In recent court filings, the US Food and Drug Administration has asserted that stem cells — you know, the ones our bodies produce naturally — are in fact drugs and subject to its regulatory oversight. So does that make me a controlled substance? More »
In a rare example of overruling her own experts and the US Federal Drug Administration — while apparently ignoring the highest teen pregnancy rate of any industrialised country — Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is prohibiting teenagers younger than 17 from buying the morning-after pill over the counter. More »
It’s 1pm. You’re still in bed, having already muttered some lame excuse to your boss as to why you aren’t in at work today, chugged a litre of water, half a bottle of aspirin, AND JUGS OF COFFEE but no dice. When all else fails, this new cure might help. More »
It’s arrived for too late for those who’ve already endured the agony of orthodontics, but a new daily treatment using a vibrating mouthpiece could halve the amount of time dental braces need to be worn. More »
A biotech company that after much turmoil and huge expense launched the first human embryonic stem cell clinical trial in the United States is getting out of the stem cell business. More »
The US Federal Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates medical technology, has long opposed large-scale X-ray machine deployment, arguing that people shouldn’t be irradiated without a direct medical benefit. So how did 250 X-ray “backscatter” scanners, which potentially increase cancer rates, land in American airports? Because the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) insists they’re safe. More »
