Japan's Pharmaceutical Affairs and Food Sanitation Council's First Committee on Drugs, or PAFSC, gave the go ahead to Takeda Pharmaceutical's glatiramer acetate application last week, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said. In addition, PAFSC, a review committee that effectively approves drugs for marketing, endorsed Merck Sharp & Dohme's ($MRK) DPP-4 inhibitor omarigliptin, and a fixed-dose combination of DPP-4 inhibitor Equa and biguanide metformin from Novartis ($NVS). The omarigliptin approval enters a crowded field in Japan. As well, a pediatric dose of Tracleer from Actelion Pharmaceuticals ($ATLN) was approved along with Bayer's iloprost. Also in the docket, PAFSC said that GlaxoSmithKline's ($GSK) dutasteride for androgenetic alopecia in men. MHLW website