Health Highlights: Nov. 9, 2008

Nov. 10 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Lung Cancer Drug Shows Promise in New Trial

Results from a new lung cancer treatment study may have given new life to the drug Tarceva.

According to Newsday, Tarceva's manufacturer, OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Melville, N.Y. and its partner Genentech have announced the preliminary results of a study in which giving Tarceva to lung cancer patients immediately after chemotherapy helped slow the progress of the malignancy.

An earlier clinical trial with Taceva had not been successful, the newspaper reports, when it was combined with Genentech-made Avastin. The results indicated that the drug combination did not prolong lung cancer patients' lives.

But the findings from the new study, called Saturn, were strong enough to be presented at an upcoming medical conference, according to Newsday. "With all of the progress we've made, we still have a long way to go, but this is a good step," OSI chief executive Colin Goddard told the newspaper.

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Bush Administration Tightening Medicaid Regulations

The Bush administration is tightening up on some outpatient Medicaid payments to hospitals, seemingly in conflict with post-election goals of President-elect Barack Obama, the New York Times reports.

Included in the services scheduled for reduction in Medicaid payments are some types of outpatient care, such as dental and vision treatment, the newspaper reports. State governments, which administer Medicaid payments to hospitals, rely heavily on federal funding. Medicaid provides financing for medical services to poor people.

The notice of new Medicaid rules was published Friday in The Federal Register and was justified by the Bush administration as being necessary because the old regulations on outpatient service were ambiguous and could cause the states to claim excessive payments, the Times reports.

Reaction to the new regulations was swift. "This is a disaster for safety-net institutions like ours," John W. Bluford III, the president of Truman Medical Centers in Kansas City, Mo., told the newspaper.