ALSO NOTED: Mylan gets tentative nod for copycat Lamictal; NICE set to ease Lucentis funding

> The FDA gave a tentative nod to Mylan's generic version of the GlaxoSmithKline seizure and bipolar drug Lamictal. Release

> The UK's National Institute for Clinical Excellence is expected to ease restrictions on state funding for the Novartis macular degeneration drug Lucentis. Report

> Merck and its Japanese partner Ono Pharmaceutical have filed for approval to sell the diabetes drug Januvia in Japan. Release

> West Pharmaceutical Services will consolidate two production facilities into one and lay off 250 as part of a company-wide restructuring. Release

> The axe is dropping on Trimeris' R&D operations. The North Carolina biotech says it will eliminate R&D next year, once an early-stage trial for its experimental HIV drug is completed in the first half of the year. Report

> Replidyne has cut about a third of its workforce and dumped one of its development programs in a restructuring. Report

> Texas' attorney general has accused Dallas-based Apothecure of selling batches of its painkiller Colchicine that were more highly concentrated than they should have been, resulting in the deaths of three patients from overdose. Report

> Dr. Shinya Yamanaka, the Japanese scientist who led one of the two teams that recently announced they had turned human skin cells into the equivalent of embryonic stem cells, was driven by a passion to stop the destruction of embryos in medical research. Report

> Harvard Medical School professor George Church, one of the key players in the Human Genome Project and a noted expert in genetics, has set his sights on winning the $10 million prize being offered to the first team that can sequence the genomes of 100 people in 10 days at a cost of $10,000 per genome. Report

And Finally... Concerns about safety are growing as the biohazard research field booms. Report