The World Health Organization and its funding partners said they plan to roll out a $26 million program to distribute a new gene-based test that detects multidrug-resistant tuberculosis after just two days rather than the weeks or months typical of existing tests. The WHO and UNITAID, a multinational funding partnershi
Avery Johnson, avery.johnson@WSJ.com and Ron Winslow, ron.winslow@wsj.com
Nearly four years after Merck & Co. yanked the painkiller Vioxx off the market, beleaguered pharmaceutical-industry executives say they are facing a tough new regulatory climate that is altering the landscape of drug development. Over the past 16 months, Schering-Plough Corp. Chief Executive Fred Ha
In fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa, the United States has an unparalleled success in Pepfar, aka the President s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Since President Bush announced it in 2003, Pepfar has provided antiretroviral drugs to nearly 1.4 million infected patients in its target countries, turning the wasted shells of c
Melinda French Gates is co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as the wife of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. Together, they head the world s largest charitable foundation, tackling such problems as public-health issues in Africa, India and elsewhere and the U.S. public-school system. She talked
HIV-AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, high-school dropouts and global poverty. Those are among the problems that Melinda Gates is battling with the huge fortune her husband Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates made in technology. At an appearance at the D: All Things Digital conference last week in California, Ms. Gates explained
Slowly, the war on drug patents in Thailand seems to be turning. Last week the government removed one of the most vocal opponents of intellectual property rights from the board of the state-owned Government Pharmaceutical Organization. It s a small step, but an important one for restoring Thailand s international reput
The news did not make it to the front pages, but on Feb. 28 a powerful member of the U.S. Senate launched an attack on the Food and Drug Administration, the drug companies and the desperate cancer patients they treat. Charles Grassley (R., Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, requested that the Govern
With time running out on the Bush administration, conservative activists are renewing a drive for regulations that would deny federal subsidies to clinics that provide abortions or counsel women about the option. In a final push, the activists are preparing a public campaign to pressure President Bush to use his execut
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa Thabo Mbeki often seems happier when he s away from home, putting out fires in other African countries. An increasing number of his compatriots wish the South African president would just go away, never to come back. Mr. Mbeki has become so unpopular that even members of his own party want hi
London s hedge-fund elite are awaiting one of the biggest social events of the year: the ARK charity dinner. Given the difficult start to the year for the markets, organizers aren t expecting to match the (pounds)26.6 million ($51.9 million) they raised in 2007. Arpad Busson, founder of both children s charity ARK, whi
BEIJING - Dissent is usually associated with hot-blooded youth. But protest is not just for the young. Nowhere is this more true than China , where the country s most effective political activists are a generation of septa- and octogenarians. As Confucius said, At 70, I could follow what my heart desired, without overs
TAMPA, Fla. -- Sen. John McCain laid out his vision for the U.S. health-care system Tuesday, rejecting universal health insurance and embracing a system with fewer regulations in which consumers shop for coverage on their own rather than get it from an employer. His plan, parts of which are similar to a failed effort b
The Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative and the international drug-purchasing consortium Unitaid have struck deals that offer deeper discounts on more than 40 generic AIDS drugs and create child-friendly formulas for neediest victims of the pandemic. The new prices offered by three generic drug makers run 19% lower
Scientists from all over the world recently have engaged in a searching conversation about where we stand on the development of an AIDS vaccine. If you ve heard about these discussions from media reports, chances are you think they judged it a mission impossible. Actually, there are sound scientific reasons to believe
If you ve thought of spending some time doing volunteer work or teaching overseas, your twenties may be the time to pursue it. For many, the age offers a unique period of financial and personal independence -- free of children and entrenched professional careers. For some, time overseas can provide a respite from profe
Cape Town, South Africa - That s part of the problem in Europe – to think an African is just like another African. Jacob Zuma is talking about comparisons drawn between him and Robert Mugabe, the man who turned Zimbabwe s post-colonial dream into a nightmare. Then he laughs deeply, throwing his head back. In spite
Sky Canaves, sky.canaves@wsj.com and Geoffrey A. Fowler, geoffrey.fowler@wsj.com
HONG KONG -- Hu Jia, an AIDS activist and blogger who used the coming Olympics to criticize China s record on human rights, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison on Thursday, after a Beijing court found him guilty of subversion and libel. The high-profile verdict heightens concerns among human-rights activi
LONDON -- A drug from U.K.-based GlaxoSmithKline PLC commonly used to fight AIDS appears to nearly double the risk of a heart attack, researchers said. In a study published online in The Lancet medical journal, European researchers said that the antiretroviral abacavir , whi
New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show the number of people in the U.S. diagnosed with HIV in 2006 to be sharply higher than in previous years, reflecting the agency s improved surveillance system rather than a rise in the epidemic. The figures give a more accurate picture of the disease acro
New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show the number of people in the U.S. diagnosed with HIV in 2006 to be sharply higher than in previous years, reflecting the agency s improved surveillance system rather than a rise in the epidemic. But the figures also give a more accurate picture of the dis
The top AIDS scientist at the National Institutes of Health called for a shift back to basic vaccine research to address unanswered questions in the wake of the failure of a major AIDS vaccine trial last year. Addressing an AIDS Vaccine Summit in Bethesda, Md., Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Al
Walgreen Co. thrived for decades by opening stores faster than its competitors -- a new location pops up every 16 hours -- and by pushing out more prescriptions per year than any other chain. But facing pressure from rivals, a weak economy and cracks in the health system, Walgreen is changing its time-tested formula. I
In a bid to save costs and stem a rising tide of medical waste, hospitals are recycling a growing number of medical devices labeled as single-use, from scissors and scrubs to the sharp blades surgeons use to saw through bones. Recycling medical devices labeled for single use is legal as long as certain Food and Drug Ad
As the National People s Congress draws to a close today, China s leaders probably won t be giving much thought to what s taking place in another corner of Beijing, at the No. 1 People s Intermediate Court. Events there may actually reveal more about the state of the nation s progress. Today, one of China s most outspo
Suzanne Sataline, suzanne.sataline@wsj.com and Douglas Belkin, doug.belkin@wsj.com
CHICAGO -- Yesterday morning, 6,000 people streamed into Trinity United Church of Christ here for Palm Sunday services, where blunt, funny and often fiery sermons have made the church popular among African Americans and plunged it and Sen. Barack Obama into controversy in recent days. The Rev. Otis Moss III, the church
Thailand s new health minister announced that he would urge the Thai government to continue to ignore patents on several cancer drugs, disappointing big pharmaceutical companies that had hoped Bangkok might roll back a policy of overriding patents in the name of public health. The drugs makers include Roche Holding AG
A four-year study of homeless people with chronic medical problems in Chicago offers fresh evidence that efforts to move the homeless into permanent housing quickly can improve their lives and save taxpayer money. The study was put together by a coalition of hospitals and housing groups seeking hard evidence supporting
Kenya s two month political crisis may finally be coming to a close with the announcement last week of a power-sharing deal between President Mwai Kibaki and challenger Raila Odinga. With some 1,000 dead and an estimated 600,000 people displaced since the disputed December 27 election, we can only hope the deal holds.
Thailand s military government may be gone, but its war on drug patents is still very much alive. Just ask the new Health Minister, Chaiya Sasomsup, who is thinking about restoring intellectual property rights to their rightful owners -- the pharmaceutical companies. Mr. Chaiya, who took office this month, is trying to
The snow fell in large, fluffy flakes for hours, enveloping everything in town in a thick silencing blanket of white. Our small town shut down for the evening. I was thankful because I don t get many calls after hours when it snows heavily. People stay put and the whole prairie landscape seems serene and beautiful.
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania -- President Bush s current tour of Africa is widely viewed as a celebration of his historic efforts in battling poverty and disease here. But listen closely to Mr. Bush and his aides, and you might conclude that a higher power is at work -- and it s achieving near-miraculous results. This w
President Bush starts a victory lap across Africa next week, celebrating his little-noticed but successful fights there against AIDS and malaria. But he also will be running hard to avoid the shadow of a growing number of political crises and controversies in the region. As Mr. Bush enters his final 12 months in office
Hospitals are increasingly deploying a new breed of diagnostic tests -- ones that promise results in hours not days and are particularly effective in detecting deadly antibiotic-resistant superbugs. This new generation of tests identifies organisms using genetic information rather than growing them in a dish and examin
MOSCOW -- Imprisoned former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky announced a hunger strike yesterday to protest authorities refusal to give AIDS treatment to a onetime colleague who is awaiting trial in a Moscow jail. Mr. Khodorkovsky s move ups the ante in an effort to draw attention to the plight of the colleague, who say
A new Pfizer Inc. HIV drug will soon be reformulated in an effort to prevent the transmission of the virus, offering a faint ray of hope in an arena littered with disappointments. The New York drug maker is expected to announce today that it will license its new medicine, Selzentry, to a nonprofit that investigates way
MOSCOW -- A Russian court upheld a ruling that PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLC was effectively a participant in massive tax evasion by now-bankrupt oil giant OAO Yukos. The ruling ratchets up pressure on the auditor as the Kremlin gears up for more charges in the politically tinged Yukos case. Prosecutors have filed new all
Anna Wilde Mathews, anna.mathews@wsj.com and Ron Winslow, ron.winslow@wsj.com
Controversies about cholesterol drug Vytorin and diabetes drug Avandia are reigniting debate over what evidence the Food and Drug Administration requires to approve drugs -- and may generate pressure on the agency to raise its bar. The FDA s system for approving drugs has been criticized as scrutiny grows about Vytorin
A highly drug-resistant superbug is gaining resistance to more drugs and burrowing deeply into the gay communities of San Francisco and Boston, researchers said. Sexually active gay men are 13 times as likely to have this strain of the highly resistant bacterium, known as MRSA, or methicillin-resistant staphylococcus a
This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.