Mark Bloom

WASHINGTON -- The AMA said it was "deeply disappointed" with President Bush's veto of the SCHIP reauthorization, and the American Academy of Pediatrics called the action "hurtful to children."

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The FDA today allowed a human thrombin (Evithrom) on the market after the risk of transfusion-transmitted viral infection kept it on the sidelines for more than a half-century.

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ROCKVILLE, Md. -- After nine weeks of internal worry about the cardiovascular safety of two prescription proton-pump inhibitors, Prilosec and Nexium, the FDA has issued a limited all clear.

ROCKPORT, Me. -- Chief Justice John Roberts had a benign idiopathic seizure today at his summer home near here and was hospitalized as a precaution, according to the Supreme Court.

WASHINGTON -- The White House said today that pathology on five adenomatous polyps discovered during a colonoscopy performed on President Bush over the weekend were all benign.

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, England, June 5 -- An interim analysis of the 4,447-patient RECORD trial did not confirman increased risk of myocardial infarction or cardiac death in patients taking rosiglitazone (Avandia) for treatment of type 2 diabetes, although the data suggest an increased risk of heart failure. So reported the New England Journal of Medicine online today, one day before a Congressional hearing on the safety of rosiglitazone.

CLEVELAND -- A meta-analysis of 42 randomized trials released online by the New England Journal of Medicine today found a 43% increase in the risk of myocardial infarction among type 2 diabetics treated with rosiglitazone (Avandia), although the absolute number of events was small. A journal editorial says FDA action is warranted, and a congressional inquiry is expected.

NEW YORK -- The Wall Street Journal suggested today that the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) may be tempting its members to buy low or sell high, on the sly, by sending them advance confidential copies of its annual meeting abstract book.

LYNCHBURG, Va. -- Televalgelism pioneer Jerry Falwell, the founder of Moral Majority and a stalwart of the Christian right wing of the GOP, died today after collapsing in his office here. Falwell was 73 and had suffered in recent years from congestive heart failure and pneumonia.

SILVER SPRING, Md. -- Although the FDA advised physicians in March to use erythropoiesis-stimulating agents at the lowest possible dose to preclude a transfusion, an advisory committee has urged the agency to develop still stricter standards.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The FDA asked the makers of all 36 antidepressants today to include young adults ages 18 to 24 in the black box warnings for suicidal thinking and behavior.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The FDA issued an urgent warning tonight to consumers about the risk of olives that are potentially contaminated with Clostridium botulinum.

WASHINGTON -- Fred Thompson, the actor and former Republican senator from Tennessee, revealed today he is in remission from a rare form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

WASHINGTON -- Presidential spokesman Tony Snow, who was treated two years ago for colon cancer, had surgery yesterday for metastatic liver cancer, the White House announced today.

WASHINGTON -- White House spokesman Tony Snow, who was treated for colon cancer in 2005, said today he would have surgery on Monday to resect a small growth discovered in his lower abdomen. He cautioned reporters against jumping to conclusions.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- John Edwards, the former senator, announced today that his wife, Elizabeth Edwards, 57, has had a recurrence of breast cancer, a bony metastasis, but he is continuing his campaign to be the Democratic candidate for the presidency. Elizabeth Edwards had a lumpectomy in 2004 and adjuvant chemoradiation. He and his wife called the malignancy treatable. "The campaign goes on," he said.

SEATTLE -- Starbucks, the giant coffee shop chain, has announced that it is banning trans fats, climbing aboard the nutritional bandwagon championed by the city of New York and promoted by the American Heart Association.

SAN ANTONIO -- The annual incidence of breast cancer has fallen drastically, coinciding with the end of the hormone replacement therapy era, according to SEER data from the National Cancer Institute. After a steady rise during the past 20 years, the incidence dropped 7% from 2002 to 2003, reported investigators at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. The absolute reduction could be as many as 14,000 breast cancer cases per year.

SAN ANTONIO -- The annual incidence of breast cancer has fallen drastically, coinciding with the end of the hormone replacement therapy era, according to SEER data from the National Cancer Institute. After a steady rise during the past 20 years, the incidence dropped 7% from 2002 to 2003, reported investigators at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. The absolute reduction could be as many as 14,000 breast cancer cases per year.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Acting with uncommon speed, the FDA today approved Celebrex for the pain of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis-less than a month after an advisory committee recommended that it do so.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Acting with uncommon speed, the FDA today approved Celebrex for the pain of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis-less than a month after an advisory committee recommended that it do so.

GAITHERSBURG, Md. -- The FDA's drug-eluting stent safety panel recommended today that the labels of Cypher (sirolimus-eluting) and Taxus (paclitaxel-eluting) stents be changed to include a warning that off-label use of the devices may carry an increased risk of stent thrombosis, myocardial infarction, and death. The panel also called for the label to carry a recommendation for 12-months of dual antiplatelet therapy with aspirin and Plavix (clopidogrel) when drug-eluting stents are used off-label.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The FDA alerted the public today that some 11 million bottles of generic acetaminophen had been recalled by the Perrigo Company of Allegan, Mich., because of metal fragments contamination in a small number of caplets.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The FDA today approved Omnaris (ciclesonide), a corticosteroid nasal spray, for hay fever symptoms in adults and children 12 years of age and older.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The FDA approved Januvia (sitagliptin) today, the first dipetidyl peptidase-4 (DDP-4) inhibitor, an oral agent for type 2 diabetes as monotherapy or in combination with Glucophage (metformin) or a PPAR agonist.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The FDA issued a caution today about the potential for attenuation of low-dose aspirin's antiplatelet effect when ibuprofen is used concomitantly for pain relief.

HAVANA -- President Fidel Castro, 79, one of the last of the Communist dictators, underwent intestinal surgery tonight, according to Havana television in a statement signed by the Cuban leader himself. There were no other immediate medical details. Castro's brother, Raul, was put in interim charge. Fidel Castro, whose 80th birthday is Aug. 13, took over in 1959.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The FDA issued a warning today to doctors and consumers to avoid the use of an ostensible therapy for Lyme disease called bismacine, also known as chromacine, that may have caused one death and multiple injuries.