For the millions who suffer from Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) provides clinical evidence of safety and effectiveness for a new, FDA-approved medical device. Torax Medical’s LINX® Reflux Management System was studied in a controlled, prospective, multicenter trial involving 14 U.S. and European medical centers as part of the FDA pre-market approval process. The patients were evaluated before and after treatment to determine the effect of the LINX System on their GERD using pre-defined success criteria, which included reduction of esophageal acid, improvement in quality of life and elimination of reflux medications.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/mnr/60077-torax-medical-linx-reflux-management-system-clinical-study-published
Nancy Lieberman, basketball hall of famer, coach and mom, has teamed up with Sanofi’s consumer healthcare division Chattem Inc. to introduce a new, more effective player on the over-the-counter (OTC) allergy medication roster, Nasacort Allergy 24HR Nasal Spray. Now available in stores nationwide, Nasacort Allergy 24HR is different than other currently available OTC allergy medications. It puts the “Full ‘Cort Press” on the full range of nasal allergy symptoms for 24 hours with a once daily dose. Nasacort Allergy 24HR is the first and only medicine in its class to be available at full prescription strength without the need for a prescription.
To view the Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/mnr/7122351-basketball-hall-of-famer-nancy-lieberman-nasacort-allergy-24hr
Extremely painful and destructive, gout is the most common form of inflammatory arthritis with elevated serum uric acid (sUA) a root cause of the disease. Even with the growing incidence of gout, recent research from the Gout & Uric Acid Education Society (GUAES) found that just 16 percent of Americans overall know the target sUA number for gout (6 mg/dL or below) – and just 38 percent of people with gout had their sUA levels checked within the past six months, the timeframe recommended by the American College of Rheumatology. Additionally, the majority of gout sufferers don’t understand the importance of taking daily uric acid-lowering medications, with four in 10 incorrectly believing that they can stop taking medications when they aren’t experiencing flares.
Seeking to increase recognition of the severity of gout and need for routine sUA testing and management, GUAES hosted a professional roundtable discussion on October 3, 2015. The roundtable brought together several experts – rheumatologists, a family care physician, and representatives from the American Association of Diabetes Educators, the National Kidney Foundation and CreakyJoints – to explore how to more effectively educate about gout and improve access to public education and treatment.
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7715851-guaes-gout-roundtable-discussion/
AARP’s ‘Random Acts of Kindness for Caregivers’ contest is underway. The contest encourages people of all ages to recognize and reward family caregivers in their lives in small but meaningful ways, especially during National Family Caregivers Month in November.
Many family caregivers spend 18 hours per week or more providing care like bathing, dressing, preparing meals, administering medications, driving to doctor visits, or paying bills. Sixty percent of caregivers are helping care for a loved one while holding down a job at the same time. ‘Random Acts of Kindness for Caregivers’ might be something as simple as doing a caregiver’s grocery shopping, taking their dog for a walk, or even cutting the lawn.
“I’ve been a family caregiver my entire adult life and I know that unexpected kindness can go a long way for a caregiver,” says AARP Family and Caregiving Expert Amy Goyer, author of the new book Juggling Life, Work, and Caregiving. “If you are not one of the 40 million caregivers in the U.S. now, you either have been a caregiver or will be one in the future.”
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7607231-aarp-caregivers/
Following FDA approval of the AspireSR® generator for the VNS Therapy® system in June 2015, more than a thousand patients with drug-resistant epilepsy across the United States have received this new treatment option. Many of these patients are experiencing benefits which have positively impacted their lives – and are sharing their stories during Epilepsy Awareness Month with the hope of encouraging others to seek new treatments for drug-resistant epilepsy. Numerous hospitals nationwide have begun providing the AspireSR device to patients with drug-resistant epilepsy – a condition that affects as many as one-third of people with epilepsy, causing them to have seizures in spite of treatment with antiepileptic medications.
The VNS Therapy system is a minimally invasive option in which a medical device is placed under the skin in the upper chest area during an outpatient procedure. The device sends mild electrical pulses through the vagus nerve to areas of the brain known to be associated with seizures. The new AspireSR generator takes the VNS Therapy technology a step further – detecting relative heart-rate increases that are often associated with seizures in people with epilepsy and providing responsive stimulation in an attempt to stop and shorten seizures and improve recovery.
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7651751-livanova-aspiresr-treatment/
Millennium Health, a leading health solutions company, today announced the launch of the Drop Them Off campaign, in partnership with the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation and the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids’ Medicine Abuse Project. Designed to increase awareness of the problem of youth misuse and abuse of prescription medicine, the campaign intends to educate parents and youth on how to properly use, store, and dispose of prescription medications by dropping them off at appropriate collection sites among other methods, to reduce access and opportunity for misuse or abuse. Educational content will be available online (www.DropThemOff.com) and through curriculum delivered through the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation’s community-based partners. Millennium Health is a Silver Sponsor of the Medicine Abuse Project, a campaign that aims to prevent half a million teens from abusing medicine by 2017.
To view the Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7071752-millennium-health-drop-them-off/
Meijer announced today it is launching its new Consumer Drug Take-Back Program by installing secure in-store kiosks designed to help customers safely and properly dispose of unused or expired prescription drugs at no cost. Customers can find the easily identifiable kiosks in the pharmacy area in all 241 Meijer supercenters across the Midwest.
“Meijer is thrilled to be one of the first in our industry to provide a secure and convenient prescription drug take-back program at all stores in the communities we serve,” said Jason Beauch, Vice President of Meijer Pharmacy. “The Meijer Drug Take-Back Program allows our customers to remove the risk of an unforeseen accident occurring with expired or unused medications, while enabling them to properly dispose prescription drugs and reducing the possibility of creating a public health hazard.”
To view the multimedia release go to:
https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8497051-meijer-consumer-drug-take-back-program/
Nearly 12 million men in the U.S. suffer from symptoms related to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), an enlargement of the prostate that can cause issues such as frequent and weak urinary streams and sleep deprivation from getting up repeatedly during the night to urinate. Since traditional BPH therapies such as daily medications and more invasive or surgical procedures often result in unwanted side effects and complications, more than 54 percent of men who would benefit from treating their BPH choose not to do anything1. With today’s national introduction of the FDA-cleared Rezūm® System, NxThera provides urologists and their patients suffering from symptomatic BPH with a new, safe and effective minimally-invasive, office-based treatment option which improves quality of life and preserves sexual function2 – one of the main reasons many men choose to forego medications or more invasive procedures.
“Men suffering from BPH are constantly evaluating the trade-offs between maintaining their current declined quality of life or treating their BPH symptoms and possibly incurring long term side effects,” said Dr. Kia Michel, M.D., a urologist at Comprehensive Urology in Los Angeles who recently performed the procedure as part of a nationally televised segment on prostate health. “Of all the minimally-invasive BPH treatments I’ve performed, Rezūm is the most effective and most versatile treatment available to patients – and the results have been excellent.”
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7933151-nxthera-rezum-therapy/
A new survey from the Gout & Uric Acid Education Society (GUAES) finds many Americans with gout may be placing too much emphasis on diet when it comes to managing the disease and controlling painful flares. Of all the steps taken to manage gout, respondents cited changing their diet by eliminating or reducing consumption of certain foods as their top step taken (50 percent)—even ahead of taking medications to lower their uric acid levels (40 percent) and maintaining an overall healthy fitness level (33 percent). Furthermore, nearly one in three with gout incorrectly believes that the disease can be completely avoided by eliminating certain foods; and more than one in four said they would not take medications if they were making dietary changes.
“Physicians all too often see patients who believe they can successfully manage their gout with diet alone,” said N. Lawrence Edwards, M.D., a rheumatologist and GUAES chairman. “But even with extremely rigid diet restrictions, most gout patients will only be able to lower their uric acid levels slightly—not nearly enough to achieve a healthy level to control flares and reduce risk for long-term damage.”
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7835451-guaes-diet-survey/
LivaNova PLC (NASDAQ:LIVN; LSE: LIVN) (“LivaNova” or the “Company”), a market-leading medical technology and innovation company, today recognizes that more than one million people in the United States with drug-resistant epilepsy continue to be treated unsuccessfully with drugs, despite the proven effectiveness of non-drug treatment options. LivaNova’s VNS Therapy®, for example, is a medical device treatment specifically designed for people with drug-resistant epilepsy that is already used by more than 85,000 people around the world.
One in three people with epilepsy has the type that is not well controlled with drugs, called drug-resistant epilepsy. For those people, prescribing more medicine is usually not the most effective option. In fact, research shows that if you haven’t found seizure freedom after your first two drugs, there is a 95 percent chance that no drug or combination of drugs will result in seizure freedom.
“Despite what we know about drug-resistant epilepsy, the majority of people affected by this condition will continue to be prescribed additional medications instead of being evaluated for surgery or seen in a specialized epilepsy facility,” said Jason Richey, president of LivaNova’s U.S. Region and general manager of the Neuromodulation Business Franchise. “This treatment gap means over one million individuals in the U.S. with undertreated epilepsy remain at risk for dangerous side effects of continued seizures, including injury, depression, memory issues and death.”
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7966451-livanova-vns-therapy-epilepsy/
November is National Family Caregivers Month and AARP is launching a national campaign to bring awareness to the important role that family caregivers play in the lives of their loved ones. AARP's Random Acts of Kindness for Caregivers contest will begin on October 15 with the goal of encouraging people to recognize and reward caregivers - many of whom spend 18 hours per week providing care like bathing, dressing, preparing meals, administering medications, driving to doctor visits or paying bills - in small but meaningful ways.
“Caregiving may be one of the greatest expressions of love and it's woven into the lives of one in six adults,” says AARP Family and Caregiving Expert Amy Goyer, author of the new book Juggling Life, Work and Caregiving. “A staggering 40 million family caregivers provide support for loved ones and, as a caregiver myself, I know that the smallest acts of kindness - like holding a door for someone pushing a wheelchair, surprising them with flowers, or even taking a caregiver's dog for a walk - can be memorable moments in the life of a caregiver.”
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7607231-aarp-caregivers/
Every spring, allergies take control of the lives of millions of Americans, affecting their work, their family time and even how well they sleep at night. Something else affects those millions of allergy sufferers, according to a new survey: big misconceptions about allergies that may keep people from getting needed relief.
To help put those misconceptions about allergies to rest, Sanofi is teaming up with science educator and television personality Adam Savage, along with allergist Dr. Neeta Ogden, to dispel them with credible information. The goal: help the 50 million allergy sufferers in America get the facts they need to understand and treat their allergies and take back control of their lives.
To view the multimedia release go to:
https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8255452-sanofi-allergy-misconceptions-facts-adam-savage/
