Archive for the 'Industry News' Category
February 3rd, 2011 by admin
President Barack Obama said on Friday his healthcare overhaul is an important part of efforts to cut the budget deficit and insisted he will not “refight” the battle to pass the law. With emboldened Republicans vowing to repeal or replace the healthcare law he signed last March, Obama reiterated his case that the changes it brings are necessary to help rein in the price of the government-run Medicaid and Medicare insurance programs, a huge chunk of the U.S. budget deficit problem. The Congressional Budget Office said the U.S. budget deficit will hit $1.48 trillion for fiscal 2011, up from a $1.07 trillion estimate in August.
Continue reading ‘Obama Will Not Refight Battle Over Healthcare Law’
January 18th, 2011 by admin
Several big biotech and pharma companies have been buzzing about their plans to launch biosimilar programs now that the FDA is laying out a regulatory pathway for the therapies. Reuters pinned down several CEOs at the JP Morgan event, and Amgen’s Kevin Sharer as well as Biogen Idec’s George Scangos talked up plans to fire up some follow-up programs of their own.
Continue reading ‘Big Biotech Joins Big Pharma in Hunt for Biosimilars’
January 17th, 2011 by admin
A new cigarette tax and a stop-smoking drug were a match made in Japan, and it might have been heaven if Pfizer ($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 10th, 2011 by admin
Big upfront fees are out. Milestones are in. Partnerships will stay hot. The IPO window will stay open, despite a lackluster record in 2010. And investor confidence will grow, helping public biotech companies outperform the general market.
Continue reading ‘Burrill Predicts Big Surge in Biotech Buyouts for 2011′
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’
December 30th, 2010 by admin
No, gold-plated liposomes are not a luxury gift that you’d find in your Christmas stocking, but they could someday give cancer patients the gift of life by selectively knocking out cancer cells while leaving healthy ones alone. This holiday gift comes courtesy of Marek Romanowski, an associate professor of biomedical engineering in the University of Arizona’s College of Engineering, along with the grad students in his lab, Xenia Kachur and Sarah Leung.
Continue reading ‘Gold-plated Liposomes an Anti-Cancer Stocking Stuffer’
December 28th, 2010 by admin
The UK’s ReNeuron has been given a regulatory green light to launch the world’s first human trial of a stem cell therapy for strokes. Beginning in the second quarter of this year, researchers for the biotech will begin to see exactly how stroke victims respond to the neural stem cell therapy, which researchers say could help significantly repair brain damage. The UK Gene Therapy Advisory Committee granted approval of the trial–five years after ReNeuron first approached officials in Europe. The Financial Times notes that the company later tried to get the FDA on board to test the therapy, but regulators in the U.S. repeatedly delayed the process.
Continue reading ‘World’s First Stem Cell Trial for Strokes’
December 27th, 2010 by admin
The emerging-markets gold rush continues. Drugmakers continued their race into those fast-growing, tantalizing new markets. India, China, Brazil, Russia, Mexico–all so alluring in a world in which countries that could once be counted on for steady increases are no longer delivering.
Continue reading ‘Big Pharma Still Big on Emerging Markets’
December 23rd, 2010 by admin
The build up of sticky mucus in the lungs of some cystic fibrosis patients could be prevented using medication, a study has suggested. The US study of 350 children and young people found denufosol helped keep airways moist and so clear the mucus.
Continue reading ‘Drug Helps Clear Lung Mucus in Cystic Fibrosis Patients’
December 22nd, 2010 by admin
In a rare victory against AIDS, German scientists say that three years after a unique stem cell transplant was tried on a patient, “cure of HIV has been achieved in this” man. This is the first time anyone has been pronounced cured of the disease. But as New Scientist notes, their radical therapy strategy offers no hope for the tens of millions of people around the world with the lethal virus.
Continue reading ‘First HIV “Cure” Comes with a Very Big Catch’
