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.
Amgen to pay $25M to wrap up Aranesp kickbacks case
Amgen has inked another marketing settlement with the U.S. government. The biotech giant agreed to pay $24.9 million to wrap up allegations that it used kickbacks to induce long-term care pharmacies to use more of its Aranesp anemia drug--and not only for patients with anemia caused by chronic kidney failure, the drug's officially approved use.
Vivus revs up new Qsymia sales plan after FDA removes a roadblock
The FDA has agreed to take down one of the big hurdles hampering U.S. sales of Vivus' newly approved weight drug Qsymia, but plenty more remain.
FDA halts generic OxyContin, handing Purdue a victory
For months FDA regulators have been wrestling with the dangers of allowing a flood of cheap, generic version of the highly addictive OxyContin on the market vs. consumers with pain issues having access to cheaper meds.
Supreme Court exposes GlaxoSmithKline to Humana's Avandia-spending claims
The ruling not only opens GSK to the Humana suit, which applies to its Medicare Advantage plans, but also to potential lawsuits from other insurers.
Women at high risk urged to use breast cancer meds to prevent disease
Two breast cancer drugs could get a boost from new expert advice. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force now recommends that doctors offer the drugs--tamoxifen and raloxifene, a.k.a. Eli Lilly's ($LLY) Evista--to high-risk patients to prevent the disease.
U.K. funds lambaste AstraZeneca CEO's £4M 'golden hello'
Some U.K.pension funds are none too happy about AstraZeneca's special bonus for its new CEO, Pascal Soriot.
Drugmakers 'illegally' withhold samples from would-be copycats
Risk-management plans may be a burden for new drug launches, but they're proving to be a weapon against generic competition, too. As the New York Times reports, generics makers can't buy the supplies they need to knock off a product, thanks to REMS restrictions. So, they have to resort to asking branded drugmakers for supplies--and some of those companies aren't cooperating.
J&J pharma growth drives big increase in Q1 sales, profits
The drug and device maker posted net profits of $3.5 billion on sales of $17.5 billion, a year-over-year increase of 8.5%. The U.S. market carried much of that load, with an 11.2% sales hike. But the acquisition of orthopedic device maker Synthes gave sales another big boost; it accounted for 5.7% of worldwide sales growth.
AbbVie to hack hundreds of reps from cardiovascular sales ranks
AbbVie has a new distinction. It may be the youngest pharma company ever to lay off hundreds of salespeople. Bloomberg reports that the drugmaker, spun off by Abbott Laboratories as of January 1, plans to jettison its cardiovascular salesforce, with layoffs in the "mid-hundreds."
Elderly in South often prescribed drugs with dangerous side effects
A new study says doctors in the Southern part of the U.S. are too often prescribing drugs for elderly patients that can have severe side effects and for which there are better alternatives.
OxyContin patent expires Tuesday but FDA under pressure to stall generics
Purdue's original patent on the superpotent and often abused painkiller OyxContin expires tomorrow, and drugmakers are jockeying for a piece of its $2.8 billion market share. But the FDA is under increasing pressure to require generic drugmakers to make their formulations tamper-resistant.
CEO Chris Viehbacher steers Sanofi clear of drugs for Alzheimer's disease
Sanofi CEO Chris Viehbacher says the French drugmaker is not interested in pursuing Alzheimer's drugs until the science of the disease is better understood.
UPDATED: Royalty Pharma drops $12/share cash offer in lap of Elan shareholders
The board of Elan recently waved off an $11-a-share buyout offer from Royalty Pharma as "highly conditional" and told the group to come back when it had something more concrete to talk about. Now Royalty is back with a rock-solid, all-cash $12-a-share offer and a bit of dismissiveness in its own talk.
Europe wants more restrictions on Servier's Protelos
Citing heart risks, an EMA committee has recommended further restrictions for Protelos, an osteoporosis drug made by Servier, the company at the center of a scandal in France for off-label use of its Mediator diabetes drug, which also was tied to heart risks.
