Pharma News 10_10

J&J announces leadership transition – Johnson & Johnson appointed Sheri McCoy, leader of its surgical care group, on Thursday worldwide chairman of its pharmaceuticals group, effective Jan. 1. McCoy will replace Christine Poon, whose departure from J&J was announced last month. Poon, who has also served as J&J’s board vice chairman, plans to step down in March…more

Teva and AZ in a tiff about Crestor patents.

FDA to Takeda on Alogliptin review: Sorry, understaffed! – Takeda Pharmaceutical Co, Japan’s biggest drugmaker, said on Friday that U.S. health authorities have not been able to complete a review of a key diabetes drug candidate on schedule due to lack of resources…more

AZ‘s PurplePill website continues to generate impressive traffic numbers.

1 in 4 teenage girls have received Gardasil – Whether this means Merck’s HPV vaccine is making great inroads is unclear, but Gardasil does appear to be on its way to becoming accepted, according to the first federal government study of vaccination rates for the controversial shot…more

Rituxan OK’d for cancer treatment – Rheumatoid arthritis drug Rituxan helps to fight cancer, but now its makers can actually share that with the world…more

Watson gets approval for Rapaflo for BPH – Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading specialty pharmaceutical company, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved RAPAFLO(TM) (silodosin), the company’s new alpha blocker for the treatment of the signs and symptoms of BPH…more

Neurontin: the gaffe that keeps on taking – Pfizer Inc  tried to suppress medical studies that did not support the use of its epilepsy drug Neurontin, internal Pfizer documents submitted in a U.S. lawsuit against the company showed…more

St. John’s Wort for depression – does he or doesn’t he?

Drug samples under attack!

Eli Lilly buying up ImClone.

Dendreon’s Provenge has some tantalizing data, but still must wait – Amid the stock sell-off, a bright spot appears and, of all things, it turns out to be Dendreon, the controversial and much-maligned little company that continues to press ahead with its Provenge prostate cancer vaccine…more

Another university looks at banning pharma gifts – A university medical school task force recommends prohibiting faculty, medical residents and students from receiving gifts from drug and device makers, according to an unreleased report obtained by The Minnesota Daily, the university’s newspaper. Docs would also be required to disclose all relationships with a drugmaker before writing a prescription and create a website to report conflicts…more

King and Alpharma start talking – Are you surprised? After the usual posturing and harsh language, the two drugmakers have agreed to a confidentiality agreement, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission…more

Who should get Avastin? Genetic tests may tell – Genetic tests could in future show who will respond best to Genentech and Roche’s blockbuster cancer drug Avastin — a positive development for patients but not necessarily for sales…more

Spiriva: more not-so-great mixed results – Spiriva, marketed by Pfizer and Boehringer Ingelheim, offered no advantage over an inhaled placebo for moderate-to-very-severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, researchers reported on Sunday…more On the other hand, Novartis has a promising new COPD candidate doing well in mid-stage trials.

Peter Rost whistleblower suit against Pfizer gains new traction.

Good results for Remicade in combo treatment – Crohn’s disease patients taking Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Remicade either alone or with azathioprine experienced steroid-free remission in significantly greater numbers than those taking azathioprine alone, according to results of a clinical trial…more

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Pharma News 10_03

Is Eli Lilly the “mystery suitor” for ImClone? – Eli Lilly & Co. is in advanced talks to buy cancer-drug developer ImClone Systems for $70 a share, or $6.1 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter…more And why the big interest in ImClone? Business Week says “it’s the pipeline.”

Prasugrel delayed…again – Once again, the FDA has delayed its approval of prasugrel, a blood thinner that Lilly and its partner, Daiichi Sankyo, have been hoping will one day compete against Plavix, which is marketed by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis…more

Judge: Amgen yes, Roche no – A federal judge in Boston ruled the drugmaker infringed on Amgen’s patents with its Mircera anemia med, essentially upholding a preliminary decision issued in February. The order by US District Court Judge William Young deals a big setback to Roche, which already cut costs after its plans to market Mircera flopped…more

Credit crunch? Roche says, nah…we still want Genentech – The market isn’t so sure Roche can raise the money to buy Genentech, but Roche seems pretty confident…more

Encouraging data for Pfizer’s HIV drug – The Pfizer Inc. AIDS drug maraviroc helps thwart the HIV virus in nearly half of people who have developed resistance to other treatments, according to two related studies published on Wednesday…more

Pfizer bailing out of some therapeutic areas for drug development – Pfizer Inc  will drop efforts to develop medicines for heart disease, as part of a reshuffling of its research activities that the pharmaceutical giant plans to announce on Tuesday, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Pfizer also is expected to announce it will abandon therapies for obesity and bone health to focus on more lucrative areas such as cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, WSJ said on its online site…more More here from Forbes

The Pfizer pipeline: current status – Even as Pfizer is bailing out of drug research for heart disease, the company’s late-stage pipeline has increased to 25 projects from 16 in the past six months…more

A potential Viagra competitor derived from a plant with…well, a pretty bizarre name!

Merck drops experimental weight-loss pill – The drugmaker made the decision after spending months reviewing trials showing the taranabant obesity pill caused psychiatric side effects. You may recall that a late-stage trial showed the drug didn’t yield the hoped-for weight loss of 5 percent at the 2 mg dose the drugmaker hoped to sell…more

Daiichi Sankyo cleared to buy Indian drugmaker Ranbaxy.

From PharmExec – specialty drug prices spiking.

Big settlement by Cephalon on out-of-bounds marketing practices. Whistleblower vindicated.

What’s $1.2 billion between competitors? Ask Boston Scientific…

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