> India will resolve a dispute with the European Union over generic drugs in an amicable way, Trade Minister Anand Sharma said. Report
> Accusing Ireland's drug regulator of being too close to the industry, an academic report concluded that more than one in four senior personnel at the Irish Medicines Board had "potential conflicts of interest." Report
> The U.S. Supreme Court today considers a patent dispute that will determine how much legal protection is afforded abstract business innovations, pitting high-tech firms against drugmakers. Report
> British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline is currently Saudi Arabia's sole supplier of a vaccine for the H1N1 flu virus, the country's health ministry spokesman said. Report
> Cubist Pharmaceuticals was tapped by Boston Globe as one of the top 100 places to work in Massachusetts, the company announced. Release
> In a spate of analyst reports, AstraZeneca was upgraded by Royal Bank of Scotland to buy from hold, while RBS cut Roche to hold from buy. Report
> Meanwhile, JP Morgan cut AstraZeneca to underweight from neutral, while the firm raised its price target on GlaxoSmithKline to 1350p from 1050p, on Roche to 237 Swiss francs from 195 Swiss francs, and on Novartis to 69 Swiss francs from 61 Swiss francs. Report | Report
> Aurobindo Pharma got the FDA nod for its version of the cephalosporin antibiotic Claforan. Report
Biotech News
> Enzon Pharmaceuticals has hived off its specialty pharma business--a package that includes a manufacturing plant in Indianapolis and four marketed products--for $300 million in cash and the promise of additional rewards in milestones and royalties to Italy's sigma-tau Group. Report
> In the latest sign that biotech companies are willing to test investors' appetite for clinical-stage companies, San Diego-based Trius Therapeutics has filed for an IPO designed to raise $86 million. Report
> Tethys Bioscience has landed a $25 million Series D round of financing to help commercialize its diabetes risk test. The round was led by Aeris Capital; Wasatch Advisors was also on board as a new investor. As part of the funding round, George Rehm, Managing Partner of Aeris, was appointed to the company's board. Report
> GTC Biotherapeutics--which won the first approval for a transgenic drug--is slashing its substantial workforce by about a third and has lined up a fresh round of financing. Report
> Every biotech company looking to make a deal on one of its assets always has to negotiate around one key question: How much is their clinical-stage asset really worth? Report
Biotech IT News
> The FDA is rolling out WebSDM Release 3.0 software, originally developed by Phase Forward under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement. Report
> Site recruitment and study start-up documentation are getting a boost from an alliance between Adobe Systems and secure-collaboration company IntraLinks. Report
> Electronic informed consent meets paperless processes for document transfer in a deal that aims to fill the need in global trials for polylinguistic web-based management. Report
> Specialty biopharma Shire has extended its relationship with Medidata Solutions by signing on for multiyear use of the Grants Manager and CRO Contractor trial planning products. Report
> Sebastian Piotrowski is cautious about data security in cloud computing. The systems engineering lead at Johnson & Johnson says the company processes data using the Amazon Web Services cloud but keeps the data fully obscured. Report
And Finally ... Doctors vary on when to give flu patients the antiviral drug Tamiflu. Report