Current medical news and unique business news for anyone who cares about the healthcare industry.
Las Vegas Legionella. Six guests who stayed at the Las Vegas Aria Resort & Casino in the last month have contracted Legionnaires’ disease, a pneumonia-like bacterial infection that can become serious if left untreated. Hotel officials say they detected high levels of Legionella, the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease, in the water supply from June 21 through July 4. All six guests have recovered, but the casino is warning its guests that they may have been exposed. This isn’t the first time Aria has has had its guests reporting the disease — it happened back in the spring of 2010, too.
A good day for Seattle Genetics. The cancer therapy developer got two thumbs up Thursday from an FDA advisory committee that recommended its new cancer drug, Adcetris, be cleared as an anaplastic large cell lymphoma treatment and Hodgkin’s lymphoma treatment.
Stem cell treatment for the eyes. Long-awaited safety trials for a new stem cell treatment for degenerative eye disease have begun at UCLA’s Jules Stine Eye Institute after more than 20 years of research.
Increased Medicare costs gaining traction? During the ongoing debate about how to reduce the federal defecit, some are saying the idea of cutting costs by requiring Americans on Medicare to pay more for their healthcare is going to come back around.
The problem with biotech today. Luke Timmerman says that while the U.S. is still regarded as the world’s leader for biotech, the one thing the industry is missing: straight up guts.
