Studies showed the painkiller Vioxx had heart side effects years before drugmaker Merck pulled the pill off the market.

Congressional budget crunchers said  the Democrats' latest health care plan would hold down federal red ink for at least 20 years, an assessment that gave supporters hope as the Senate moved gingerly toward  debate.

The US Senate released a long-awaited healthcare reform plan on that budget analysts said would extend coverage to tens of millions of the uninsured and reduce the deficit over 10 years.

Doctors completed the sixth successful procedure of a revolutionary brain cancer treatment. It forgoes traditional methods and administers Genentech's  chemo drug, Avastan directly into the tumor.

A U.S. clinical study suggests that just half a dose of the Novartis AG H1N1 vaccine may be enough to generate a protective immune response, the Swiss drugmaker said on Tuesday.

The most important new antidiscrimination law in two decades — the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act — will take effect in the nation’s workplaces next weekend, prohibiting employers from requesting genetic testing or considering someone’s genetic background in hiring, firing or promotions. The New York Times explaines the ramifications.

Even as drug makers promise to support Washington’s health care overhaul by shaving $8 billion a year off the nation’s drug costs after the legislation takes effect, the industry has been raising its prices at the fastest rate in years, reports the New York Times.

Bristol-Myers Squibb said on Sunday it plans to split off its 83 percent stake in Mead Johnson Nutrition Company in a deal that lets Bristol shareholders exchange their shares for Mead Johnson common stock.

The results of a highly-anticipated head-to-head cholesterol drug study further calls into question the level of effectiveness of Merck's  blockbusters Zetia and Vytorin.

GlaxoSmithKline has won U.S. marketing approval to sell an unadjuvanted H1N1 swine vaccine, allowing it to ship relatively modest amounts of scarce vaccine to the United States next month.

The healthcare reform that the House of Representatives approved late Saturday is bad for the US and will actually damage the health care system, Steve Forbes, CEO at Forbes, told CNBC Monday.

After a landmark win in the U.S. House of Representatives, President Barack Obama's push for healthcare reform faces a difficult path in the Senate.

Software, biotech firms and others who develop new ways to do business will be watching closely Monday as the Supreme Court hears a case that could determine if such innovations can be patented.

New York City health officials scrambled to explain themselves Thursday following outraged media reports about bankers who got scarce H1N1 flu vaccines through their employers

In a coup for House Democrats, AARP will endorse sweeping health care overhaul legislation headed for a history-making floor vote, officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.