FDA

FDA approves Crestor for younger patients with familial hypercholesterolemia.The AP (10/16) reported that "the Food and Drug Administration approved AstraZeneca PLC's cholesterol drug Crestor [rosuvastatin] for use by children and teenagers with a genetic disease" called heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia. The condition "affects 10 million people worldwide, and causes high levels of...LDL cholesterol." HeartWire (10/16, O'Riordan) reported that "the approval is based on data from the Pediatric Lipid Reduction Trial of Rosuvastatin (PLUTO), a 12-week randomized, controlled trial that examined the safety and efficacy of rosuvastatin in 177 pediatric familial hypercholesterolemia patients."

Technology

Number of people using Internet to research drug information doubles.

Healthcare IT News (10/2, Monegain) reported, "Since 2005, the number of patients using the Internet to research prescription drug information has doubled to 102.3 million, according to a new study from Manhattan Research." The survey of 8,600 adults "during the third quarter of this year" also "found that the major theme of the digital health landscape over the past four years is the increasing diversity of the overall patient media mix." In addition, health-related "social media, in particular, has flourished in recent years with the increased popularity of online patient communities, social networking and health 2.0 applications."