Helen Palmer

Afghanistan's poppies already supply over 90 of the world's heroin, and this year's crop is huge. The U.S. wants to destroy the poppy fields, but some folks think they have a better idea.

The FDA has ordered drugmakers to issue strong new warnings about sleeping pills, citing risks of odd behaviors like sleep-eating and sleep-driving. That could cause complications for Big Pharma's bottom line.

GlaxoSmithKline's new drug Tykerb has won FDA approval to treat aggressive late-stage breast cancer. It could be a blockbuster — for investors and patients.

The FDA issued new guidelines today for fresh-cut produce. But the agency's director says the new guidelines aren't exactly the scientific solution to food-borne illness. Helen Palmer reports.

The Broad Institute will receive $100 million — the biggest award ever given for psychiatric disease research — to analyze thousands of genetic samples from people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Los Angeles County officials are considering whether to give Hepatitis A vaccinations to some 100,000 food-service workers after an infected cook was found to be working for a local catering company. Helen Palmer reports.

The FDA has approved Tekturna, the first new class of hypertension drug in a decade. Tekturna controls blood pressure for a full 24 hours, but will that edge be enough to compete in a mature market full of cheap generics?

A special congressional advisory committee met today to try to find ways to curb Medicare costs. As Helen Palmer reports, they may want to provide better incentives to physicians.

Starting today, doctors and other health experts will be able to "bet" on the likelihood of an avian flu pandemic using a new predictive market at the University of Iowa.

Nine AIDS vaccines are in clinical trials around the world. The most advanced is taking place in the Dominican Republic where Merck researchers have enlisted prostitutes as their subjects.