Current medical news and unique business news for anyone who cares about healthcare.
Boy or girl? At-home blood tests for pregnant moms to detect the sex of their unborn child got a boost from a study in Tuesday’s JAMA, which suggested these tests are non-invasive, free of risk and effective weeks earlier than other techniques for determining sex, such as ultrasound. The tests use DNA from the fetus found in the mother’s blood to predict the gender of the child.
But the study only evaluated the test’s use in medical settings, not direct-to-consumer settings, which is how women in the U.S. use them. And while some say learning a child’s sex before birth could provide medical benefits, others worry the standardization of such tests will increase rates of abortion in the U.S.
Sterile mosquitos for malaria prevention. Researchers in the U.K. and Italy are saying they’ve found a new way to reduce the risk of malaria transmission by genetically modifying male mosquitos so that they don’t produce sperm, thus reducing the population of mosquitos over time.
“Green” CT scanner approved. GE Healthcare’s Optima CT660 CT scanner has won approval from the FDA. The low-dose imaging device is one of the most environmentally friendly scanners available.
Array-Genentech deal. Array BioPharma and Genentech have inked a cancer-drug development deal that could pay $685 million to Array after the development of two new cancer drugs.
Chronicling primary care. Dr. John Geyman writes the first of a series of five posts on the Physicians for a National Health Program blog about the decline of primary healthcare in the U.S.
