> Regulators have approved Barr Pharmaceuticals' low-dose contraceptive LoSeasonique, the company said Monday, and Barr plans to begin selling the drug in the first quarter of 2009. Release l Report
> VioQuest Pharmaceuticals has run into a severe cash crunch. The developer says it needs to raise cash now and announced that two top executives have announced their plans to resign after scrambling to either find new funds or sell the company. Report
> Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, has submitted a supplemental new drug application to the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare for a new indication of Gonal-f/Gonalef for ovulation induction in infertile women. Report
> Pfizer execs turned up at AusBiotech 2008 to talk up the role that pharma plays these days in providing venture capital to emerging drug developers. Report
> In just a matter of weeks, federal scientists will begin recruiting 100,000 pregnant women for an ambitious study designed to track children's health from the womb to the age of 21. Report
> Parexel International reported a drop in its fiscal first-quarter net as sales fell short of company targets; profits dropped to $13.6 million from $13.9 million a year ago. Report
> Wyeth's investigational pneumococcal vaccine (PCV) for young children, Prevnar-13, appears to offer better protection than the current blockbuster vaccine, Prevnar. Report
> The start-up biomedical company Carmat is assembling a completely artificial heart which it says will be ready for use by 2011. Report
> Trevose, PA-based InfaCare Pharmaceutical has rounded up $28 million for its Series B, with much of the money earmarked for a late-stage trial. Report
> HIV patients taking Pfizer's Selzentry in combination with Combivir (zidovudine/lamivudine) and selected by an enhanced sensitivity tropism test to screen patients, experienced a 68 percent rate of virologic suppression to undetectable levels, according to a new study. Report
> The cash crunch is directly threatening the development of new medicines, according to the U.K.'s The Times. Report
> Novartis says that a single dose of ACZ885 produced "rapid and long-lasting remission" in children and adults suffering from rare forms of arthritis. Report
And Finally... Want $75 million? Then invent a method of contraception for cats and dogs. Report