Aussie stats show HPV shots effective, but will U.S. parents listen?
Could Australia's success with HPV vaccination help boost similar efforts in the U.S.? If hard numbers on results could help, then yes. A BMJ study shows that immunizing young women against the human papillomavirus has already proven its worth.
Top AstraZeneca investor backs Soriot and his 'golden hello'
At least one big AstraZeneca shareholder isn't concerned about CEO Pascal Soriot's pay package.
Lundbeck launches alcohol dependence drug Selincro in heavy-drinking countries
After losing patent protection last year on the blockbuster antidepressant Lexapro, Danish drugmaker Lundbeck hopes to regain a least a bit of that vaporized revenue as it launches its anti-binge drinking drug Selincro in some European countries.
Merck CEO snags 16% raise to $15.5M, in year of 'significant hurdles'
Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier scored a 16% raise for 2012. In a normal year, that might be a normal increase in compensation for a pharma CEO, especially for longtime chiefs whose pensions grow in multimillion-dollar leaps.
Updated: EU pharma CEOs earned 46% less than U.S. peers
CEO pay in Europe continues to be a flashpoint given the high unemployment and austerity measures the workaday folk on the continent face. Still, a new analysis shows the CEO's of European drugmakers continue to pull in far less than their U.S. counterparts.
Takeda in more trouble at home over recall of mislabeled vials
Japan's Takeda has gotten into more local hot water over the recall earlier this year of a lot of its Alinamin-F5 dietary supplement sold in Japan for vitamin B1 deficiency.
Russia tells Abbott no-go on buyout of partner Petrovax
Abbott Laboratories wanted to buy out its vaccine partner in Russia to better establish itself there. But the Russian government has not exactly thrown its arms open to Big Pharma and Abbott's hope has now been dashed on the hard wall of that reality.
U.K. likely to pay for Avastin despite another NICE rejection
Regulators have again turned down Roche's cancer drug Avastin for payment by the National Health System (NHS), this time for use on a recurrent, advanced ovarian cancer. But that doesn't mean patients won't get it.
Hated German price formula to be applied to Pradaxa, Prolia, other drugs
Drugmakers, livid with German pricing gatekeepers for turning down so many new drugs, now face a strategy that is sure to ratchet up their anger to the boiling point.
U.K. goes after GSK for decade-old pay-for-delay deal
Pay-for-delay deals are disliked by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic. A month after the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on the practices, regulators in the U.K. have turned to a decade-old deal, no longer place, to accuse GlaxoSmithKline of paying competitors to keep generics off the market.
Exec-pay brouhaha intensifies with thumbs-down shareholder vote at Actelion
They're not exactly carrying pitchforks and torches, but some activist shareholders are demanding satisfaction on executive pay.
Hikma decides injectables drug business a prize to hold onto
When Mylan agreed to pay $1.6 billion to nab Strides Arcolab's sterile injectables drug business, the competitors it bested were thought to be sniffing around elsewhere for a similar deal.
New GlaxoSmithKline lung drug nabs thumbs-up from FDA experts
The agency advisers weren't unanimous in backing GSK's follow-up to now-off-patent Advair, however.
Will Brazil grab the emerging-markets popularity crown?
China and India may top the list of fastest-growing pharma markets, but Brazil is no slouch, either. Drugmakers are wheeling and dealing there at an increasingly faster pace, as companies like Merck and Reckitt Benckiser join old-timers like Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline in beefing up there.
Safety watchdog flags GLP-1 drugs for pancreatitis reports to FDA
A safety watchdog group has analyzed the FDA's adverse event data on the entire GLP-1 class of diabetes drugs, finding more reports of pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer for these drugs compared with older treatments.
Sanofi embarks on doc-training in Morocco to boost diabetes, epilepsy care
The French drugmaker has been operating in the north African country for half a century, but it's revving up its operations there with a €20 million logistics center that will distribute products in-country and to other countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Bayer to face new Yaz rivals as patent goes up in flames
After taking a $500 million charge against 2012 earnings for Yaz and Yasmin-related litigation, Bayer has lost its patent fight with three generics makers intent on selling their own copycats.
Top 10 pharma companies by employees
Being the largest company by any number of measures--revenues, earnings, those kinds of yardsticks--is a good thing. Being the largest by number of employees is trickier, unless yours is also the largest by those other measures. As we have seen time and again in recent years in the pharma industry, having lots of employees and falling revenues is a formula that leads to layoffs. As a whole, the top 10 companies had fewer employees at the end of 2012 than at the end of 2011. Read the report >>
Cipla steamrolls into Enbrel market with biosimilar of Amgen drug
While the FDA continues its slow-motion release of new guidelines for producing biosimilars in the U.S., India's Cipla has stepped up with a knockoff of the rheumatoid arthritis blockbuster Enbrel, which it will sell in the subcontinent at a 30% discount.
Dual-eligibles bill sets up another pharma fight over Medicare rebates
Democratic lawmakers in both houses of Congress are backing a new bill extending Medicaid-style rebates to low-income Medicare patients, saying the provision would save $141.2 billion.
