> Pfizer made changes to its by-laws that make it slightly more inconvenient for unhappy shareholders to nominate new directors to the board or to make proposals for shareholder votes. Report
> Investors welcomed the upcoming departure of Biogen Idec's chief executive, James Mullen, sending the company's shares higher in early trading on Tuesday, Reuters said. Report
> An 8-year-old case between Ariad Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly may soon determine whether patents must include a written description of an invention in order to be valid. Report
> India's Wockhardt received tentative FDA approval to sell the generic version of Forest Laboratories' Alzheimer's and dementia drug Namenda. Report
> Daiichi Sankyo acquired a U.S. intravenous drug maker, PharmaForce, in a move aimed at expanding its product lineup. Report
> Cephalon, which makes the sleep disorder drug Nuvigil, filed suit against generic drugmaker Watson Pharmaceuticals, charging Watson with patent infringement. Report
> India's Piramal Healthcare said it is looking for acquisitions in the fields of patented drugs, contract research and research molecules, and that it's raising money for that purpose. Report
> Walgreen's same-store sales fell 0.3 percent in December, the first drop since last February, as pharmacy-sales growth slowed with waning incidence of flu cases. Report
Biotech News
> The FDA approved 26 new drugs last year, edging out the 25 approvals for first-of-a-kind therapies in 2008, according to analysts at Washington Analysis. FDA report
> Shares of Gilead Sciences surged this morning on the news that its experimental HIV regimen hit its 24-week primary objective in a clinical trial. Gilead news
> Several analysts have made sport of MannKind's quest to obtain FDA approval of an inhaled insulin drug. MannKind, though, isn't backing down. Article
> Ensemble Discovery has hooked another Big Pharma company with the prospects of developing a new class of drugs the developer has dubbed "Ensemblins." Report
> Now that CombinatoRx has wrapped its intriguing merger deal with Canada's Neuromed, it's making a change at the top. Out: Interim President and CEO Robert Forrester, who's off in pursuit of "other opportunities," according to the release. In: Board member Mark Corrigan, who takes the helm. CombinatoRx item
Pharma Manufacturing News
> As reported earlier, the low potency of some H1N1 vaccines has led to product recalls and in one case the re-inoculation of individuals who received a weakened shot. Sanofi-Aventis and AstraZeneca's MedImmune have low-potency recalls underway, and some 2,000 Ohioans who visited an H1N1 clinic were called back for a second jab because their first had been frozen in shipment. Report
> Worker strikes plus road and rail blockades are conspiring against Hyderabad's image as a go-to destination for drugmakers. Report
> The biotech companies surviving recent hard times know a thing or two about managing costs and saving money. Some are capitalizing on the failure of their peers by tapping into a growing supply of used manufacturing equipment. Story
> The list of routine precautions and countermeasures against pharmaceutical cargo theft is growing. Story
> The December 18 recall of 6 million bottles of Tylenol arthritis caplets follows by six weeks an early-November recall of just five lots of the drug, which was announced by Johnson & Johnson's McNeil Consumer Healthcare on the Tylenol Internet site. An additional 10 days went by, until December 28, before the FDA issued its more widely seen and accessible medical alert for the contaminated pills. Report
And Finally... Want details on a pharma construction project? Don't look in the news. Report