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ScienceDaily (Oct. 16, 2012) ? Cranberry juice is unlikely to prevent bladder and kidney infections, according to an updated systematic review published in The Cochrane Library. The authors analysed the most up-to-date evidence and concluded that any benefit, if present at all, is likely to be small and only for women with recurrent UTI.
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) affect the bladder, as in cystitis, and sometimes the kidneys. Cranberries and cranberry juice have been used to prevent UTIs for decades, although it is not clear how they might help protect against infection. According to one theory, certain sugars and flavanol compounds in cranberries prevent bacteria sticking to cells lining the walls of the urinary tract. Several systematic reviews have been published on the subject in The Cochrane Library, each time incorporating more evidence. In the last review in 2008, it was concluded that cranberries offer a small benefit in preventing recurring UTIs in women.
In the current review, the researchers gathered together evidence from 24 studies that involved a total of 4,473 people. These studies included 14 added since the 2008 update. Those in treatment groups were given cranberry juice, tablets or capsules, while those in control groups were given placebo cranberry products, water, methenamine hippurate, antibiotics, lactobacillus or nothing. Although in some studies there were small benefits for women suffering from recurring infections, women would have to consume two glasses of cranberry juice per day for long periods to prevent one infection. The researchers conclude that current evidence does not support cranberry juice as a means of preventing UTIs.
"Now that we've updated our review with more studies, the results suggest that cranberry juice is even less effective at preventing UTIs than was shown in the last update," said lead researcher Ruth Jepson of the University of Stirling in Stirling, UK. In the studies where participants were given juice, there were large numbers of drop-outs, suggesting it might not be acceptable to drink over long time periods. A common problem with the studies evaluating cranberry tablets or capsules was that they rarely reported the amount of active ingredient, so it was unclear whether levels would have been high enough to have any effect.
"We can't see a particular need for more studies of the effect of cranberry juice, as the majority of existing studies indicate that the benefit is small at best, and the studies have high drop-out rates," said Jepson. "More studies of other cranberry products such as tablets and capsules may be justified, but only for women with recurrent UTIs, and only if these products contain the recommended amount of active ingredient."
Funding for the 2012 update of the review was provided by the UK NHS NIHR.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/96rLuFjdhsM/121016204143.htm
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Kyle Bennett, a popular?BMX cyclist and sport champion, was killed Sunday in an auto accident in East Texas.
Kyle Bennett, 33, was involved in a single-car accident in which reports indicate speed and lack of a seatbelt may have contributed, precipitating the tragic outcome.?Auto World News gave the following report of Bennett?s death, saying:
?[Kyle] Bennett was driving his?2006 Toyota Tundra?pickup truck on Sunday when the vehicle left the roadway while ? traveling over the legal speed limit. The truck then hit a wrought iron gate, a culvert pipe and multiple trees before it finally stopping upside down in a ditch according to the Montgomery County police report.?
According to the site, first responders were able to extricate Bennett from the wreckage, but the Olympic racer had already died by the time he was removed from the truck. The site also cites a police report in indicating that Bennett?s speed may have been down to the fact someone had just broken?into his fianc?e?s car.
Fellow BMX cyclist?Derek Betcher commented on his friend?s death, saying:
?Rest in peace to father, friend, Olympian, multi-World Champion, hall of famer, legend, and all around awesome person with such effortless style and flow, Kyle Bennett ? I was always so inspired by watching you ride, and equally inspired by your humble personality. I?ll remember all the good times, my friend. You?ll be forever missed.?
No other cars or people were involved in the accident that killed Kyle Bennett. The athlete leaves behind a?fianc?e and a small daughter, Kylie, who is four.
Source: http://www.inquisitr.com/363898/kyle-bennett-olympic-bmx-champion-killed-in-texas-auto-accident/
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LONDON (Reuters) - Careful what you wish for.
That could be advice for corporate governance advocates who sought a separate vote on the lavish executive pay deal that was bundled in as part of the terms of the $33 billion merger between Glencore and Xstrata.
Thanks to a voting structure shake-up, shareholders will now be able to vote for the deal without the pay, and have an option to reject the proposed retention packages, achieving what looks like a victory against excessive boardroom remuneration.
But as unpopular as the retention packages are, fund managers may prove too worried about threatening the commercial promise of the union - and going against the advice of Xstrata's board - to risk making a stand.
That means at the end of the day, Glencore and Xstrata executives are likely to get both their merger and their pay, while silencing critics who had initially accused them of ramming the deal through without a separate pay vote.
One former Xstrata shareholder, who sold out of his position soon after the Glencore merger talks began, described the awkward dilemma facing shareholders as "appalling".
"There's nothing wrong with paying executives well if the shareholders are doing well too. But the whole obfuscation that is going on here and across the industry on pay, we are very much against," the fund manager said, asking not to be identified while discussing an investment decision on a deal that is still up in the air.
"The idea that you can be paid a lot before investors have made any money is ridiculous. Retention packages? Why have any of that? Why shouldn't we just pay people well after they have performed?"
Instead of a single up-or-down vote on a merger including the pay deal, shareholders will now have three votes: to allow the merger if the pay deal is approved, to allow the merger to go ahead without the pay deal, and finally an up-or-down vote on the pay deal itself.
That means that when the vote on the pay deal finally takes place, shareholders will know whether their decision would scupper the merger or not.
The voting shake-up plays on a division of responsibility at fund houses, whereby separate teams shape views on the logic of the merger and on resolutions linked to governance issues like incentives and bonuses.
"This separation of investment and corporate governance decision-making is a problem that requires addressing," said Simon Wong, a partner at Governance for Owners, a fund manager that invests on the premise that guarantees of shareholder rights improve long-term returns.
"Under the bundled scenario, the corporate governance and investment teams have to work together to reconcile views. Now they can just vote separately, and the likely objections to the retention package and corporate governance will be much less consequential."
Bundled resolutions are broadly unpopular as they force investors into a binary choice on a complex deal and all its accompanying terms, preventing managers from fully expressing a view on remuneration or corporate governance issues without jeopardizing a deal that on balance makes investment sense.
In this case, some investors may accept management's argument that the future success of the merged group relies on how many of Xstrata's operational staff remain in their roles.
Unlike in other mergers, there is little overlap in revenue-generating staff between Glencore and Xstrata. Were many Xstrata staff to leave and take their revenue streams with them, that could cost investors more than they gain from curbing pay.
Miner Xstrata will be tying its future to trader Glencore at a turning point as it moves from an acquisition-fuelled first decade to a period of organic growth, intended to boost volumes by 50 percent and cut costs.
Among the projects set to come on stream are Koniambo, a challenging greenfield ferronickel mine in New Caledonia, and the Las Bambas copper project in Peru. Investors may conclude that now is no time to risk losing staff.
"Investors should make a joined up decision, to say - we may not like the retention packages but on balance, do we need them because these executives are so essential to the merged entity? The way the deal is now structured, means that you can almost divorce the two," Wong added.
OPPOSITION
With its opaque image and corporate governance record, Glencore's bid to merge with Xstrata has provoked opposition from institutional owners of the miner at every turn.
Some asset managers like Threadneedle and Schroders feel Glencore - Xstrata's biggest shareholder - is forcing through a deal that fails to reward fellow investors for their long-term support of the miner or for the increased volatility on future returns that a union with Glencore would probably bring.
Xstrata shareholders who have opposed the deal from the outset have had to weigh the merits of speaking out against the union and the risk of inflicting damage to the share price.
Even after heated battles on pay at a number of companies this year, in a series of votes that became known among corporate governance advocates as the "shareholder spring", fund managers proved reluctant to actually vote down pay deals which could spur talented executives to take their skills elsewhere.
Data compiled by Legal & General Investment Management showed just six remuneration reports were voted down this year.
If the Xstrata pay deal is rejected and the merger goes ahead without it, there is no clarity on what terms the merged company would then decide offer Xstrata staff. Investors in a merged firm without the pay deal may find they have less clout because votes on pay could be advisory rather than binding.
Nigel Read, partner at law firm Hogan Lovells in London, said the voting shake-up was "quite a clever tactical ploy" to make sure that if people are wavering they will vote in line with the advice of the Xstrata independent directors.
He thinks investors are now more likely to take that guidance than risk scuppering the deal altogether.
This sort of decoupling may become the prevalent custom, said Read, as management boards seek to retain influence while addressing the concerns of disaffected shareholders.
In both bundled and unbundled votes, funds say they are aware how vulnerable they are to manipulation.
While declining to comment directly on the merger while the deal is pending, large Xstrata shareholder Legal & General Investment Management said it has had to weigh similar issues in the past, when pay packages were linked to deals.
"There have been some corporate events where the companies have tried to put horrendous pay packages through that have been linked to the corporate action and we've had to say yes and sign it off because we want the actual corporate event to happen," said Angeli Benham, LGIM's UK Corporate Governance Manager.
(Additional reporting by Clara Ferreira-Marques; Editing by Peter Graff)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-xstrata-investors-pay-vote-may-not-risk-142259382--finance.html
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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission should "tread carefully" before bringing an antitrust complaint against Google, a veteran U.S. lawmaker said as news reports suggested the agency is ready to move forward.
Representative Jared Polis, a Colorado Democrat, questioned the FTC's reported move toward filing a case against Google. The FTC staff has prepared a recommendation that the FTC sue the company for anticompetitive behavior, according to recent news reports.
An FTC representative declined to comment on the news reports.
But Polis, founder of three Internet businesses, said in a letter sent last Tuesday that Google's advertising services help many small businesses reach their customers.
"At a time when the national economy continues to stagnate, it's not clear to me why the FTC should be focusing on a product that consumers seem very happy with, search engines," Polis wrote. "Competition is only a click away and there are no barriers to competition; if I created a better search algorithm I could set up a server in my garage and compete globally with Google."
Internet users have several other competing services available, he added. His constituents use Amazon.com for shopping, iTunes for music and movies, Facebook for social networking and mobile apps like Yelp to find local business, he said.
Internet users could see an antitrust lawsuit against Google or other Internet giants as excessive regulation, Polis added. "Today's giant can be tomorrow's failure without any government intervention," he wrote. "Several years ago, we called firms like AOL, MySpace and Yahoo 'dominant' -- but those firms have struggled to retain consumers online."
A Google spokesman repeated a recent statement from the company regarding an FTC antitrust lawsuit: "We are happy to answer any questions that regulators have about our business."
The spokesman also emailed a Time magazine article suggesting an FTC antitrust case would raise concerns about Internet regulation.
The FTC began investigating Google for antitrust violations in mid-2011. The agency reportedly focused on Google's relationship with Android handset makers and whether Google favors its own services in search results.
In April, the FTC hired outside litigator Beth Wilkinson to lead its antitrust investigation of Google.
Competitors of Google, including Microsoft and other members of advocacy group FairSearch.org, have complained that Google is using its search dominance to drive its customers to other Google services.
"Consumers -- not search engines -- should choose winners in the marketplace," the group said on its website. "No one company should be allowed to use its dominance to foreclose competitors from the search marketplace -- particularly in high-traffic specialty segments, like travel, jobs, health, real estate, media and local search."
U.S. policy makers "must act now to protect competition, transparency and innovation in online search," FairSearch.org's website said.
Grant Gross covers technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for The IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. Grant's e-mail address is grant_gross@idg.com.
Source: http://www.cfoworld.com/technology/49172/us-lawmaker-questions-ftcs-google-antitrust-investigation
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Despite living in the land of Fiat, Ferrari, and Lamborghini, Italians purchased more bikes than cars last year ? the first time that's happened since World War II.
A woman rides a bicycle in front of the Duomo cathedral in downtown Milan, Aug. 28. Italy's two-year borrowing costs fell nearly two percentage points at an auction on Tuesday, as large redemptions and investors' appetite for shorter maturities supported sale.
Alessandro Garofalo/Reuters
EnlargeThe chaos, congestion, and cobblestones can make cycling in Italy a nerve-shattering affair.
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But crazy drivers, swerving scooters, and gigantic potholes have not stopped a renaissance in cycling, as the economic crisis forces Italians to tighten their belts.
For the first time since the end of World War II, the number of bicycles sold in Italy has overtaken the number of cars, according to new figures from Confindustria, a manufacturers? association. Italy may be home to legendary brands such as Fiat, Ferrari, and Lamborghini, but 1,750,000 bikes were bought last year, compared to 1,748,000 motor vehicles.
Italy has one of the highest car ownership levels in the world ? there are around six cars for every 10 people. Owning a family car became one of the symbols of the country?s post-war industrialization and economic ?miracle.?
But the glory days of streaking down the autostrada or rattling down country lanes seem to have hit the skids, with driving now an unaffordable luxury for many. Gas prices recently hit two euros a liter ($9.50 a gallon) ? the highest in Europe ? and keeping the average car on the road costs around 7,000 euros ($9,000) a year.
Families are ditching their second cars, signing up to car pool schemes, and buying bicycles. Branches of Decathlon, an outdoor pursuits megastore often found on the periphery of big cities, are packed each weekend with people choosing between sturdy mountain bikes, sleek hybrids or, for commuters, collapsible two-wheelers.
Despite the dangers on the road, cycling is cheap and convenient ? in central Rome, where I live, a journey of a couple of miles is often quicker by bike than in a taxi or on a scooter.
In addition to new purchases, Italians have also hauled around 200,000 rusty old bikes from their cellars and garages and restored them to roadworthiness.
People have a new-found appreciation of the convenience of bikes and the fact that they are kind to the environment, Antonio Della Venezia, the president of the Italian Federation of Bike Lovers, told La Republica newspaper. ?People who have only ever driven cars are changing their thinking. I don?t think Italy will go back to the levels of cars sales that we saw before 2008.?
As bike sales boom, the car industry is going through its worst crisis for decades ? in September, sales of new automobiles were down 25 percent compared with the same period in 2011, according to figures for the industry released by Fiat.
Sergio Marchionne, the head of Fiat, said last month that "anyone operating in the automotive sector in Europe today is experiencing varying degrees of unhappiness. The European car market is a disaster."
The company?s most popular model now is the budget-priced Panda, which costs around 10,000 euros (about $13,000). But for families who find even that fairly modest sum too much of a stretch, biking could be the way to go.
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As we make our way around the country attending boat shows and classic boating related events, the subject of auctions and how the classic boat hobby reacts to auctions is always a hot topic for discussion. And everyone seems to have an opinion on the subject. I can say that these days there are many boat owners who (for a number of reasons) are interested in selling their classic boats, but are unsure what method will bring the best (and quickest) results.
This year there were a few antique boat related auctions in the north east, including the annual Clayton Auction presented by Antique Boat America, an auction in Hew Hampshire presented by Woodboats.org in May, and the New England Vintage Boat Auction in July at the New England Boat Museum.
A few weeks ago we reported that Dave Bortner from Freedom Boat Service had arranged to present two antique boats for auction at the huge RM Auction in Hershey, Pennsylvania on October 11?12. As we reported on Saturday, Dave presented a 1931 Dodge 21.5? Split Cockpit Runabout and a 1925 Hackercraft 26? Dolphin Runabout at Hershey. The Dodge hammered for 130,000.00 (plus fees) and bidding on the Hackercraft stalled at 95,000.00 and did not sell.

1931 21.5? Dodge Interior.
We caught up with Dave Bortner late yesterday, and asked him how he felt about his experience at the RM Auction and he sent us his thoughts?
Matt & Texx ? I was very impressed with the professionalism and friendly demeanor of the RM crew. From the security folks to Rob Myers himself, everyone was just as nice and accommodating as they could have been.
There was significant interest in both the boats, but the direct connection to the automobile history of the Dodge was especially interesting to the ?car guys?. There were a number of significant automobiles sold, including two Duesenbergs and several Packards, so the audience was certainly a quality group of capable people, many of whom were younger. There was also an eclectic selection of items in the auction, including motorcycles, a couple of immaculately restored farm tractors, and an 1894 horse-drawn steam fire engine, so boats were certainly not out of place.
I think it?s a worthwhile endeavor to expose more potential buyers to the beauty and history of vintage boats we appreciate and know so well, and I think a near-endemic venue like a vintage auto auction is a great place to do so. I do think boats at an auto auction require a knowledgeable representative on-site to answer the many questions that come up when offering boats to an audience not expert in the field.
Regardless of selling boats or not, it?s a worthwhile venue to expose and educate potential buyers.
Dave Bortner ? Freedom Boat Service

The highly anticipated 1931 Duesenberg Model J garners lively bidding, selling for a strong $1,175,000 hammer price! ? Photo courtesy RM Auctions
_________________________
Then last week we recieved an e-mail from fellow Woody Boater David Lott asking what we thought about the idea of a mid-western boat auction in Branson, Missouri. With David?s permission, here?s what he said in his e-mail?
Dear Woody Boater ? After the ACBS International show on Table Rock, Missouri where I live, a local classic auto auction person contacted me. I have a business relatioinship with him. He is also a addict of classic and antique boats. He owns five.
His auction as been ongoing twice per year for almost 20 years in the area and is widely followed and considered one of the best in the nation. But is all centrally located here.
He and I have been talking about another offering specifically related to the antique and classic boats on an annual basis here on Table Rock. It is understood that Clayton holds an annual auction.
Do you feel that Mid-America could be served by a centrally located annual auction specifically devoted to our love of these craft?
To get a feel of the professionalism brought to the table for this effort look at bransonauction.com
How would we reach the folks to get their opinion of this offering?
Branson Auction feels there is a market for a mid region auction but of course there has to be interest. That is what I am trying to find out. Thank you for your efforts. If nothing else we can learn the appetite for using auctions to buy/sell antique & classic boats.
Thank you for all you do,
David Lott
Branson Collector Car Auction
www.bransonauction.com
_________________________
So with the fresh results of last weekends annual RM Hershey Auction from Dave Bortner, we thought it would fun to reach out to the Woody Boater Community to ask ?What you think of auctions as a method of selling antique & classic boats and if an all-boat Mid-America auction would of interest??
- Would you buy an antique or classic boat from an auction?
- Would you sell an antique or classic boat at an auction?
- Is there any benefit to offering antique boats at classic car auctions and will this help to reach out beyond the boat hobby to sell your boat, and also bring awareness or attract people to the hobby?
You can post your comment in the box below, or if you prefer you can e-mail your comments to Matt@woodyboater.com and we will publish your comments on today?s story.
So LET er RIP ? and don?t hold back! We would love to hear what you have to say.
Matt & Texx
____________________
Source: http://www.woodyboater.com/communityweb/auctions-and-the-classic-boat-hobby-what-do-you-think/
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - When U.S. senators met nearly a decade ago to consider the dangers of pharmacies that mix or alter drugs with little federal oversight, health officials briefed them on some alarming findings about the safety and efficacy of drugs made by these "compounding pharmacies."
Dr. Steven Galson, a top official at the Food and Drug Administration, told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that in 2001 the agency had done a "limited" survey of drugs from 12 such pharmacies, including hormones, antibiotics, steroids and drugs to treat glaucoma, asthma and erectile dysfunction.
And he shed some light on the risks from an industry now at the heart of today's unprecedented meningitis outbreak.
Ten of the 29 drugs failed one or more quality tests, including nine that failed potency testing, some with less than 70 percent of their declared potency. By contrast, in its analyses of more than 3,000 samples from drug manufacturers, who are subject to FDA oversight, only four had quality problems.
"They had ample warning of problems in this industry," said Sarah Sellers, a pharmacist who worked in compounding before joining the FDA in 2005 to work on compliance issues surrounding compounding.
Now, as the deaths and illnesses mount from fungal meningitis linked to a contaminated steroid injection, the question of why early concerns about pharmacy compounding did not change U.S. law is a top focus for patients, regulators and lawmakers.
The FDA has traced the steroid injections to New England Compounding Center, or NECC, a Framingham, Massachusetts compounding pharmacy founded in 1998.
Shortly after Galson testified in 2003, Congress killed an attempt to establish an FDA oversight committee on pharmacy compounding. It was the first in a series of failures to regulate this little-known side of the pharmaceutical industry, which has fought back through Capitol Hill lobbying and political donations.
Much of the lobbying comes from grassroots mobilization of compounding pharmacists. Through programs such as "Compounders on Capitol Hill," they fan out to their senators and representatives to impress on politicians and their staffers the need for compounding.
"They mobilize their members, they scare patients and parents, and they flood Capitol Hill," said Sandra Fusco Walker, director of patient advocacy at Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics. "They are dedicated to making sure they never have FDA oversight."
Fusco Walker first tangled with the industry in 2004, when drugs produced by a compounding pharmacy for use in special inhalers called nebulizers turned out to have contamination and potency problems. She and her allies succeeded in getting insurers not to reimburse for compounded nebulizer drugs, essentially driving compounders out of that business.
SMALL-TOWN POLITICS
The International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists, the industry's Texas-based trade association, has long argued that existing regulations are more than adequate to protect patients.
"Compounding pharmacies are regulated by state boards of pharmacy and we also have an accrediting body," David Miller, chief executive of IACP, told Reuters. Heavy-handed federal oversight could strangle an industry that "serves a vital function," he said, including providing drugs that major manufacturers have stopped producing.
Small-town politics proved key to defeating the 2003 effort, which would have added a provision for the FDA advisory panel in a bill on the government's Medicare health plan for the elderly.
The IACP, which represents more than 2,700 pharmacists and others involved in compounding, ranging from those working in corner drugstores to owners of sizable operations including NECC, rallied its members.
It targeted lawmakers central to the decision-making process like Republican Representative Tom DeLay, whose Texas district was home to the IACP's Missouri City headquarters. DeLay was also House Majority leader from 2003 until 2005, when he resigned in the face of money-laundering charges for which he was later convicted.
The next serious attempt at regulation came in 2007, when Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy and Republican colleagues introduced the Safe Drug Compounding Act. It would have given the FDA authority to restrict when doctors could order injectable drugs from compounders, limit interstate distribution of compounded drugs, and establish requirements for sterile compounding.
The American Pharmacists Association, IACP and seven related professional organizations warned Kennedy and colleagues who were spearheading the bill that it would "negatively impact patient access to necessary compounded prescription medications," according to a March 2007 letter reviewed by Reuters.
A spokesman for IACP, David Ball, said no one from that era remains in any leadership positions at the group, but did not respond to questions about the current leaders' positions on the Kennedy bill.
The IACP raised its lobbying spending to $260,000 that year, from $20,000 in 2001 and $80,000 in 2005, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks such spending. It spent $116,189 in 2011 and $55,131 so far this year, according to the Center.
Compounders also enlisted parents of autistic children, who besieged Kennedy's office, arguing that compounding pharmacies were the sole source of treatments for the condition, such as the unproven therapy chelation to remove toxic metals from the body. Kennedy's bill never reached the floor.
The bill's proponents "saw the opposition and decided it wasn't going anywhere," said Fusco Walker.
'I'M SPECIAL' MEDICATION
For critics of the industry, it is no small irony that Kennedy's bill would have required the FDA to track three characteristics common to the tainted drugs linked to the current outbreak. The pharmacy under investigation, NECC, provided injectable drugs, shipped them across state lines and promised they met sterile conditions.
"There is a compounding pharmacy in every congressional district in the country, and compounders were on the Hill every year marching whenever there was a bill that would have increased federal oversight of them," said pharmacist Sellers, now president of Q-Vigilance, a consulting firm that advises pharmaceutical companies on safety.
Sellers resigned from the FDA in 2007, frustrated that bills such as Kennedy's went nowhere. Absent federal oversight of compounders, state boards of pharmacy, which typically have half a dozen inspectors for thousands of pharmacies, oversee them.
The FDA has asked Congress for greater regulatory authority, particularly after a 2002 Supreme Court decision stripped it of much of what it had.
"FDA's legal authority to regulate compounded drugs is complex and has been challenged vigorously by the compounding industry both in courts and Congress," said FDA spokeswoman Erica Jefferson.
The practice of compounding dates to the earliest pharmacies. Under U.S. law, compounding pharmacies can assemble the raw ingredients of any medication, whether or not it has been approved by the FDA, but are supposed to do so one prescription at a time, not in industrial-scale runs.
But as the Senate heard testimony in 2003 about thousands of patients injured or killed by bad batches of compounded drugs, demand for the products was growing from patients seeking more personalized therapies and from healthcare providers dealing with shortages of important medications.
A former NECC employee told Reuters that the lot numbers on the contaminated steroid indicated that the 17,000-plus doses were made on three days, casting doubt on whether the company was producing one prescription at a time for a named patient, as the IACP says compounding pharmacies are supposed to.
"More and more people are saying ?I'm special,' and can't take off-the-shelf medications," said Bill Zolner, chief scientific officer of Eagle Analytical Services, which performs quality and safety testing for compounding pharmacies and last tested a sample from NECC in 2008.
Some patients have allergies to a coloring agent or other inactive ingredient in a drug produced by a pharmaceutical company, for instance. Compounding pharmacies can make medications without the allergen.
Other patients seek a more natural product. For example, some women who receive hormone replacement therapy to treat menopause symptoms do not want the standard Premarin, made from the urine of pregnant mares, but instead search for biologically closer alternatives. A compounding pharmacist can produce human progesterone, for instance, from a plant compound, synthesizing a chemical identical to that in a woman's body.
"Progesterone is not available from pharmaceutical companies because it's not patentable," said Zolner. "So you get it from a compounding pharmacy."
Drug shortages have also boosted business for compounding pharmacies. Zolner estimates that thousands of medicines still in use have become harder to find after losing the patent protection that kept them profitable, meaning that brand-name and even generic drugmakers have turned to making other products.
"When even hospitals faced drug shortages - including for life-sustaining drugs - they had to turn to compounding pharmacies," said Joe Cabaleiro, executive director of the Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board (PCAB), which was founded in January 2006 by IACP and other pharmacy groups in the wake of concerns about the safety of drugs from compounding pharmacies.
The active ingredients for such drugs are often available, and far smaller compounders can still do a decent business producing the medications.
"If there is one reason why we see more use of (compounding pharmacies) in a hospital setting, it's because of drug shortages," including of cancer medications and anesthesia, said Leigh Briscoe-Dwyer, the chief pharmacy and medication safety officer for North Shore - LIJ Health System on New York's Long Island, adding that she and her staff do extensive due diligence on a compounding pharmacy before ordering from one.
"If I can't get a product from my normal channel but a drug compounder is able to compound that preparation for me, it's a way that we can get medications without interrupting care," she said.
BENIGN NEGLECT
Compounders have also enjoyed benign neglect from global pharmaceutical makers, who lobbied against a 1997 law that exempted drugs compounded by pharmacists from the usual safety and efficacy requirements.
"After that we didn't hear from big pharma again," said Sellers. "They haven't been very active on this issue because they haven't seen compounders as enough of a threat."
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the trade group for the pharmaceutical industry, declined to comment on compounding pharmacies.
Historians estimate that about 80 percent of prescriptions were compounded until the 1950s, when the post-World War II boom in drug manufacturing led to the eventual domination of mass-produced products by FDA-regulated manufacturers.
By 2006, some 30 million prescriptions were written for compounded products, or as many as 5 percent of annual prescriptions, found an analysis by a researcher at Kaiser Permanente. An estimated 3,000 to 5,000 compounding pharmacies operate in the United States, said Cabaleiro.
The problems have not been far behind. From 2001 to 2007, 120 patients in 11 states contracted bacterial and viral infections, including hepatitis C and meningitis, from drugs produced by compounding pharmacies; four died.
The death toll spiked in 2011, when nine patients died from bloodstream infections they developed after receiving intravenous medications prepared by a compounding pharmacy.
Even top hospitals were affected. When scientists at Johns Hopkins University investigated bacterial infections in six intensive care unit patients, they traced it to contaminated fentanyl, the powerful painkiller, from a compounding pharmacy.
"We assume any drug bought in large quantities by a healthcare facility comes from an FDA-approved and licensed manufacturer," said epidemiologist Lisa Maragakis, assistant professor of medicine at Hopkins, who led a 2009 study of the fentanyl case.
When she shared her finding with hospital pharmacists, they said they could not stop ordering from compounders: they were the only source of the fentanyl doses the ICU needed.
Such outbreaks led to the formation of the accreditation board in 2006. If a compounding pharmacy requests accreditation, PCAB will conduct an on-site inspection to assess, among other things, workers' competence, equipment, record keeping, air quality and clean-room qualities, said Cabaleiro.
Of the thousands of compounding pharmacies, 162 had been accredited; NECC is not among them.
"We've tried very hard to get the word out" to doctors and hospitals, among others, about the importance of using an accredited pharmacy, Cabaleiro said. "But it seems the market hasn't demanded accreditation."
(Additional reporting by Bill Berkrot; Editing by Michele Gershberg, Mary Milliken and Jim Loney)
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Items: 150 DIY Safety kits (includes protective eyewear, respiratory protection, sound protection, sanding products, lead paint test kits)
From: 3M DIY
Value: Approximately $30-$45 each
We had such a strong response to last month's 3M DIY Safety Kit giveaway, we're launching a second giveaway ? increase your chances of winning!
If anyone likes a good DIY project, it's our readers. But as we all know, doing it yourself takes the right tools and gear to avoid not-so-funny mishaps and wasted time and money. To help you out on your next project, the experts at 3M? DIY are giving away 150 free DIY Safety Kits.
Answer a new "Yes" or "No" question for the chance to win your own kit!
The folks at 3M? DIY have been in the home improvement, invention and innovation business for over 100 years, so they know what you need (goggles) and what you don't need (sawdust in your eye) to successfully complete your makeover magic.
Each kit in the giveaway includes products from 3M? TEKK Protection? to protect your eyes, ears and lungs, as well as sanding paper from 3M? Advanced Abrasives, and other safety essentials for your toolbox.
How to Enter:
To enter to win the DIY Safety Kit from 3M?, please answer the question and fill out the form below. The contest begins Monday, October 15, 2012, and ends Thursday, October 25, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. ET. We will choose 150 winners at random. (Check out the Official Rules here).
>>>Join the 3M DIY Community on Facebook
>>>Check out all the DIY How-To's, Expert Tips and Inspiration at 3MDIY.com!
Source: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/win-safety-kit-from-3m-diy-thursday-giveaway-178527
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