University of Pennsylvania has won funding for a study of a concussion treatment for athletes.Dr. Peter LeRoux, associate professor of neurosurgery, won the$250,000, three-year Dana Foundation Clinical Neuroscience grant.Dr. Akiva S. Cohen is an associate professor of neurology, neurosurgery and pediatrics at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Cohen and [...]

Respiratory treatments company Cornerstone Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRTX) is broadening its offerings with the acquisition of cardiovascular drug company Cardiokine Biopharma.Cary, North Carolina-based Cornerstone’s acquisition of Cardiokine, located in Philadelphia, was completed on Dec. 30, a day after Cardiokine filed a New Drug Application (NDA) for its lead drug candidate, lixivaptan.AdvertisementLixivaptan has completed phase 3 clinical trials [...]

The experience of having surgery can be a stressful and sometimes frightening prospect for patients. New York-based OrganizedWisdom’s program enables physicians to deepen patient understanding of complex surgical procedures with diagrams, videos and information that can be viewed at home and with a patient’s smartphone. The company’s chief medical officer, Dr. Howard Krein, is an assistant professor of otolaryngology, head and neck surgery, at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia and a founding partner and co-director of Jefferson’s Herbert Kean Center for Facial Aesthetics.

Gaming is a big trend in health IT and mobile health in particular as a way to help patients follow a health regimen and make healthier choices. Ayogo’s gaming software targets people with chronic diseases and encourages them to share their day-to-day progress with stories.

One year after Shire (NASDAQ:SHPGY) pulled its drug for low blood pressure, ProAmatine, from the market after reaching an impasse with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, it has agreed to do the additional clinical tests the regulator wanted.The agreement was made with the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, a division of the FDA. [...]

Ask a person on any street in America about medical innovations and you’ll get answers like Boston, San Francisco and the Twin Cities. It’s stunning that same national cachet is less often attached to the MedCity of Philadelphia.In recent years, there’s been much more buzz. A Milken study funded by regional groups a couple years [...]

A week after GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) reached a $3 billion federal settlement over claims it illegally marketed Avandia and other drugs, the drugmaker now faces pressure to resolve the thousands of Avandia patient lawsuits that remain.Judge Cynthia Rufe, U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, appointed a mediator to oversee settlement negotiations for Avandia [...]

Penn Medicine is moving ahead with a tool that flags candidates for clinical trials in its electronic medical record systems after finishing a successful pilot program that drove clinician referrals.Penn Medicine is doing a second pilot with its Penn Research Trial Advisory software that includes two more clinical trials. The software is programmed to look [...]

So, you not only come up with a great medical device or drug that will improve or save lives, you spend years getting your product through clinical trials. And, finally, it’s approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Now, your product is ready to launch.But one major issue highlighted at a panel discussion at [...]

The Innovation Forum at the Biotech 2011 conference in Philadelphia this week sought to put scientists and early stage startups from universities and incubators in the region in front of investors and alongside other, more mature startups to provide opportunities for investment and partnerships.Judith Sheft, associate vice president for technology and development at the New [...]