Health Wolf

Swiss drugmaker Novartis’s newest medicines will come under the microscope when it posts quarterly results on Tuesday as investors seek reassurance it can compensate for patent expires on its top sellers. Diovan, which sells $6 billion a year, goes off patent this year in Europe, with the United States and Japan following in 2012 and 2013.

The Basel-based group is seen posting a 7.4 percent rise in core earnings per share to $1.46, despite the strong Swiss franc, which soared to record highs against the dollar and the euro this year before the Swiss National Bank stepped in and imposed a cap on the franc against the euro.
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Women who took folic acid supplements in the first two months of pregnancy were less likely to have kids with severe language delays in a new study from Norway. Folic acid is already known to reduce the risk of certain types of birth defects, and both the U.S. and Canada fortify grain products with folic acid to make sure pregnant women get enough of it. But that’s not the case in some other countries, including Norway, and doctors still worry about pregnant women getting enough of the B vitamin — especially in the developing world.

“We don’t think people should change their behavior based on these findings,” said Dr. Ezra Susser from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York, who worked on the study. “But it does add weight to the public health recommendation to take folic acid early in pregnancy,” he told Reuters Health.
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