Fees may help ease generics regulation; Oklahoma tries alternative execution drug;

> Generics-makers could enjoy fewer plant inspections and a streamlined drug approval process in exchange for paying fees to the FDA. Article

> Given Hospira's ongoing shortage of sodium thiopental, Oklahoma prison officials have turned to pentobarbital, used in the veterinary euthanization, as the first component of its lethal injection. Article

> Pfizer is recalling an additional lot (19,000 bottles) of Lipitor following another customer report of a packaging odor. Story

> Antitrust regulators have cleared Cardinal Health's $1.3 billion takeover of Kinray, a distributor specializing in independent retail pharmacies in the northeastern U.S. Article

> BeneLein will test the commercial feasibility of a top 10 pharma's process for manufacturing a key antibiotic product. BeneLein release

> Pristine Pharma, a subsidiary of Michelex, plans to begin production of cough syrups and other liquid OTC medicines in a new 30,000-sq. ft facility in Massena, NY, in February. Michelex announcement

> Novartis plans to build a full-scale pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in St Petersburg, Russia. News | Story

> The U.K.'s Merck BioManufacturing Network will produce the large-scale GMP clinical and pre-commercial supplies of A-623, an investigational novel peptibody being developed by Anthera Pharmaceuticals. Anthera announcement