> Eli Lilly's Effient (prasugrel) received a major boost when it was added as a treatment option in two clinical guideline updates. These were for patients receiving percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and for patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), or severe heart attack. Report
> Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Sanofi-Aventis, and China's Sinopharm Group are three frontrunners to buy German generic-drug maker Ratiopharm GmbH as the deadline for second-round bids ends this week, according to Bloomberg. Report
> Hypermarcas SA, a Brazilian consumer products company, agreed to buy drugmaker Laboratorio Neo Quimica Ltda. for about 1.3 billion reais ($751 million) in cash and shares as it expands into the market for generic medicines. Report
> Cipla Monday said it received a notice from the Indian government demanding INR201.40 million for overpricing Ciprofloxacin. Report
Biotech News
> Celgene is snapping up Gloucester Pharmaceuticals in a deal worth up to $640 million. Investors will get $340 million of that upfront and up to $300 million more as Gloucester's newly approved therapy for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma is rolled out around the world. Report
> Shares of Genmab skidded down about 10 percent this morning as investors got a chance to register their concern about Roche's announcement late Friday that it is exiting a deal to develop an antibody now in mid-stage trials. Report
> AEterna Zentaris says that a late-stage study of its lead drug cetrorelix for enlarged prostates--or benign prostatic hyperplasia--didn't reach its primary endpoint. In addition, there were no clear differences in overall efficacy between the drug and placebo groups in the study. Article
> San Diego-based Somaxon Pharmaceuticals' second time around with its NDA for the insomnia drug Silenor proved no more successful than the first, and its stock plunged 65 percent on the FDA's renewed objections. Somaxon article
> The American Society of Hematology meeting underway now in New Orleans provided a big stage for Onyx to tout promising new mid-stage data on a cancer therapy acquired last month in its $851 million buyout of Proteolix. Item
Biotech IT News
> Fluorescence imaging got a boost last week on two separate fronts: at the nano-biotech level via software support for high-end cameras, and in in vivo 3D image acquisition and analysis for disease study. Report
> Drug companies and their customers need to be able to converse online so they can correct misinformation, share product knowledge and learn together. While individual exchanges can't be regulated, the overall effort can be, says social media evangelist Bob Pearson. Report
> A remotely operated X-ray set-up that promises diagnoses of infectious respiratory diseases for millions in developing countries may also provide data for the discoverers and developers of drugs to cure such diseases. Report
> Some 400 miles west of the IBM-powered Pitt, Indiana University is spending $1.5 million from the National Institutes of Health on its own high-end computing discovery tools. The Hoosiers' Pervasive Technology Institute Digital Science Center is targeting cloud computing to support life science research. Report
> It's always nice to be recognized, but especially so when the recognition comes in the form of high-end IBM hardware and software. The University of Pittsburgh's McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine received such recognition last week when it garnered a Shared University Research (SUR) Award from Big Blue. Report
> In IT genealogy, Web 2.0 spawned Enterprise 2.0 (E2.0), the content-, knowledge-, and collective-input-savvy corporation. Now Web 2.0 and E2.0 have spawned social knowledge networks. Report
And Finally... Hollywood sees corruption in Pharma, and suddenly scientists are the bad guys. Story