The American Medical Association (AMA) has announced plans to back the $15 billion, 13-month extension of a bill that would protect physicians from a Medicare pay cut until 2012.

The `doc fix' bill, as it is called, will block impending pay cuts, the first of which is just a few weeks away. This would be a 23% cut in pay-a short-term fix mandated by Medicare's sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula, which links reimbursements rates to increases in GDP. The next pay cut would go into effect on January 1, bringing the total reduction in reimbursements to 25%.

Monday saw the Supreme Court forego its first chance to review Congress' healthcare overhaul. The challenge to the healthcare bill was brought by a conservative legal group in California. This does not come as a surprise, since lower courts are only beginning to hear challenges to the law.

Despite the fact that the high court almost never hears cases before they have been fully litigated in the lower courts, plaintiff insisted that the justices hear their case. They intended to challenge the law's mandate that required all individuals to purchase healthcare.

The recent Republic victory is expected to lead to an increase in the number of states that employ a more limited approach to the new healthcare law. Although the law is a Federal statute, is allows states to administer many of the key provisions themselves, affording considerable leeway to State Governments.

The new Chairman of the cancer treatment biotech Company Prima BioMed would be Lucy Turnbull, who is a businesswoman and an investor.

Ms. Turnbull is the wife of Liberal Party politician Malcolm Turnbull and will come in place of the interim chairman of Prima BioMed, Albert Wong, who is also the major shareholder of the Company. Mr. Wong would retain his Deputy Chairman post in the Company.

After the announcement, the share of Prima BioMed went up from 1.5 cents to 14 cents today morning.

Human Genome Sciences Inc. (HGSI) and its conglomerate Novartis AG on Thursday have revealed that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have extended disapproval for its hepatitis C drug, Zalbin.

Following the disapproval, the Companies have declared to stop the further development of the drug.

Human Genome was given a FDA feedback on the 900-microgram dose of Zalbin in June, known in Europe as Joulferon, given every two weeks.

While the coalition Government is eager to lessen costs in the health service sector, the NHS is seeing some half year profits of £6.8m in the same.

Having seen NHS Managers' ambiguity over spending priorities, Kate Bleasdale, Healthcare Locums' Vice Chairman said that they had seen and witnessed some very challenging trading conditions in all the operations that had been exposed to the NHS.

Anticipating an improved growth during the second half of 2010, Analyst Adrian Kearsey at Evolution Securities asserted that the NHS had been aiming at attempts to conserve all the cash.

The provider of healthcare products, Prestige Brands Holdings Inc. in a buyout totaling $190mn, is going to take over rival healthcare brand Blacksmith Brands. The deal would involve a cash payment and would also help prestige in making a stronger hold over the market, as Companies gear up for the season of flu.

The provision of new brands for Prestige through the deal would render its OTC brands to be responsible for three-fourth of the revenue earned by the Company.

The U.S. Agriculture Department on Saturday said that Food and Agriculture giant Cargill had recalled 8,500 pounds of ground beef after the officers of the firm arrived on a conclusion that illnesses pandemic in Maine and New York were related to E. coli contamination.

The meat that has been recalled had been manufactured on 11th June and delivered earlier this summer in around eight BJ’s Wholesale spots in the East Coast, as informed by the USDA.

The USDA is quite worried since a few products that have been affected by the recall might still be there in some consumers’ freezers.

People need not be afraid of the shortage of vaccines this year and thus should not worry about the attack of flu, as under the new guidelines formulated by Federal Health there would be adequate availability of flu vaccines.

Last year, the inventory of flu vaccines fell short due to the menace of H1N1 virus and the obstruction created by the makers of vaccines. But, there is no such problem this season and vaccines have already been supplied to healthcare centers, including doctors and retail health clinics.

According to the leading researchers, the Government of New Zealand and World Health Organization again need to revise their policies of TB, which kills more than 2 million people every year.

Scientists have made the target to eliminate the disease by 2050 but Prof Philip Hill is of the view that policies adopted by WHO are faulty.

He also believes that even the policies of New Zealand made for testing and treating TB are worsening, so the policymakers should revise the policies, as they have not studied the biology of TB properly.

It seems that Johnson & Johnson’s image is on its way to get tattered, since it has stepped into the limelight again, but for the wrong reason, as a batch of firm’s contact lenses in many nations, which also includes the ones sent in Hong Kong and Macao, have been recalled after users complained of uneasiness and eye irritation.

The Indian Government has planned to introduce a healthcare programme worth Rs 1,231 crore, which will continue over the next two years.

Under the plan, National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS) will perform screening tests on seven crore adults, across 100 districts in 15 different states and union territories.

These tests will be made to monitor the detection of diabetes, hypertension, enabling the healthcare institutions to provide suitable treatments.

Robots are fast replacing human space as in case of a $444m Forth Valley Royal hospital opening in Scotland.

These robots will supposedly be made in-charge of the more menial duties of ward-workers, including bringing meals and dispensing drugs.

They will reside under the basement of the hospital and use service elevators, coming out only to do the aforementioned chores, and other jobs such as disposing of rubbish and cleaning rooms.

French food group Danone announced its intention of buying out Medical Nutrition USA Inc. in an all-cash deal worth $62.3 million. According to Medical Nutrition, a majority of its shareholders have consented to the merger. Both companies develop and sell nutritional-medicine products.

All outstanding shares of Medical Nurtition USA will be acquired by Danone North America for $4.00 per share Friday, valuing the company for just over $60 million in a cash transaction. Medical Nutrition shares responding to the buyout headed higher, gaining over 42%.

In an effort to speed up the development of new medicines for treating brain disorders, all the major drug manufacturers have agree to share data from their clinical trials for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Academic and industry researchers worldwide, with the unveiling of the database, which is a public / private partnership, be allowed worldwide access to information from over 4,000 patients with neuro-degenerative diseases.