Archive for the 'General News' Category
March 3rd, 2011 by admin
Medco Health Solutions Inc’s (MHS.N) quarterly profit rose 11 percent on increased mail deliveries of generic drugs, but its shares fell as the report failed to excite investors. The U.S. pharmacy benefit manager reported a fourth-quarter profit, excluding special items, that matched Wall Street’s target and it backed its 2011 forecast. Its shares fell 4.5 percent.
Continue reading ‘Medco in-line Profit Report Fails to Excite Market’
February 9th, 2011 by admin
India’s No.2 drugmaker Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd said a U.S. district court has cleared the sale of its generic version of Sanofi-Aventis’ allergy medicine Allegra D24, sending its shares up nearly 4 percent. The U.S. District Court of New Jersey lifted an injunction passed last June against the Indian drugmaker from selling a copycat version of the drug, Dr Reddy’s said in a statement.
Continue reading ‘U.S. Court Clears Generic Allegra Sale’
February 1st, 2011 by admin
More drugmakers are seeing potential in the business of producing copycat versions of expensive biotechnology drugs as U.S. guidelines take shape. The topic was at the forefront of plans discussed by several executives at this week’s JP Morgan healthcare conference in San Francisco. Kevin Sharer, chief executive officer at Amgen Inc, said the world’s largest maker of branded biotechnology drugs would consider entering the “biosimilars” space, particularly in emerging markets like Asia and South America.
Continue reading ‘Copying Biotech Medicine Attracts More Drugmakers’
January 17th, 2011 by admin
A new cigarette tax and a stop-smoking drug were a match made in Japan, and it might have been heaven if Pfizer ($PFE) hadn’t fumbled. The drugmaker, which sells its Chantix remedy as Champix in Japan, knew the higher tax was coming, advertised its drug heavily, and then failed to make enough to satisfy demand.
Continue reading ‘Pfizer Bungles Tax-Fueled Champix Surge’
January 7th, 2011 by admin
Coupons work. That’s what drugmakers have discovered from the co-pay assistance they’ve been offering to shore up demand for aging branded drugs (Pfizer’s statin Lipitor), create demand for new ones (such as Amgen’s bone drug Xgeva and Novartis’ multiple sclerosis pill Gilenya), and insulate patients from big price increases (Jazz Pharmaceuticals’ narcolepsy treatment Xyrem). As the New York Times reports, sales volume for some of these treatments has doubled, and pharma companies have as much as quadrupled the sticker price for others.
Continue reading ‘Co-pay Help Boosts Drugs, Scares Payers’
January 4th, 2011 by admin
Studying how bacteria incorporate foreign DNA from invading viruses into their own regulatory processes, Thomas Wood, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, is uncovering the secrets of one of nature’s most primitive immune systems.
Continue reading ‘Bacteria Provide Example of One of Nature’s First Immune Systems’
December 6th, 2010 by admin
By Phase III, researchers are supposed to have a pretty good handle on just how promising an experimental therapy can be. There’s proof-of-concept data in the can and some clear indications of just how big a market a new drug can go on to capture.
Continue reading ‘The Top 10 Phase III Failures of 2010′
December 1st, 2010 by admin
While the pharmaceutical industry is cutting jobs left and right, two medical device makers this week announced hiring plans. Utah-based Merit Medical Systems plans to hire 75 employees at its Virigna site and invest $1 million more in its business over the next 18 months. The company, founded in 1987, markets interventional and diagnostic procedures, particularly in cardiology, radiology and gastroenterology, according to DeviceSpace. “We are excited to expand our operations in Chesterfield County, where we have found highly-skilled employees and great access to the East Coast,” said Merit CEO Fred Lampropoulos. “Our business there is thriving even in these uncertain economic times.”
Continue reading ‘L.H. and Merit Plan Medical Device Hirings’
November 15th, 2010 by admin
University of Utah (U of U) medical researchers have uncovered a wiring diagram that shows how the brain pays attention to visual, cognitive, sensory, and motor cues. The research provides a critical foundation for the study of abnormalities in attention that can be seen in many brain disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, and attention deficit disorder.
Continue reading ‘How is our Brain Wired for Attention?’
November 12th, 2010 by admin
Veterans diagnosed with any psychiatric illness appear to have an elevated risk of suicide, and men with bipolar disorder and women with substance abuse disorders may have a particularly high risk, according to the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Continue reading ‘Veterans with Bipolar Disorder May Have Increased Risk of Suicide’
