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There have long been safety questions — and lawsuits — over whether bone-building drugs like Merck’s Fosamax can actually increase the chance of femur fractures. Today, the FDA said it was going to take another look at the safety issues.

It’s crunch time in the fight over a health-care bill, so groups for and against the legislation are getting ready for a final push before congressional votes that could come later this month.

These efforts take money, of course, and advocate groups have put together war chests, much of it slated to go to advertising. Here are some of the spending plans outlined in a WSJ report this morning:

President Obama might seem like a pushover with some liberals and the Chinese, but in other regards, he’s showing he’s tough by taking on insurance companies, teacher unions and Pakistan. Executive Washington Editor Jerry Seib explains.

Read the rest here:  Will Obama Prove He Can Be Tough on Health?/a>

The sales volume of soda and other drinks shipped for sale at U.S. secondary schools has dropped 72% since late 2004, resulting in an 88% drop in beverage calories sold in schools, drink makers said today.

President Obama outlines his three-part proposal for health care reform in an address at the White House. Courtesy Fox News.

See original here: Obama’s New Health Care Proposal/a>

President Obama outlines his three-part proposal for health-care reform in an address at the White House. Courtesy Fox News.

View original here:  Obama Outlines Health-Care Proposal/a>

A version of this post by WSJ’s Jean Spencer also appears on the Washington Wire blog.

A coalition of consumer, public-health and food-safety advocates is trying to jumpstart the food-safety legislation that is stalled in the Senate.

To make its point, the Make Our Food Safe coalition is trumpeting a report by Ohio State University economist and former FDA official Robert Scharff that concludes that health costs associated with foodborne illnesses totals $152 billion annually in the U.S.

President Obama will speak today on the state of the health reform bill, as Republicans and some Democrats continue to oppose it, John Bussey tells the News Hub panel.

Continued here:  AM Report: Health Battle Lines Drawn/a>

In what could be a win-win decision for both Teva Pharmaceutical and Merck, a federal court said that Teva was entitled to six months of exclusivity to sell generic versions of two hypertension medicines made by Merck.

A nationwide push is underway to lower radiation exposure from CT scans, amid growing concern about the risks of cancer linked to the high-powered imaging technology, as I write in the Informed Patient column today.