Most Astonishing Health Disaster of the 20th Century

In China, Controversial Brain Surgery for Mental Illness

In China, doctors are operating on mentally ill patients using surgical techniques that are “all but blacklisted for mental illness in the developed world,” the WSJ reports.
The surgeries are [...]

Health Blog Q&A: NY Marathon’s Medical Director

Lewis Maharam only ran one marathon, and that was to get a free turkey for Thanksgiving (more on that later). But he’s been the medical director of the New York [...]

Wyeth Brags Next CEO Found Without ‘Public Horse Race’

“Perhaps the timing caught some of you by surprise because we didn’t engage in the drama of a public horse race for succession that some of our competitors have been [...]

Merck Diabetes Drug Gets New Uses, Warnings

Merck’s diabetes drug Januvia has been approved by the FDA for use in combination with older diabetes medicines, but stiffer warnings have also been added to the Januvia’s label.
The instructions [...]

Hospital Stay Can Dull Mind

Delirium often dogs patients after they’ve been released from intensive care. The health community has long seen the confusion and cognitive impairmant as temporary, and more or less inevitable, complications [...]

Genentech Disappoints Despite Sales Gains

In these days of drug-industry troubles, who but Genentech could beat estimates, post 22% year-over-year earnings growth and still disappoint Wall Street?
Here’s what a few of the Genentech watchers had [...]

Pfizer and Biogen: Been There; Didn’t Do That

As the reign of Pfizer CEO Hank McKinnell was entering its twilight almost two years ago, he fired off a short, internal email asking whether it was time to buy [...]