A Bad Day for Meridia and "Pink Viagra"

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Published on
October 8, 2010

Here's what we're reading today:

Health Reform: It's official: a federal judge finally rules that the new health reform law is constitutional. The ruling was hailed as a victory for the Obama administration because it's the first to dismiss a constitutional challenge on its merits rather than a technicality. The Washington Post's N.C. Aizenman has the story.

Little Pink Pill: The quest for a female version of Viagra suffers a setback as the FDA finds little evidence that the chemical flibanserin, originally discovered as a depressant, actually works to increase sexual desire.

Meridia: In other pharma news, the maker of weight-loss drug Meridia pulls it off the market over heart health concerns.

Crowdsourcing: Should doctors use crowdsourcing to treat their patients? Darshak Sanghavi examines the debate for Slate. Also check out Sanghavi's tips on covering health care quality at ReportingonHealth.

Health 2.0: If you can't get to the Health 2.0 conference in San Francisco today, check out this recap and follow the Twitter conversation at hashtag #health2con. What is Health 2.0? Check out this definition.