A landmark report on the Global Economic Impact of Dementia finds that Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias are exacting a massive toll — $604 billion in 2010 — on the global economy, with the problem set to accelerate in coming years.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has joined the ranks of public health agencies reviewing a popular class of blood pressure medicines and its possible link to cancer, despite criticism about using the method of meta-analysis to establish such a link.Researchers at Cleveland, Ohio’s, University Hospitals Harrington-McLaughlin Heart & Vascular Institute blew the whistle on [...]

Two Ohio-based units of German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim will contribute to a $7.75 million settlement with Wisconsin of claims they overcharged its Medicaid program for drugs, according to the Pharmalot blog.The settlement by Roxane Laboratories in Columbus and Ben Venue Laboratories in Bedford — neither admitting wrongdoing or violation — was part of a larger [...]

The German parent of Ben Venue and Roxane drug-making facilities in Ohio has launched a $135 million venture fund to foster innovation in the life sciences.Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH of Ingelheim, Germany, started Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund to invest in biotech and start-up companies worldwide “that provide ground-breaking therapeutic approaches and technologies to help drive innovation [...]

The Ohio Third Frontier program has attracted $3.2 billion in private investment since it began seven years ago, according to a recent report by the Ohio Business Roundtable. The Roundtable is one of the leading proponents of renewing Ohio Third Frontier through a May 2010 ballot initiative.