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Here’s what’s making health news this morning:

U.S. to Seek New Uses for Abandoned Drugs (WSJ): The National Institutes of Health has set aside $20 million for fiscal 2013 to match drugs cast aside by pharmaceutical companies with researchers who might find a different use for them.

Another Genetic Quirk of the Solomon Islands: Blond Hair (NY Times): Researchers report in Science that the gene making about 10% of the dark-skinned indigenous people blonde is different from the one that causes blondeness in ..read more

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Here’s what’s making health news this morning:

Police, Pills Mills and Privacy (WSJ): Kentucky’s Senate is considering a vote as early as today on restricting pain-clinic ownership to licensed doctors, amid an epidemic of addiction to prescription painkillers.

Measles Cases Rose in 2011 (New York Times): The CDC said there were 222 cases in the U.S. last year, though outbreaks are rare compared with Europe.

Doctors Group Tells Patients to Go for Cheaper, High-Value Treatments (NPR’s Shots blog): Newly diagnosed patients with diabetes ..read more

Attention Lipitor patients: there are good odds now that your pills were sold by generic drug maker Ranbaxy Laboratories, not the cholesterol fighting drug’s longtime maker, Pfizer.

Ranbaxy is now selling more pills than Pfizer, according to Wolters Kluwer Pharma Solutions. That makes Ranbaxy the leading seller of the top-selling drug of all time.

The FDA says generics are identical to brand-name drugs, so whoever makes your Lipitor shouldn’t make a clinical difference for patients. But many patients believe the brand and ..read more

Want to take Lipitor but lack health insurance? There is help available.

Even though Lipitor starts facing generic competition today, Pfizer will still be providing help to patients who can’t afford the cholesterol-fighter, a company spokesman says.

Pfizer will be providing Lipitor free of charge or at a savings through one of its patient assistance programs. Eligibility and level of savings depend on things like employment status and income.

To find out more, or sign up, patients can go to pfizerhelpfulanswers.com or call ..read more

Lipitor goes generic tomorrow, and we know you have a lot of questions about how that will affect your prescription.

The WSJ answers some of them in a story today. (And we answered a couple yesterday.)

Many readers wanted to know whether they’d get the name-brand or the generic version (atorvastatin calcium) when next they filled a prescription. The short answer: you won’t know until you get to the pharmacy.

The timeline for switching to the generic varies by health plan, the WSJ ..read more

Trial Disappointment: A trial conducted in Africa of a microbicide gel containing the anti-HIV drug tenofovir has ended because the gel didn’t protect women from contracting the virus, the New York Times reports. Part of the study — which also looked at whether two different pills protected against the virus — is continuing and data have not yet been released, making it difficult to figure out why, exactly, the gel didn’t appear to work, the paper says.

New ..read more

Cantaloupe Panic: The California cantaloupe industry is reeling from the spillover effects of a listeriosis outbreak tied to tainted fruit from a farm in Colorado, the Associated Press reports. Even though cantaloupes from other areas are safe, sales have fallen amidst general consumer fears about the fruit. Meantime, the cantaloupe harvest has only just started in Arizona, where growers fear a similar drop in demand. The outbreak has so far killed 23 people and sickened at least ..read more

It’s Merck’s Turn: Merck reported a second-quarter profit increase in line with analysts’ expectations, affirmed its revenue guidance for the full year and said it would cut as many as 13,000 additional jobs by the end of 2015, Dow Jones Newswires reports. Profit rose to $2.02 billion, or 65 cents a share, up from $752.4 million, or 24 cents a share, a year earlier, helped by a $1.34 billion tax benefit. Excluding restructuring and other charges, earnings ..read more

Drug Vote: An FDA advisory panel voted 9-6 against approving dapagliflozin, a new type of diabetes drug from Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca, saying more information is needed on possible risks including breast and bladder cancers, the WSJ reports. Some panel members, however, said teasing out those possible safety problems would be best accomplished not by requiring more studies before approval, but by using post-marketing studies and patient registries. The FDA often, but not always, follows the advice of its outside ..read more

Avastin Vote: An FDA appeals panel made up of outside experts voted 6-0 to recommend the agency remove Avastin’s approval for breast cancer, the WSJ reports. Panel members said studies showed the Roche drug provided no meaningful benefit to patients while raising the risk for serious side effects. The ultimate decision on the drug’s breast-cancer indication rests with FDA head Margaret Hamburg. Regardless of what she decides, the drug will remain on the market since it’s approved ..read more