Indian officials lobby for pharma duty cuts; Hospira shares jump on Eloxatin patent win;

> Indian pharma regulators are asking the government for an across-the-board duty slash on medicines in critical segments such as cancer and HIV/AIDS. Report [1]

> Hospira shares rose after a U.S. District Court ruled a generic injectable chemotherapy drug does not infringe on Sanofi Aventis' patent for Eloxatin. Report [2]

> A former Pfizer sales manager was sentenced to a $75,000 fine and two years' probation after pleading guilty to charges stemming from off-label marketing of the painkiller Bextra. Release [3]

> Canadian experts say 5-to-40-year-olds and Canada's aboriginal communities should be first to get vaccinated against human swine flu, as officials decide who gets priority for the shots. Report [4]

> Gedeon Richter, Hungary's largest drugmaker, could boost its annual sales by $25 million, or 2 percent, after its licensing agreement with U.S.-based KV Pharmaceuticals. Report [5]

> Pfizer has accused Sun Pharmaceutical of infringing a second patent on Lyrica, which Sun wants to produce in generic form. Report [6]

> Meanwhile, Sun Pharmaceutical got the FDA nod to launch a generic version of Pfizer's blood pressure drug Accupril. Report [7]

> The European Medicines Agency has kicked off a period of public consultation on its new policy on transparency, which is designed to foster "a robust and consistent approach" throughout the group's operations. Report [8]

> Merck and the not-for-profit Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative announced an agreement to support development of improved treatments for neglected tropical diseases such as Chagas disease. Release [9]

Biotech News

> It pays to be married to a Google co-founder. 23andMe, a genetics company started by Google co-founder's Sergey Brin's wife Anne Wojcicki (photo [10]), has landed a $2.6 million investment from the Internet giant. This comes in addition to $3.6 million in funding invested in May 2007. Report [11]

> A new survey from Deutsche Bank gives some insight into what's on the mind of life sciences investors. Respondents offered expectations on a number of companies, including Celgene, Genzyme, Biogen Idec, Acorda Therapeutics, United Therapeutics and Amgen. Report [12]

> Swiss biotech company Lumavita has tacked on an additional CHF6m ($5.53 million) to a Series A round initiated in September 2008. Report [13]

> Cephalon announced today that its drug candidate lestaurtinib missed its goal in mid-stage trial designed to evaluate the drug for use in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia whose cancer had relapsed after a previous treatment. Report [14]

Biotech IT News

> Healogica-Clinical Trials 2.0 is up and running. The website acts as a monster.com for clinical trials by pairing subjects and trials via a matching algorithm. Report [15]

> Perceptive Informatics has bulked up its ClinPhone Randomization and Trial Supply Management (RTSM) technologies with a reporting solution that help users monitor trial progress and access study data and metrics. Report [16]

> As if to compound the already tricky task of selecting a cloud computing [17] vendor, we now appear to be receiving at least one announcement each week. Most recent is IBM, which has announced a set of commercial cloud services and integrated products for the enterprise. Report [18]

> INC Research is incorporating Phase Forward's InForm Integrated Trial Management EDC solution into the global CRO's offerings. Report [19]

And Finally... MRSA infections between dogs and cats and their owners are increasing, according to a review in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Report [20]