News roundup July 9-13

If you missed the newsletters for the past week here are some of the top stories by condition:

Asthma/Allergy

-A diet rich in fish, fruit may help fight teen asthma

Alzheimer's

-The FDA approved the Exelon skin patch

Cancer

-A diet full of meat and sweets dramatically raises the risk of breast cancer
-The Swiss approved the first brain-cancer vaccine

Crohn's

-Researchers have found a new gene they believe may be responsible for ulcerative colitis

Chronic Pain

-Doctors are working on new treatments for pain-med addiction, which is now at the highest rates ever in the U.S.
-More evidence that fibromyalgia is a real medical condition has been published.

Digestion

-Probiotics ease diarrhea caused by antibiotics

Heart Disease

-Generic Plavix has been, unsurprisingly, blocked again.

High Cholesterol

-High-dose statins may benefit older patients
-WelChol may help Type 2 diabetics control both cholesterol and diabetes

Mental Health

-Suicide rates drop with treatment with either therapy or antidepressants, contrary to the studies that have linked antidepressant use to a higher rate of suicide attempts.
-As co-pays rise for medications, use of medications drops. This is a particular problem for people with chronic conditions such as schizophrenia, heart disease, diabetes, and high cholesterol.

Osteoarthritis

-Three new meds are moving forward in clinical trials: Diclofenac cream, hylastan (an injectable med), and NicOx. These are all non-systemic meds for OA (i.e. they're topical or injected), significant because systemic meds like Celebrex have been linked with so many side effects. So this appears to be a trend in OA treatment.
-Aldea is giving good results for OA. It's another injectable med.

Osteoporosis

-Diet and exercise won't help osteoporosis once it starts; people need medications to do that.

Rheumatoid Arthritis/Inflammatory Arthritis

-A new experimental med CP-690,550 (CP) is making strides at improving RA remission rates in trials. (Pfizer med)
-Actemra continues to show good results as an add-on treatment for RA (with methotrexate)