Pharmaceutical firm Roche launched on Thursday a program that allowed stockpiling of Tamiflu by U.S. firms in preparation for a flu pandemic. Tamiflu is an anti-viral drug to prevent and treat influenza.

To join the program, a company must commit to order a minimum of 2,500 courses of Tamiflu at $6 a piece, which is less than 10 percent of the final market price. That amounts to an annual order of $15,000, according to Roche president and chief executive officer George Abercrombie. A course is made up of 10 doses

A hand-held trans-cranial magnetic stimulation device could be helpful in treatment of most severe migrane attacks, researchers say. When held against the back of the head and turned on, the device delivers two quick magnetic pulses into the brain, which scientists believe short-circuit the electrical storm.

Invented by Medtronic, the device was tested in a trial of 61 patients who experienced on average 15 or more headache days in a month and whose condition did not respond to conventional medicine for three months. The device is put up against the back of the head, and users push a button to administer the magnetic pulse

Following a large number of false-positive results, New York City health officials have suspended the use of oral HIV test OraQuick in the city. Manufactured by Orasure Technologies Inc.'s, the test which rapidly screens saliva and blood samples for antibodies to both HIV-1 and HIV-2 has been halted at its 10 sexually transmitted disease (STD) walk-in clinics.

In January 2004, the clinics introduced on-site, rapid HIV testing of finger-stick, whole-blood specimens using the OraQuick test. However it was replaced by the finger-stick test with an oral fluid test, the OraQuick Advance Rapid HIV-1/2 Antibody Test in the same year in March

The use of a pacifier or 'dummy' by babies has been identified as a risk factor for acute otitis media (AOM), a type of common ear infection, new study says.

The researchers from University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands studied almost 500 Dutch children who used dummies or pacifiers. The study spanning five years found that the pacifiers almost double the risk of recurrent ear infections in those who used it as compared to the non-users

Scientists have discovered a new, inexpensive compound that has the potential to treat acute diarrhea. The finding could prove beneficial for developing countries, where diarrhea is a major cause of child deaths.

The new compound is a pyridopyrimidine derivative that targets E. coli and other enterotoxigenic strains of bacteria that cause acute secretory diarrhea, researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston said