According to a report in the British Telegraph, the first diabetes audit of National Health Service (NHS*) Hospitals in the UK has found that 20% of patients suffer from diabetes while only 4% of the total population have diabetes. This finding is twice as high as previous estimates. Some of the patients are being treated for the direct...

A new analysis funded by Novo Nordisk’s National Changing Diabetes® Program, found that the cost of diabetes and pre-diabetes reached $218 billion in 2007, with the exploding number of cases of type 2 diabetes responsible for the majority of the costs. According to the study, diagnosed type 2 diabetes accounted for $174.4 billion...

Barry Popkin, a professor of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina, and a nutrition expert who has advised the U.S. government and health policy makers around the world, says sugary drinks should be taxed. Popkin told Reuters that  the epidemic of obesity and weight gain sweeping the globe could be slowed dramatically by limiting...

The US Senate approved an amendment, put forward by Senator Barbara Mikulski, Democrat of Maryland, that would require insurance companies to offer free mammograms and other preventive services including annual diabetes screening. The vote was 61 to 39, with three Republicans joining 56 Democrats and the two independents in favor.  Reuters...

The city of New York has decided to step up the fight against diabetes. “Diabetes is the fifth leading cause of death in New York City and it contributes to other leading causes of death,” the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said in a statement quoted by UPI.  “The consequences...

According to the New York Times Democrats in Congress asked for two separate investigations of drug industry pricing Wednesday following news reports of unusually high wholesale price increases in brand-name prescription drugs. Four House leaders and one senator asked for government reviews of the pricing practices of the drug companies....

CNN reports that due to the diabetes epidemic in developing countries, there is a growing number of people suffering from kidney disease. As developing countries become increasingly urbanized, they are adopting the unhealthy lifestyles that promote diabetes and high blood pressure, the leading causes of kidney disease. The World Health...

The New York Times reports that drug companies have raised prices of wholesale brand-name prescription drugs by about 9% this year, which is the highest increase since 1992. The drug trend is distinctly at odds with the direction of the Consumer Price Index, which has fallen by 1.3 percent in the last year and contradictory to the drug...

An International Diabetes Federation (IDF) press release announced the opening of an International Conference on Diabetes & Associated Diseases in the Republic of Mauritius, in collaboration with the World Health Organization Afro Region and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) yesterday. Health ministers from 46 African countries...

Lars Sorensen CEO of Novo Nordisk, the world leading insulin producer, spoke at the Reuters Health Summit on Wednesday, and gave clear guidance on the impact of U.S. healthcare reform. In the short term sales may be  hit as a result of planned Medicare changes and a promise by pharma companies to help fund wider access to medicines....