Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced positive top-line results from the second of two pivotal Phase 3 trials evaluating the safety and efficacy of fidaxomicin (OPT-80) in patients with Clostridium difficile Infection (CDI). This study was conducted in approximately 100 clinical sites throughout North America and Europe. The Company plans to use data from this study to support submission of a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the second half of 2010. [More]

Oxford Finance Corporation today announced that it is the agent and primary lender for a $25 million credit facility provided to EUSA Pharma. MidCap Financial and Silicon Valley Bank are co-lenders in the transaction. [More]

Children who were exposed to acetaminophen prenatally were more likely to have asthma symptoms at age five in a study of 300 African-American and Dominican Republic children living in New York City. [More]

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. announced today that it has entered into a stock purchase agreement to acquire LEAD Therapeutics, Inc. (LEAD), a small private drug discovery and early stage development company with key compound LT-673, an orally available poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor for the treatment of patients with rare, genetically defined cancers. [More]

A major centre created by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and MRC Technology (MRCT) in order to fast-track the discovery and development of novel drugs, opens its first call for targets today. [More]

Providing preventive Tamiflu and educating and emphasizing the need for repeated hand sanitizer use and disinfectant spray helped stop the spread of H1N1 influenza at a boys' summer camp in northern Alabama, according the co-director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. [More]

In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting -, in Chicago, researchers will present findings that there were less complications for women, after having a cesarean delivery, if sutures were used instead of staples to close the wound. [More]

Rising consumer awareness that early diagnosis and treatment can delay the progression of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to anti-immuno deficiency syndrome (AIDS) has had a telling impact on the sales of HIV tests. [More]

NeoStem, Inc., an international biopharmaceutical company with operations in the U.S. and China, announced that it recently was advised that its Suzhou Erye Pharmaceutical subsidiary ("Erye") received approval from the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) in China to manufacture solvent crystallization sterile penicillin and freeze dried raw sterile penicillin at their new facility which provides 50% and 100% greater manufacturing capacity, respectively, than its existing facility. Historically, these two lines have accounted for approximately 20% of Erye's sales. [More]

Ecolab Inc. today announced the launch of its new EnCompass™ Environmental Hygiene program, a comprehensive clinical program that helps hospitals improve patient room hygiene and prevent the spread of infections. [More]

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/fe6b6d/staphylococci_in_h) has announced the addition of John Wiley and Sons Ltd's new report "Staphylococci in Human Disease, 2nd Edition" to their offering. [More]

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/a02dfe/rapid_advances_in) has announced the addition of Frost & Sullivan's new report "Rapid Advances in HIV/AIDS Clinical Diagnostics" to their offering. [More]

As the need for health care assistance mounts after the recent catastrophic earthquake in Haiti, America's pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies continue to provide help. So far, more than $25 million in medicines, medical supplies and cash have been committed to relief efforts – and that amount is still growing. The total does not include the contributions of PhRMA member company employees and the many companies committed to matching the pledges of their workers. [More]

MedImmune today announced that clinical results of its pivotal multinational, randomized, double-masked trial for motavizumab have been published in the current issue of the peer-reviewed publication, Pediatrics: Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. [More]

Oculus Innovative Sciences, Inc., a commercial medical technology company that designs, produces and markets safe and effective tissue care products based upon the Microcyn® Technology platform, today unveiled Microcyn Solution with preservatives, at the New York Podiatric Clinical Conference & Exhibition being held in downtown Manhattan, January 29-31. [More]