Long live New Yorkers — literally (Morning Read)

Current medical news and unique business news for anyone who cares about healthcare.

Will New Yorkers outlive us all? Life expectancy for babies born in the Big Apple in 2009 reached an all-time high of 80.6 years, above the national average of 78.2. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, speaking at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, said fewer deaths from HIV, heart disease, cancer, homicides and traffic accidents plus the public health initiatives put in place to cut smoking and trans-fat consumption have made the busy state a healthy place to live.

Healthcare sector boasts high-performing stocks. The 50 best-performing stocks in the Russell 3,000 are up an average of 120 percent over last year. Four of the top five performing stocks, including all of the top three, are from the healthcare sector.

Great strides taken to fight HIV in 2011, but a new approach needed for 2012. Huge strides in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment were made this year, with the discovery that anti-viral drugs can prevent someone infected with the virus from spreading it to others. The next step, experts say, is a treatment-as-prevention approach, rather than the test-and-wait approach being taken now.

The drug-diagnostic link. The trend of pharmaceutical companies engaging in partnership to develop diagnostic tests for their drugs is forcing awkward partnerships and creating scientific and regulatory obstacles, some industry members say. There were 25 of these deals in 2010 and 15 in the first half of 2011, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, up from just seven in 2008.

The VC bubble of 2011 will peak in 2012? Venture capitalist Paul Santinelli of North Bridge Venture Partners told the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal that he predicts we’ll see the peak of the startup bubble cycle in the first half of next year and that Silicon Valley will see another downturn similar to the 2001 dot-com bust.

The 30-year anniversary of the “war on cancer.” In the wake of the 40th anniversary of the National Cancer Act of 1971, the director of the National Cancer Institute says it’s time to retire the “war on cancer metaphor.” He says we now understand much more about cancer, especially that the term actually comprises many different diseases that present their own set of difficulties.