| Health briefs
Holistic fairMore than 100 professionals in the fields of holistic medicine and alternative practice will be on hand at the Northeastern Holistic Health Fair Jan. 27, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Jan. 28, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Salaam Shriners Center, 369 E. Mount Pleasant Ave., Livingston. The fair will also feature swing music by Joe Licari on clarinet and Larry Weiss on piano, a display of hand-made pottery and an art exhibit by surrealist artist Jay Hoffman. For more information, call fair coordinator Dara Winters at (201) 230-5927. People's Pharmacy Joe and Terry Graedon, authors of the syndicated newspaper column "The People's Pharmacy" and hosts of a radio show of the same name, offer simple remedies for heartburn caused by too many goodies and rich foods in their new book, "Best Choices from the People's Pharmacy." Among their suggestions: Chew gum for heartburn.
House, Senate work on differences
The Florida House and Senate are trying to iron out differences in legislation meant to lower home insurance rates, struggling with how much risk those cuts will cost.
"We're all navigating risk," said House Democratic Leader Dan Gelber, as legislative negotiators talked broad policy but no specifics at this week's first House-Senate talks.
Both sides are waiting on estimates from regulators, insurers and bond advisers on premium reductions now and increased debt to the state if there is a hurricane.
The talks will run through the weekend, with Gov. Charlie Crist and CFO Alex Sink joining from the sidelines. Both chambers hope to have a compromise bill they can vote on Monday evening, wrapping up a seven-day special session on insurance.
But Sink this afternoon warned legislators they need to decide how much risk is too much, as they contemplate schemes for Florida consumers to lighten the load on insurance companies to pay hurricane claims.
TRICARE wants retirees to use mail-order drugs
Defense officials are weighing new initiatives to limit access to the TRICARE retail drug network, particularly for older beneficiaries who are using neighborhood drug outlets to get their maintenance medications. Proposals under review, some of which require congressional action to implement, were discussed Feb. 6 at the second public meeting of the Task Force on the Future of Military Health Care. The Department of Defense wants help from the task force to drive a larger proportion of 6.7 million TRICARE pharmacy users into the mail-order program which is far more efficient. Prescriptions filled by retail outlets cost TRICARE about 40 percent more than drugs obtained by mail. After a yearlong marketing campaign, the number of beneficiaries using mail order rose by only 11 percent, a figure that disappointed officials.
(AFX UK Focus) 2007-01-30 15:16 GMT: Wyeth 4Q profit up 17 percent
NEWARK, N.J. (AFX) - Wyeth on Tuesday said its fourth-quarter profit rose 17 percent, driven by sales of the antidepressant Effexor and the childhood infection vaccine Prevnar. Net income for the Madison-based drug maker grew to $855.4 million, or 63 cents per share, from $731.7 million, or 54 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Results for the latest quarter included charges of 3 cents per share related to productivity initiatives. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected fourth-quarter profit of 71 cents per share. Quarterly revenue rose 10 percent to $5.22 billion, from $4.75 billion last year, compared with a Wall Street consensus of $5.11 billion for the latest quarter. Sales were driven by an 11 percent rise in sales of Effexor to $936.1 million, and a 25 percent increase in sales of Prevnar to $501.7 million.
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