Flomax TV ads top Nielsen's most-recalled list; Amgen's NPlate snubbed by U.K.'s cost watchdog;

> Two commercials for the Boehringer Ingelheim prostate drug Flomax topped the ranking of the most recalled drug and vaccine ads during the 2008-09 TV season, according to a Nielsen analysis. Report [1]

> Amgen has been dealt a blow by the U.K.'s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, which is leaning toward barring National Health Service patients with a rare blood disorder from access to the company's Nplate drug. Report [2]

> King Pharmaceuticals saw third-quarter profit drop to $42 million from $82 million in the year-ago period, despite a 19.3 percent increase in revenues to $463 million. Report [3]

> Democrats in Congress are embracing the spirit of President Obama's call to slow the runaway rise of health-care costs but are shying away from some of the most aggressive techniques for achieving that. Report [4]

> Cases of the H1N1 pandemic influenza virus showing resistance to antiviral drugs are "isolated and infrequent", the World Health Organization said. Report [5]

> Two public health officials told Congress they don't expect to have enough pandemic-flu vaccine to meet the needs of high-priority population groups until well into December, and possibly not until January. Report [6]

Biotech

> New Merck in the hunt for biotech buyouts, new pacts. Report [7]

> GenVec is on a roll. A day after winning an orphan drug designation [8] for its pancreatic cancer therapy TNFerade, the developer inked a $22 million development deal with Science Applications International to develop new HIV and flu vaccines. Report [9]

> Genmab is axing 300 jobs as it shifts development work to vendors. Report [10]

> The FDA has approved a new osteoarthritis therapy developed by Covidien and Nuvo Research. Report [11]

> Sweden's Biovitrum has snapped up Swedish Orphan in a $493 million deal. Report [12]

> MedImmune veterans have joined forces to launch a start-up with new technology out of the Scripps Institute in La Jolla, CA. Report [13]

Vaccine News

> Big Pharma is mapping out a global vaccine strategy. Article [14]

> Millions of women who carry the human papillomavirus suffer from lesions in precancerous tissue. But a small study indicates that an HPV vaccine may either improve their condition or cure it altogether, preventing malignancies in the vulva. Article [15]

And Finally... The freezing of trade relations between Caracas and Bogotá has led Venezuelan pharmaceutical companies to consider new international markets to replace drug imports from Colombia. Report [16]