Pharmaceuticals News and Research

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First Edition: April 27, 2011

In today's headlines, political push-back continues regarding the Paul Ryan budget plan and the Supreme Court seems skeptical that prescription drug data laws don't violate free speech.

27 Apr 2011

CMAJ: Canada needs national pharmacare program

Canada needs a national pharmacare program and federal leaders must commit adequate funding, states an editorial in CMAJ.

27 Apr 2011

Watson reports net revenue of $876.5 million for first quarter 2011

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today reported net revenue of $876.5 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2011, compared to $856.5 million in the first quarter 2010.

27 Apr 2011

Rwanda launches Africa's first nationwide cervical cancer vaccination, detection program

Rwandan First Lady Jeannette Kagame on Tuesday, in collaboration with two companies, launched a national cervical cancer vaccination and screening program, the first of its kind in Africa, the New Times reports.

27 Apr 2011

MSF letter criticizes Johnson & Johnson for not joining Medicines Patent Pool

Medecins Sans Frontieres recently sent a letter to Johnson & Johnson criticizing the pharmaceutical company for "refusing to make patents on three HIV drugs available to a program that would reduce the cost of the medicines in developing countries," the Star-Ledger reports.

27 Apr 2011

High Court hears arguments regarding access to docs' prescribing data

In this case, the state of Vermont is battling drug companies and data-mining firms. Vermont's law bans the sale of prescribing information unless physicians "opt in" and make their records available.

27 Apr 2011

AACN to host annual NTI conference for nurses

Emerging trends in patient care combine with advances in healthcare technology as thousands of nurses who care for acutely and critically ill patients gather in Chicago this month.

27 Apr 2011

Karo Bio reports net loss of MSEK 47.7 for January - March 2011

Karo Bio: The January - March 2011 period in brief. Net sales amounted to MSEK 0.0.

27 Apr 2011

Sagent Pharma closes initial public offering of 5,750,000 shares of common stock

Sagent Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that it has closed its previously announced initial public offering of 5,750,000 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $16.00 per share.

27 Apr 2011

Boehringer Ingelheim initiates enrollment in BI 201335 Phase 3 clinical trial for chronic HCV

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that enrollment has commenced at North American sites in its pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial program for BI 201335, the Company's investigational, oral protease inhibitor for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV).

27 Apr 2011

Rxi secures SBIR grants to develop novel RNAi therapeutics for ALS

RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation, a biotechnology company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing innovative therapies addressing major unmet medical needs using RNA-targeted and immunotherapy technologies, today announced that it was awarded two Small Business Innovation Research grants from the National Institutes of Health.

27 Apr 2011

Positive results from Sanofi-aventis and Regeneron ZALTRAP Phase III study in mCRC

Sanofi-aventis and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that the Phase III VELOUR trial evaluating the investigational agent ZALTRAP, also known as VEGF Trap, in combination with the FOLFIRI chemotherapy regimen versus a regimen of FOLFIRI plus placebo met its primary endpoint of improving overall survival in the second-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer.

27 Apr 2011

Magnetic 'nanobeads' help detect chemical and biological agents

Researchers at Oregon State University have found a way to use magnetic "nanobeads" to help detect chemical and biological agents, with possible applications in everything from bioterrorism to medical diagnostics, environmental monitoring or even water and food safety.

27 Apr 2011

Tarix begins patient enrollment for TXA127 Phase 1 study in DCBT

Tarix Pharmaceuticals today announced enrollment of the first patient in a Phase 1 clinical study of TXA127, a pharmaceutical grade formulation of a naturally occurring peptide known to stimulate early hematopoietic precursor cells in the bone marrow.

27 Apr 2011

Columbia requests FDA Priority Review for PROCHIEVE progesterone gel NDA

Columbia Laboratories, Inc., and Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc., today announced that Columbia has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for PROCHIEVE® (progesterone gel) for the reduction of risk of preterm birth in women with short uterine cervical length in the mid-trimester of pregnancy.

27 Apr 2011

FDA grants orphan drug status to Provectus' PV-10 for liver cancer treatment

Provectus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a development-stage oncology and dermatology biopharmaceutical company, has received orphan drug designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for Rose Bengal, the active ingredient in its novel oncology drug PV-10, for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common form of primary liver cancer.

27 Apr 2011

PPD reports net revenue of $383.2 million for first quarter 2011

PPD, Inc. today reported its financial and operating results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2011.

27 Apr 2011

FDA supports new Hepatitis C drug from Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Vertex pharmaceuticals jumped 10 percent in value on the Nasdaq after U.S. regulators FDA said the company’s experimental hepatitis C drug cures more patients than current therapies.

26 Apr 2011

Common painkillers decrease effectiveness of antidepressants: Study

According to a latest study, antidepressants like Prozac and Aspirin do not mix. Researchers found that painkillers such as aspirin and ibuprofen appear to decrease the effectiveness of a popular class of antidepressants that includes Prozac, Paxil, Lexapro and Zoloft and Celexa.

26 Apr 2011

Millennium submits two VELCADE sNDAs to FDA

Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company with its parent company Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited today announced that it has submitted two supplemental new drug applications (sNDAs) for VELCADE® (bortezomib) for Injection to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The first application seeks to add a subcutaneous route of administration for VELCADE. The second application is for the use of VELCADE in combination with rituximab in patients with relapsed follicular non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).

26 Apr 2011