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Surveyed cardiologists, PCPs perceive Crestor comparable to Lipitor in ability to reduce mortality

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that in the treatment of dyslipidemia, surveyed cardiologists and primary care physicians (PCPs) now perceive AstraZeneca's Crestor's ability to reduce mortality comparable to Pfizer's Lipitor. This finding has changed from Decision Resources' 2009 analysis in which surveyed cardiologists viewed Lipitor as significantly better on this end point.

20 Nov 2010

Xanodyne to withdraw propoxyphene-containing products from the U.S. market

Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that the company will voluntarily withdraw its Darvon, Darvon-N and Darvocet-N products from the U.S. market in consultation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

20 Nov 2010

Potassium citrate effective for prevention and treatment of osteoporosis: Study

The Western diet creates an acidic environment in the body that removes calcium from bones and may contribute to the development of osteoporosis. Healthy adults who consume the standard US diet sustain a chronic, low-grade state of acidosis that worsens with age as kidney function declines, limiting urinary acid excretion. Reto Krapf, MD (University of Basel, in Bruderholz/Basel, Switzerland) and colleagues designed a study to see if daily alkali as potassium citrate supplement tablets might neutralize these effects.

20 Nov 2010

PaedRegCliNet promotes development of medications for children

Many of the medications used to treat children have been developed almost exclusively for adults and approved for them. This is why pediatricians have been demanding for decades that medications be tailored specifically to the needs of the child's body and adequately tested on children. A regulation from the European Commission called the Pediatric Regulation has set out to solve this problem. Clinical studies involving children should ultimately give way to medications tailored for this age group.

20 Nov 2010

Survey examines Canadians' overall view of health care system

Today, the Health Council of Canada released survey results from the 2010 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey. The bulletin called, How Do Canadians Rate the Health Care System? examines Canadians' insights into the performance of the health care system.

20 Nov 2010

Ligand reverse stock split becomes effective

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated today announced that its previously disclosed 1-for-6 reverse stock split has become effective, and will be reflected in the share price beginning today.

20 Nov 2010

Data from Rockwell Medical's Phase IIb study of SFP presented at ASN meeting

Rockwell Medical, a fully-integrated biopharmaceutical company offering innovative products and services targeting end-stage renal disease, chronic kidney disease, and iron deficiency anemia, announced today that the Company will present new data at the American Society of Nephrology meeting being held in Denver, Colorado, on its late-stage investigational drug Soluble Ferric Pyrophosphate, which is being studied for the treatment of iron-deficiency anemia in ESRD patients.

20 Nov 2010

MedSynergies receives gold-level award for website design

MedSynergies Inc., the leading provider of hospital-physician alignment solutions, received the gold-level award for achieving the best website design in the Corporate Business Improvement Site division of the 2010 eHealthcare Leadership Awards.

20 Nov 2010

PROTOX closes first tranche of investment by Warburg Pincus

Protox Therapeutics Inc., a leader in the development of receptor targeted therapeutic fusion proteins, today announced it has closed the first tranche of the investment by Warburg Pincus. The investment was approved by 100% of the votes cast by shareholders at the recent special shareholders meeting.

20 Nov 2010

USC Norris designated Phase I Clinical Trial Center of Excellence

The USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center (USC Norris) has been designated a Phase I Clinical Trial Center of Excellence by global pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. The collaboration will bring a number of new phase I clinical trials to USC Norris, and will enable the cancer center's clinical and basic scientists to provide guidance in early phase drug development and trial design.

20 Nov 2010

NEXTERONE Premixed Injection uses CyDex Captisol technology platform

CyDex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that Prism Pharmaceuticals' NEXTERONE (amiodarone HCL) Premixed Injection, which recently received supplemental new drug application (sNDA) approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, makes use of the patent-protected CyDex Captisol technology platform.

20 Nov 2010

Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals decides to voluntarily remove propoxyphene from the U.S. market

Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals Inc. which makes Darvon and Darvocet, the brand version of the prescription pain medication propoxyphene, has agreed to withdraw the medication from the U.S. market at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA has also informed the generic manufacturers of propoxyphene-containing products of Xanodyne's decision and requested that they voluntarily remove their products as well.

20 Nov 2010

Acceleron presents ACE-041 interim results for advanced cancer at EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium

Acceleron Pharma, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing novel protein therapeutics that regulate the growth and development of tissues and cells, including muscle, bone, red blood cells, and vasculature, today announced the presentation of interim results from the first-in-human clinical study of ACE-041 in patients with advanced cancer at the 22nd EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Berlin, Germany.

20 Nov 2010

CMS grants Qutenza J-code to NeurogesX

NeurogesX, Inc. a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing novel pain management therapies, today announced that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has granted a unique, Level II Health Care Common Procedural Coding System (Level II HCPCS), commonly referred to as a J-code, for Qutenza (capsaicin) 8% patch.

19 Nov 2010

Somaxon prices underwritten public offering of common stock

Somaxon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that it has priced an underwritten public offering of 8,800,000 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $2.95 per share. The offering is expected to close on or about November 24, 2010, subject to customary closing conditions.

19 Nov 2010

Baxter enters definitive agreement to acquire all hemophilia-related assets Archemix

Baxter International Inc. announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all of the hemophilia-related assets of a privately-held biopharmaceutical company, Archemix, and entered into an exclusive license agreement for certain related intellectual property assets.

From Baxter International Inc. 19 Nov 2010

Cyclacel to present results of sapacitabine Phase 2 trial for MDS at ASH Meeting

Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that updated Phase 2 clinical trial results of sapacitabine for the treatment of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) will be presented at a poster presentation during the 52nd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in Orlando, on Saturday, December 4, 2010.

19 Nov 2010

AVEO's RON antibody shows anti-tumor activity in human cancer xenografts

AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing cancer therapeutics, today announced preclinical data from AVEO's anti-RON antibody program which demonstrated the successful identification of antibodies with potent anti-tumor activity that demonstrated inhibition of the function of both wild type RON and the RONΔ160 variant, as well as a potential biomarker to identify tumors likely to respond to treatment with the anti-RON antibody.

19 Nov 2010

Threshold Pharmaceuticals announces results on TH-302 prodrug for cancers at EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium

Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced clinical trial results related to Threshold's clinical stage hypoxia-activated prodrug, TH-302. The results were presented at the 22nd EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics taking place in Berlin, Germany from November 16 to19, 2010.

19 Nov 2010

DoD recommends funding for Synta's STA-9584 for prostate cancer study

Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp., a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing small molecule drugs to treat severe medical conditions, today announced that the Department of Defense (DoD) has recommended STA-9584, a novel vascular disrupting agent (VDA) currently in pre-clinical development at Synta, be funded for study in advanced prostate cancer.

19 Nov 2010