Buying a three-month supply of prescription drugs is up to one-third cheaper than buying a one-month supply, according to a new study.

U.S. researchers analyzed 26,852 prescriptions filled for 395 drugs between 2000 and 2005, and found that patients who bought a three-month supply instead of a one-month supply saved an average 29 percent in out-of-pocket costs. After the researchers factored in third-party payers such as Medicare, Medicaid and insurance companies, total savings averaged 18 percent.

Long-term exposure to formaldehyde used for embalming increases funeral industry workers' risk of death from myeloid leukemia, according to a new U.S. government study.

Researchers in the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the U.S. National Cancer Institute analyzed data on funeral industry workers who died between 1960 and 1986. Information about the workers' work practices and exposure to formaldehyde throughout their lifetime was collected through interviews with family members and co-workers.

Unapproved non-steroidal and tissue-selective anabolic drugs called selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) are being sold on the Internet as sports doping agents, according to a new report.

Though SARMs offer promise for the treatment of a number of diseases -- including osteoporosis, sarcopenia, benign prostatic hyperplasia and cancer cachexia (a wasting syndrome) -- none of the agents have yet been approved for use in patients, according to background information in the study.

Canadian researchers are reporting that children with asthma are more likely to develop severe cases of H1N1 flu than seasonal flu.

"Asthma has been identified as a significant risk factor for admission with pandemic H1N1 influenza, present in 21 percent to 30 percent in the larger samples," wrote Dr. Upton Allen and fellow researchers from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

Some areas of the United States are seeing declines in H1N1 swine flu activity, a federal health official said Friday, and while the disease remains widespread in 43 states, that's down from the 46 states reported last week.

"We are beginning to see some declines in influenza activity around the country, but there is still a lot of influenza everywhere," Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said during an afternoon press conference.