Almost every piece of complicated machinery comes with an instruction manual. Without the proper directions it requires much more time and patience to figure out exactly how to use a new car, computer or TV. Using trial and error may be an appealing... 

The NIH gives out more than $20 billion a year in research money, and the institutions that get it — universities and med schools, among others — are supposed to track potential conflicts of interest among their researchers and report back... 

The Health Blog just got an email from Pfizer informing us that some people feel guilty or sad about leaving their dogs behind when they travel for the holidays. And a vet who works for Pfizer said that if you’re “experiencing tough economic... 

The bad news is coming in clumps for biotech company Genzyme. The company today said it has scrapped development plans for a stronger version of its Renvela kidney-failure product after a later-stage trial showed the proposed drug wasn’t more effective... 

Cardiologist Gregory Thomas was visiting Cairo’s Egyptian Museum in 2008 when he happened to notice a nameplate for the mummy of Pharaoh Merenptah. It said the ruler of Egypt some 3,200 years ago had atherosclerosis, arthritis and dental decay... 

It’s no secret that big pharma laboratories have done a poor job discovering new medicines in recent years. There’s been a litany of high-profile failures (see here and here , for example). As a result, many inside and outside the industry... 

The American Heart Association’s big scientific meeting starts Sunday, and everybody’s buzzing about results that will be presented Monday from a comparison of Merck’s cholesterol drug Vytorin against Abbott’s Niaspan. There’s... 

Turns out excessive texting can get you more than a hefty phone bill. Though it’s the preferred choice of easy communication for young adults and teens, a new study reveals that texting can actually increase upper body pain in the neck and shoulders.... 

Chris Viehbacher, the CEO of Sanofi-Aventis, told the Health Blog a while back that he planned to shift a big chunk of research funding away from Sanofi’s internal labs and toward external partnerships with smaller, more nimble biotech shops. That... 

Egg nog is showing up on grocery shelves, and holiday songs can be heard on the radio. So it must be time for all of us to assess the state of our health benefits. At least that’s what I argue in my Healthy Consumer column today. The point is that...