In Global News: Designs for Children’s Heart Surgery, Revisiting Tobacco Regulations, and Equally Good Lung Cancer Surgery Any Day of the Week

Patient Care

The Doodle Factory, an Egyptian brand that combines art and charity, has launched a new collection to fund heart surgeries for two children.

Premium cigar makers in the US are launching a second bid to convince the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to exempt their products from a previous expansion of tobacco regulations.

The cardiac surgery program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences has been suspended while the program recruits a replacement for its lead surgeon, who retired.

Drugs and Devices

The US FDA has approved Andexxa from Portola, an antidote for factor Xa inhibiting blood thinners, and the company expects to launch the drug in June.

The US FDA is seeking permanent injunctions against two stem cell clinics for deviations from good manufacturing practices and for marketing stem cell products to patients without FDA approval. The clinics were said to have been administering stem cells for the experimental treatment of cancers, heart disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, among other conditions.

Research, Trials, and Funding

Researchers in the US find that women are proportionately represented in clinical trials for hypertension and atrial fibrillation but underrepresented in trials for coronary artery disease and acute coronary syndrome.

Researchers in Sweden published research suggesting that lung cancer surgery outcomes are not affected by the day of the week that the surgery is performed.

An international group of researchers from Italy, the US, and the UK described disparities in lung cancer care between England and the US, finding that fewer patients in England present with early stage lung cancer and fewer English patients with stage I disease undergo surgery.