General news:
Approvals: Genzyme’s stem cell transplant drug Mozobil; Abbott‘s triglyceride drug TriLipix; Eisai‘s Lusedra for anesthesia.
Novartis‘ experimental MS drug (oral) looking really good compared to competition.
Wyeth and ghostwritten articles. This is going to be ugly – Wyeth paid a company to ghostwrite medical journal articles about its hormone therapy products and seek academic scientists to sign them as authors, a U.S. senator said. Documents from lawsuits suggest the drugmaker hired DesignWrite Inc. of Princeton, New Jersey, to draft manuscripts related to the Wyeth products and breast cancer risks, according to letters released today from Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa to the companies. Wyeth makes the hormone replacement drugs Prempro and Premarin…more
Roche CEO to other pharma/biotech companies: Let’s get gloomy.
More trouble for Elan/Biogen’s Tysabri – Yet again, the multiple-sclerosis medication has caused a serious brain infection, the same malady that prompted the drug to be withdrawn in 2005 for about a year. A German MS patient contracted PML, or progressive multifocal leukoencephalopthy, and remains hospitalized…more When you look at the numbers, however, it’s still a pretty small incidence. My question – if it weren’t an exotic brain infection, would this get so much press attention??
Would you like some Ritalin with that syllabus? – “We should welcome new methods of improving our brain function,” they write. “In a world in which human workspans and lifespans are increasing, cognitive enhancement tools – including the pharmacological – will be increasingly useful for improved quality of life and extended work productivity, as well as to stave off normal and pathological age-related cognitive declines. Safe and effective cognitive enhancers will benefit both the individual and society.” more
Newer antipsychotics: much ado about nothing? – The common distinction between first- and second-generation antipsychotics has no scientific basis and should be dropped, according to a paper in The Lancet. A meta-analysis of 150 double-blind studies found little evidence that newer, so-called atypical antipsychotics are more effective than older drugs for symptoms of schizophrenia, MedPage Today writes…more
Choose your friends wisely-and happily – Researchers looked at the social networks of more than 4,700 people whose happiness, along with other factors, had been tracked for 20 years. Those surrounded by cheery souls were more likely to have sunny dispositions, even if they didn’t known them…more
KV Pharma CEO: walked out or booted out? – This is one for the gossips. Marc Hermelin, the KV Pharmaceuticals ceo, is leaving under what could be politely called disputed circumstances. The drugmaker says he was fired, but Hermelin issued his own statement that he informed the board earlier this week that he is simply retiring, according to reports…more
J&J loses another Duragesic patch verdict, to the tune of $16.5M
Malaria vaccine one step closer – Two papers published in The New England Journal of Medicine are reporting the success of a pair of new vaccines tested in children in Africa. And experts say the results may open the door to sweeping trials of the vaccines in seven African nations by early 2009 and a completed formulation ready for approval by 2011. “We are,” Christian Loucq, director of the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, tells Time, “one step closer to the day when malaria will join diseases like smallpox and polio.” more
ImClone to cut field sales force by almost half, following acquisition by Eli Lilly.
Two blows to Avandia, one to Actos. Increased death risk: Avandia. Increased fracture risk among women: Both.
Using nicotine as a cure? Nope.
A summary of “where we’re at” with MS drugs, from PharmExec.com.
Fewer sales reps? Docs are OK with that. And here’s a 33-company list of where the jobs ain’t (recent layoffs). Ouch.
PhRMA’s beefed up drug advertising guidelines. As the pirate says, “these are more like guidelines…”
AstraZeneca‘s Symbicort cleared by FDA panel for asthma.
Top 50 Health 2.0 blogs.
Last week was ASH (American Society of Hematology) week, so we’ll feature a number of news items about blood diseases and treatments…
Encouraging blood platelet boost seen with Glaxo’s oral drug Promacta – Patients treated with GlaxoSmithKline PLC’s Promacta rather than a placebo were eight times more likely to have sustained increases in platelet counts, according to pivotal trial results announced by the company on Saturday…more
Zevalin – effective. You’ll have to flounder through all the technical terms to grasp the details!
Encouraging CLL treatment results with Celgene’s Revlimid in older patients.
Treanda may get to first-line treatment – Cephalon Inc’s Treanda was as effective in treating non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma as the standard chemotherapy regimen with far less toxicity, according to interim analysis of a late-stage study that could pave the way for the drug’s use as an initial treatment for the disease…more
Allos experimental drug for lymphoma shows strong results – Allos Therapeutics Inc said on Saturday a small, but potentially pivotal, trial of its experimental drug pralatrexate found it helped curb cancer in 27 percent of patients with an aggressive type of lymphoma…more
Efficacy of long-term treatment with Novartis’ Glivec/Gleevec – awesome. And good stuff with Tasigna in CML patients also. Staying with Novartis, results reported for its oral iron-reducing drug Exjade.
Rituxan + chemo for leukemia: yep. – A combination of Genentech Inc’s cancer drug Rituxan and chemotherapy reduces by 41 percent the risk of death or cancer progression, compared with chemotherapy alone, for patients with a common form of leukemia, the company said on Saturday…more
The coming clot-busters.
On the breast cancer front:
Zometa: tumor shrinker – the osteoporosis drug zoledronic acid (Zometa) appears to shrink breast tumors in patients who undergo chemotherapy. The drug is already approved to treat breast cancer that has spread to the bone and, earlier this year, was reported to lower the risk of breast cancer recurrence in pre-menopausal women with early estrogen- or progesterone-positive tumors…more
Tykerb + Femara = survival benefit.
Hormone replacement pills: not good news – Taking the hormones for five years doubles the risk for breast cancer, according to a new analysis of the Women’s Health Initiative, a large federal study, revealing the most dramatic evidence yet of the dangers of the popular pills..more
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