Gen-Probe shares soared nearly 19 percent, or $12.86, to $81.57 in Monday afternoon trading. In contrast, Hologic shares fell more than 10 percent, or $2.20, to $19.03.

The announcement came the same day the companies posted quarterly financial results. Bedford, Mass.-based Hologic reported a net loss of $40.3 million, or 15 cents per share, in its fiscal second quarter as expenses rose. Gen-Probe, based in San Diego, reported a 3 percent decline in its first-quarter earnings.

Hologic said the acquisition of Gen-Probe will establish it as a premier company in STD diagnostics.

Diagnostics tools will play a growing role in the future of medicine because they provide a way for doctors to identify and address problems at an early stage, before they becomes more difficult and expensive to treat, said analyst Steve Brozak, president of WBB Securities. He noted, for instance, that Gen-Probe makes a test for the human papillomavirus, which leads to cervical cancer.

He also noted that many people who have the STD chlamydia don’t show symptoms or know they have it. Diagnostic testing, he said, “is the only reasonable vehicle for addressing that type of problem.’’

Because of this expected growth in demand for diagnostics, Hologic had “no choice’’ but to make this deal, the analyst said.

Last year, instrument maker Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. agreed to spend about $3.5 billion in cash for the privately held Swedish company Phadia, which makes blood test systems for allergy and auto-immune diseases. Medical and industrial instruments maker Danaher Corp. also agreed to buy Beckman Coulter Inc. for about $5.87 billion. Beckman Coulter makes products that simplify and automate biomedical testing.

Hologic said it expects the addition of Gen-Probe to boost its adjusted earnings by about 20 cents in the first fiscal year after the deal closes and significantly more after that. the companies expect the deal to close in the second half of this year.

Hologic’s loss in the quarter that ended March 24 compares to net income of $82.4 million, or 31 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue climbed more than 7 percent to $471.2 million, but costs and expenses jumped 63 percent to $461 million.

Adjusted earnings, which exclude several one-time charges and gains, were 33 cents per share.

Analysts expected Hologic would earn 33 cents per share on revenue of $474 million, according to a FactSet survey.

In its earnings report, Gen-Probe said its first-quarter net income fell to $22.5 million, or 49 cents per share. Total revenue grew 7 percent to $153.4 million, and adjusted earnings were 55 cents per share.

Analysts expected adjusted earnings of 51 cents per share on $150.7 million in revenue from Gen-Probe.

AP Business Writer Bree Fowler contributed to this report from new York.

On the surface, Lindsay Shipp’s story may sound sad, but it’s a story of hope with a happy ending.

All her life, Shipp has been trying to keep up a positive attitude. she knew the disease from which she suffered – cystic fibrosis – could cut her life short, but she tried to play it off like she was fine.

“I wanted to be strong for my family,” said Shipp, 28, an inventory analyst for Apple who lives in San Diego with her husband, Charles. “If they saw fear in me, they’d crumble. But I was scared . . .I’m not going to die of natural causes, I am going to die from CF.”

Shipp – who was involved in a clinical trial for a drug that treats the root cause of CF — can finally start to relax. The drug, kalydeco (generic name ivacaftor and made by Vertex), was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration at the end of January after demonstrating it improves the lung function in patients with a rare variant of the disease that affects 1,200 Americans.

“I can exercise, I can go out and run – I’ve never been able to do that my whole life,” Shipp said. “I’m training for a 5K – not because I enjoy running, but because I can do it.”

Affecting a total of 30,000 Americans, CF is a life-threatening disease that has no cure. it causes a sticky mucus build-up in the lungs and other organs as well as multiple infections and digestive problems.

The median lifespan of a CF patient is currently in the mid-30s, according to Dr. Mark Pian, director of the UCSD School of Medicine Rady Children’s Hospital CF Center in San Diego. Pian oversaw the clinical trial in which Lindsay took part, and he immediately noticed a difference.

“In the mildest situation, one may have a chronic cough, but no real impairment in day-to-day living,” Pian said. “However, this is not the case as the disease progresses. The most common symptoms are chronic, productive cough and mucus and nutritional impairment that gets progressively more severe with time.”

Such was the case for Shipp, who said she noticed her symptoms really intensified in high school. An avid dancer and singer, that’s when “things went downhill,” she said.

“I was having trouble breathing with dance, I was sick a lot and out of school – my peers were like, ‘Where are you?’ I’d have to explain I was being treated for CF,” Shipp said.

When Shipp was first diagnosed with the disease as a baby, doctors told her parents she’d be lucky if she made it to high school.

“They tried to give me the best life possible, and I kept outliving the life expectancy because it was changing,” she said. “As a kid, my goal was to graduate college. I didn’t have much plans for after that.”

Pian said more patients are expecting to lead full and productive lives, but with the knowledge that CF will shorten these lives. he expects there will one day be a cure for the disease, but in the meantime – there’s kalydeco.

“Lindsay described a difference to me almost immediately, and I could see this for myself in the first few weeks,” Pian said. “Of course, neither of us knew whether she was taking kalydeco or placebo. she was certain, and turned out to be correct, that she was taking (the drug).”

Kalydeco is a little blue pill that’s taken twice a day. Its most common side effects include upper respiratory tract infection, headache, stomachache, rash, diarrhea and dizziness.

But Shipp said she’s never felt better. her treatments prior to taking the drug were timely and annoying, filling up most of her day.

Shipp would often be treated with high-frequency chest wall compressions, or as CF patients refer to it – she would have to wear ‘the vest.’

According to Shipp, the vest has tubes attached to it connecting to a larger unit that puffs air – and the whole machine shakes your body. The treatment can take anywhere from 30 minutes to one hour and is done two or three times a day.

“It’s a full-time job on top of your job,” Shipp said, adding she also had to take nebulizers and inhaled antibiotics. and although Shipp said she has reduced the number of times she is using the vest, Pian said patients should still use it, along with other drug protocols prescribed by their doctors.

How the drug works

CF is caused by defective or missing CFTR proteins resulting from mutations in the CFTR gene, Pian explained. those proteins act as channels at the cell’s surface and affect the flow of salt and water across the surface of organs, such as lungs and the gastrointestinal tract. When the defective protein fails to work, that’s when the sticky mucus builds up.

The drug is approved for people age 6 and older who have at least one copy of the G551D mutation in the CFTR gene.

“Kalydeco is designed to keep CFTR protein channels at the cell surface open longer to improve the transport of salt and water across the cell membrane,” Pian said. “The desired effect is that the dry, thick CF mucus will become better hydrated to clear.”

Pian said a lot of work still needs to be done in the CF field – but kalydeco’s approval shows a cure can be possible.

Vertex said it anticipates major insurance companies to cover the cost of kalydeco, but since the drug’s approval is still so new, there’s not a lot of data available yet.

“We do have a comprehensive program in place to make sure eligible patients can get it,” said Megan Goulart, a spokeswoman for Vertex, which includes a free medicine program for people who do not have insurance, co-pay assistance for those who do have commercial insurance and referrals to third-party foundations for those with Medicare or Medicaid or who live in Massachusetts.

Visit Vertex’s website to learn more about these programs and the drug. 

Vertex worked with The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, which provided data and contributed $75 million of funding toward the drug’s trial. 

“(This) marks an important milestone in our journey to find a cure for cystic fibrosis,” said Robert J. Beall, president and CEO of the foundation. “Kalydeco addresses the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis, and the science behind the drug has opened new doors that may eventually lead to a cure for all people living with this disease.”

A recent newlywed, Shipp never imagined she would be able to have children naturally, a dream she is beginning to think may come true thanks to the clinical trial.

“With this pill, it’s possible that I can have kids and lead a full life to raise them,” she said. “I don’t have to worry about dying before they graduate.”

Click here to learn more about Lindsay by reading her blog.

More than 25,000 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are enrolled at the VA Medical Center in San Diego. An estimated 20 percent of those vet have some level of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

Credit: Courtesy of Julian Cook

Above: Julian Cook before he left the military in Feb 2010

You would never guess, looking at 25 year old Julian Cook, that he has been through two major roadside bomb blasts while serving Army deployments in Iraq. he doesn’t show any visible wounds. Cook didn’t admit to himself that anything was wrong when he got home in 2009.

“I just thought that it would go away,” he said. he told himself he just had a headache. “But sometimes,” he said, “it just gets way too painful to ignore.”

There were other symptoms that really bothered Cook, like when he was sitting talk with someone and all of a sudden he just stropped talking.

“And don’t know where I was going with it, don’t remember what I was talking about. and you know, it can happen at the most random moments.”

Cook finally sought help. He’s been working for several months in a program called CogSMART, the brain child of UCSD psychiatrist Elizabeth Twamley.

“People with mild to moderate TBI look just like everybody else,” Twamley said. “So it’s really an invisible disability.”

Twamley said she’s proved that CogSMART helps her mentally ill clients. now she’s working with the VA to see if it’s an effective treatment for the new vets like Julian Cook who are trying to get a job.

Cook’s partner in the treatment program is employment specialist Laurie Arnold. She’s been working with him on basic things like how to deal with his chronic sleep problems.

When they started the program Cook said he was sleeping maybe three hours a night. now he says he sleeps between five and six hours. “So I did gain a couple of hours,” he said.

Cook learned how to consciously observe his own body to relax. he also learned tricks to help him control the bouts of anger that sometimes gripped him unexpectedly. he would focus on his heart rate and try consciously to slow it down.

He and Arnold also worked on practical skills to help him focus because he seemed unable to make headway on anything he set his mind on. He’s taking a master’s degree in business studies, and found it almost impossible to concentrate on long lectures, or take effective notes. Arnold gave him a smart pen — a little tape recorder to record lectures, and he’s learning how to identify the important points to take notes on.

But remembering things continues to be a challenge. Cook described a technique he calls “overlearning” that he uses if he gets a call from a doctor’s office. he repeats information back to the person on the other end of the phone, writes it down and then reads it to himself after the call is ended.

“So I just said it, read it, and wrote it,” he explained,” so I’m three more times likely to remember it.”

As with any program, it’s not just the skills, it’s the people that make the difference. Laurie Arnold is constantly encouraging Cook. She’s his number one advocate and reminds him of everything he accomplished when he was in the military.

“I’ve seen other resumes and they’re not as diversified,” Arnold told Cook “.so I think you’re not giving your self credit in realizing you were a project manager, and you had this medical background and you were a team leader. so they were giving you these responsibilities because they felt that you were capable.”

“Yes, yes,” Cook agreed, soaking up the support.

Cook already has a degree in business that he earned while he was in the military. he said he studied nights and in between shifts while he was deployed. But though he’s been back in the civilian world for well over a year now, he’s had no luck landing a job that would use that qualification. Instead he was spotted by a talent scout and offered a job modeling. his good looks make up for his memory problems.

But Cook isn’t ready to settle for this. he said his main goal is to land a more legitimate job. he remembers only too well the responsibility he had in the military, before the bomb blasts and the headaches. he said the modeling job is a “just until” job.

“Just until I finish school, just until I find a more reputable job,” he said. “Until then, I’ll just be modeling.”

Elizabeth Twamley, who developed CogSMART, said there are thousands of vets in Cook’s position, who suffer from TBI symptoms that noone can guarantee will go away.

“It’s a population for which we formerly didn’t have any interventions,” she said, “and yet there are a lot of people seeking help for their cognitive problems. so VA clinicians and researchers are trying to respond to that need. the jury is still out. we are still collecting data on what treatments work.”

Ironically, Twamley said the new GI bill has made it more difficult to recruit vets for her study. That’s because so many returning vets have chosen to go back to school and take the generous living allowance that goes with it. at $2,200 a month on top of tuition, they don’t need to find a job to survive.

But Twamley said many of these vets are struggling to learn effectively with lingering TBI symptoms. and if the economy doesn’t improve by the time they graduate, they may find it difficult to find a job in a competitive marketplace, she explained.

In the mean time, Twamley said the rate of employment for veterans with TBI in her supportive study group is lower than for her mental health patients — only about 30 percent of them have found jobs so far. she said this is a population that faces numerous barriers — from cognitive to emotional. she said many have family crises that are difficult to resolve after years in the military, and cognitive training alone won’t necessarily open the door to a new future.

Common knowledge needed for all parents are what the symptoms of ADHD are. ADHD needs to be dealt with if your child has ADHD, and a medical professional who specializes in this is the best option. Your child will be at a disadvantage in school and life, if you don’t seek help for them to learn to deal with this disorder. it can be tricky to treat this disorder however, since the symptoms are easily confused and misdiagnosed by many parents. this is due to the fact that the behavior of the average child can so often look like the symptoms of ADHD. So the parent needs to be aware of their child’s behavior over time to see if the behavior improves, or not. hopefully this article will help you to become more aware of three of the symptoms of ADHD. for example, if you’re buying a bankruptcy attorney San Diego product, you’ll find many other hidden ingrediants in it that aren’t mentioned on the label. Similarly, there might be hidden symptoms that you need to watch out for.

One of these symptoms is the inability to follow instructions thoroughly. this includes tasks beyond school work. however, while all young children have boundless energy, it’s important to realize that all of that energy does not mean your child has ADHD. this might seem like a no brainer but alot of parents are concerned about their children suffering with this disorder. it may be easy for an worried parent to begin thinking and wondering about their child. So it’s important to look for other possibilities such as inability to follow through, etc.

Another common symptom is a child who is disruptive in school. does your child cause even normal disruptive actives to be more difficult? do you struggle with your child’s behavior at home as well? answers of yes to any of these would be a clear sign of a child with ADHD. now, another part that is important in this equation is whether or not your child has exhibited this behavior for longer than roughly six months. Contact your physician if this behavior persists. whatever task you take up, whether it’s about bankruptcy San Diego or anything else, it’s necessary that you make sure it is finished.

there are a few children with ADHD that have been known to engage in physically dangerous activities. the child is unable to foresee negative outcomes when engaging in this behavior. Often a child with ADHD will have a hard time waiting there turn for something. Also, a tendency to answer a question before it is completely asked. these behaviors all exhibit a lack of patience. if you think ADHD could be whats affecting your child talk to your doctor. Your doctor will be able to diagnose your child. it is possible that your child will need to see a specialist.

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