Health Highlights: Jan. 13, 2009

Jan. 14 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Anti-Smoking Advocate Tapped for HHS Deputy

President-elect Barack Obama has nominated William V. Coor, executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a nonprofit group that seeks to reduce tobacco use among children and adults, for deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the New York Times reported Tuesday.

If confirmed by the Senate, Coor would serve as No. 2 in the department under former Senate majority leader Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), who was selected last month by Obama to head the health agency. Coor worked as Daschle's chief counsel and policy director when Daschle was minority leader. As a member of Obama's transition team, Coor also led efforts to evaluate the department he is now nominated to join and previously had served as chief of staff at HHS under former secretary Donna Shalala in the Clinton administration, according to the Times.

"Reforming our health care system will be a top priority of my administration and key to putting our economy back on track," Obama said in a statement. "Under the leadership of Tom Daschle and Bill Corr, I am confident that my Department of Health and Human Services will bring people together to reach consensus on how to move forward with health care reform."

The new Congress is expected to aggressively pursue federal regulation of cigarettes, raising taxes on tobacco products and approving an international tobacco control treaty, the newspaper said. As a senator, Obama, an occasional smoker himself, co-sponsored a bill that would have given the U.S. Food and Drug Administration broad powers to regulate tobacco products, including cigarettes.

-----

FDA Approves Guidelines for 'Off-Label' Drug Use

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has OK'd guidelines that would make it easier for drug companies to use medical journal articles to promote drugs for unapproved uses, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.