business and will raise its capital to fund the deal and possibly further takeovers.

A therapeutic cancer vaccine from Oxford BioMedica that failed in a clinical study may still help a subset of patients, researchers said on Tuesday.

While UK drivers with sleep apnea are required to inform the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Agency (DVLA) of their diagnosis, they often fail to do so, according to research released at the 2009

New research suggests that it is largely the drugs used to treat epilepsy and not the condition itself that increase the risk of adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes.

People who suffer a traumatic brain injury from a car crash or other mishap are more apt to survive if they had been drinking at the time of the injury, according to a study published Monday.

Influenza can help trigger heart attacks and may account for a 35 percent to 50 percent rise in heart attack deaths during flu season, British researchers reported on Monday.

Cancer patients whose tumors are targeted with heat treatment as well as chemotherapy are more likely to stay alive and cancer-free for longer than those who receive only chemotherapy, researchers said on Tuesday.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Friday offered companies new guidelines for coping with the H1N1 swine flu pandemic, warning that employers could face crippling absenteeism as the U.S. flu season takes hold.

Persuading Europe, the United States and China to accept International Monetary Fund advice on economic polices may be difficult, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Monday.

Two new blood tests could help doctors detect colon and stomach cancers simply, cheaply and early without the need for invasive procedures or unpleasant examinations, researchers said on Monday.

Patients with melanoma, a notoriously difficult to treat cancer of the skin, live longer when given Roche's drug Avastin, according to a scientific abstract from Europe's top cancer meeting.

The United States and Europe face a new health threat from a mosquito-borne disease far more unpleasant than the West Nile virus that swept into North America a decade ago, a U.S. expert said on Friday.

More than 35 million people globally will suffer from Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia in 2010, and few will get any treatment at all, according to a report released on Monday.

A daily dose of aspirin can prevent cancer in people with a genetic disorder that increases their risk of developing the disease, scientists said on Monday.

Biopharmaceutical company Nektar Therapeutics said it entered into a worldwide licensing deal with AstraZeneca Plc to develop two of its experimental drug candidates.

A world first study has shed fresh light on why people traumatised by the loss of a loved one are more susceptible to having a heart attack.

The portrayal of natural childbirth as dangerous and uncontrollable is one of the reasons behind Australia's rising rate of surgical delivery according UTS midwifery researcher Associate Professor Jennifer Fenwick.

China's public security ministry has warned police to be on guard against any threats to public order linked to the spread of the H1N1 strain of flu, including the spreading of rumors and price-gouging for drugs.

The son of actors Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O'Neal, who spent his mother's dying days in jail on a drugs charge, was ordered into a one-year treatment program on Friday for heroin possession.

Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc's obesity drug produced mixed results in a second late-stage trial, sending the company's shares on a roller coaster in furious trading on Friday.