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Bristol-Myers Squibb second-quarter net sales increase 2% to $4.8 billion

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company today reported results for the second quarter of 2010 which featured data on key marketed and investigational compounds in its oncology, diabetes and cardiovascular franchises, and growth in sales and EPS. The company also confirmed guidance for 2010 and minimum guidance for non-GAAP EPS in 2013.

22 Jul 2010

AstraZeneca provides medicines to patients at Grace Hill Neighborhood Health Centers

AstraZeneca announced today that it is providing medicines at no cost to qualifying patients at Grace Hill Neighborhood Health Centers, Inc. in St. Louis.

22 Jul 2010

Fera acquires investigational new drug for treatment of fungal otitis externa

Fera Pharmaceuticals announces the acquisition of an investigational new drug to treat fungal otitis externa (FOE).

22 Jul 2010

Amylin reports $164.4M total revenue for quarter ended June 30, 2010

Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today reported financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2010. The Company reported total revenue of $164.4 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2010, which includes net product sales of $162.5 million. Net loss, excluding a restructuring charge of $3.4 million, was $40.8 million, or $0.28 per share.

22 Jul 2010

Eli Lilly CEO says U.S. drugmakers' biggest challenge is sustaining innovation

USA Today/Indianapolis Star: Drugmakers are facing an array of challenges, like lawsuits and patent losses, but also new opportunities including global growth and an expected surge in the number of U.S. residents with health insurance. Eli Lilly CEO John Lechleiter comments in a Q&A: "The biggest challenge facing the industry is to be able to sustain the flow of innovative medicines from our pipelines that can effectively compete against the generic versions of our own products" (Chu, 7/21).

22 Jul 2010

Medicare drug benefit appears to help more seniors with heart failure

The Medicare drug benefit may be helping more older Americans with heart failure get the medications recommended for controlling the disease, a new study finds. The study, of nearly 7,000 older heart failure patients in one large insurance plan, found that the number of filled prescriptions for standard heart failure medications increased after the Medicare drug benefit kicked in in 2006. The biggest increase was seen among seniors who had previously lacked any form of drug coverage.

22 Jul 2010

Company creates cottages for aging, disabled relatives; Report examines rising costs for elderly health care

"On Monday, N2Care, a company formed by a Methodist minister in Salem, Va., showed off its first MedCottage, a 12-by-24-foot prototype filled with biometric technology that would allow a family and health-care providers to monitor the condition of an aging or disabled relative. … [T]he Virginia General Assembly this year passed legislation, HB1307, that supersedes local zoning laws and allows families to install such a dwelling on their property with a doctor's order."

21 Jul 2010

States worry Congress may not provide extra Medicaid funding; AARP steps in to advocate for the cause

"New York's budget took another blow on Monday, as Congress pulled away from providing more than $1 billion in expected health-care funding. If the money doesn't show up soon, officials warn, there will be layoffs. Senate aides said Monday that a measure to extend unemployment benefits is likely to pass this week, but won't include the extra Medicaid money that Gov. David Paterson and Mayor Michael Bloomberg had been seeking to plug budget holes. In previous versions of the bill, the money had been included along with unemployment benefits."

21 Jul 2010

FDA accepts MannKind's resubmission of AFREZZA NDA, sets PDUFA action date

MannKind Corporation today announced that it has submitted, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted, MannKind's resubmission of its New Drug Application for AFREZZA™ (insulin human [rDNA origin]) and classified it as a Class 2 resubmission. With the Class 2 designation, the FDA set a corresponding Prescription Drug User Fee Act action date of December 29, 2010.

21 Jul 2010

UnitedHealth Group second-quarter consolidated revenues increase 7% to $23.3 billion

UnitedHealth Group today reported second quarter results, including better-than-projected growth in Health Benefits and Health Services. Key performance metrics and costs were in line with or better than Company expectations.

20 Jul 2010

New report compares efficacy of Plavix, Effient in treating patients with ACS

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that, for the treatment of acute coronary syndrome, 56 percent of surveyed interventional cardiologists who prescribe Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi-Aventis' Plavix in high doses, consider it to be comparable in efficacy to Daiichi Sankyo/Eli Lilly's recently-launched Effient.

20 Jul 2010

Pain medication abuse soars

The Associated Press: "A new government study finds a 400 percent increase in the number of people admitted to treatment for abusing prescription pain medication. The increase in substance abuse among people ages 12 and older was recorded during the 10-year-period from 1998 to 2008. It spans every gender, race, ethnicity, education and employment level, and all regions of the country" (7/15).

17 Jul 2010

Amgen granted FDA priority review designation for denosumab BLA

Amgen today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted priority review designation to denosumab, a subcutaneous RANK Ligand inhibitor, for the treatment of bone metastases to reduce skeletal related events (SREs) in patients with cancer.

17 Jul 2010

Capitol Hill Watch: Obama agenda under scrutiny as lawmakers talk Medicare, budgets

President Obama's agenda, which includes a sweeping overhaul of the health care system, is coming under increased political scrutiny as lawmakers struggle with health budget challenges, and consider issues such as medical bankruptcy and improper Medicare payments.

17 Jul 2010

First Edition: July 16, 2010

Indiana's Medicaid chief told lawmakers Thursday that the federal government has largely left states in the dark on implementing the federal health care overhaul because it hasn't yet provided needed guidelines (The Associated Press).

16 Jul 2010

Treatment admissions for abuse of prescription pain relievers increases by over 400%: Study

The proportion of all substance abuse treatment admissions of those aged 12 and older involving abuse of prescription pain relievers rose by over 400 percent from 2.2 percent in 1998 to 9.8 percent in 2008 according to a new study be the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). This dramatic rise in the proportion of admissions associated with the abuse of these drugs occurred among nearly all segments of the population regardless of age, gender, educational level and employment status.

16 Jul 2010

Study analyzes global oncology community's Twitter utilization to enhance discussion at ASCO 2010

JuvoLab, a company focused on value creation in the life sciences industry, today announced the release of a unique study detailing the entire global oncology community's utilization of Twitter to enhance scientific discussion at the ASCO 2010 Annual Meeting. This pioneering study analyzed over 4450 tweets, generated by more than 680 users over the course of the conference, and provides clarity and insight into the use of Twitter from breaking clinical news and engaging in clinical discussion to compliant corporate promotion by industry leaders.

16 Jul 2010

Glaxo announces a $2.3 billion in legal liability charges

British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, announced this Thursday that its second-quarter charges related to legal cases involving the two drugs Avandia (diabetes drug) and Paxil (drug for anxiety and depression) would run up to $2.36 billion. Avandia’s use and its potential risk of causing heart problems were being debated this week by an advisory panel to the US Food & Drugs Administration (FDA).

16 Jul 2010

KRX-0401 receives Orphan Drug designation from FDA for treatment of neuroblastoma

Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that KRX-0401 (perifosine) has received Orphan Drug designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system affecting mostly children and infants for which there are no FDA approved therapies.

15 Jul 2010

Genelex, Helix announce strategic alliance to increase availability of new DNA Drug Sensitivity Tests

Genelex and Helix have announced a personalized prescribing strategic alliance to increase the availability of important new DNA Drug Sensitivity Tests such as Plavitest and Tamoxitest. These tests and the GeneMedRx medication management software can save lives and healthcare dollars by allowing doctors to personalize their prescribing practices in order to prevent adverse medication outcomes, including treatment failures and dangerous side effects.

15 Jul 2010

Prescription Drug News and Research

Bristol-Myers Squibb second-quarter net sales increase 2% to $4.8 billion

AstraZeneca provides medicines to patients at Grace Hill Neighborhood Health Centers

Fera acquires investigational new drug for treatment of fungal otitis externa

Amylin reports $164.4M total revenue for quarter ended June 30, 2010

Eli Lilly CEO says U.S. drugmakers' biggest challenge is sustaining innovation

Medicare drug benefit appears to help more seniors with heart failure

Company creates cottages for aging, disabled relatives; Report examines rising costs for elderly health care

States worry Congress may not provide extra Medicaid funding; AARP steps in to advocate for the cause

FDA accepts MannKind's resubmission of AFREZZA NDA, sets PDUFA action date

UnitedHealth Group second-quarter consolidated revenues increase 7% to $23.3 billion

New report compares efficacy of Plavix, Effient in treating patients with ACS

Pain medication abuse soars

Amgen granted FDA priority review designation for denosumab BLA

Capitol Hill Watch: Obama agenda under scrutiny as lawmakers talk Medicare, budgets

First Edition: July 16, 2010

Treatment admissions for abuse of prescription pain relievers increases by over 400%: Study

Study analyzes global oncology community's Twitter utilization to enhance discussion at ASCO 2010

Glaxo announces a $2.3 billion in legal liability charges

KRX-0401 receives Orphan Drug designation from FDA for treatment of neuroblastoma

Genelex, Helix announce strategic alliance to increase availability of new DNA Drug Sensitivity Tests

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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