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CBO finds generic drugs save Medicare $33 billion in 2007

A new government report finds that the use of generic medications saved the Medicare program and its beneficiaries about $33 billion in 2007, The Associated Press/BusinessWeek report. The Congressional Budget Office report "says an additional $14 billion is expected as first-time generics enter the market through 2012. Medicare Part D is Medicare's prescription drug program" (9/15).

18 Sep 2010

Use of oral medications for diabetes increases among Americans: Report

The proportion of Americans reporting treatment for diabetes who took oral medications to treat their condition increased from 60 percent in 1997 to 77 percent in 2007, a 28 percent increase according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. During the same period, the proportion taking insulin to control their diabetes fell from 38 percent to 24 percent.

18 Sep 2010

FDA accepts to review Aricept NDA for Alzheimer's disease

Teikoku Pharma USA, Inc., an international specialty pharmaceutical company, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for review the New Drug Application (NDA) for a new weekly transdermal patch of Aricept, a leading medication for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

18 Sep 2010

FDA reviews Actos drug for bladder cancer risk

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced it has begun a safety review of the diabetes drug Actos (pioglitazone), after receiving preliminary results from a long-term observational study designed to evaluate the risk of bladder cancer associated with use of this drug.

18 Sep 2010

BARDA awards contract to Emergent BioSolutions for anthrax vaccine development

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) awarded a $51 million contract to Emergent BioSolutions, Inc., of Rockville, Md., for the development of a new anthrax vaccine using the protective antigen (rPA) to stimulate a protective immune response that neutralizes the anthrax toxins.

18 Sep 2010

FDA decides to review information on Avastin for advanced HER2-negative breast cancer

Genentech, Inc., a member of the Roche Group, today announced that information submitted by the company to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) during the review of the supplemental Biologics License Applications (sBLAs) for Avastin (bevacizumab) for previously untreated (first-line) advanced HER2-negative breast cancer has been deemed a major amendment.

18 Sep 2010

New iPhone application tracks drug safety updates

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Children's Hospital Boston have developed a new iPhone application to encourage health-care professionals and patients to send and receive information about the use and side effects of prescription medications.

17 Sep 2010

Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers to strengthen alliance with GAVI

Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers Network (DCVMN), a voluntary public health driven alliance of state owned and private vaccine manufacturers from developing countries, now intends to strengthen its collaboration with Global Alliance for Vaccine Immunization (GAVI) to increase its bandwidth in immunization for the developing countries.

17 Sep 2010

Opiate usage increases in workplace and ER

More American workers and job applicants are testing positive for prescription opiates, according to U.S. general workforce data in the 2009 annual Drug Testing Index™ (DTI) released today by Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, the nation's leading provider of diagnostic testing, information and services. Results from more than 5.5 million urine drug tests reveal an 18 percent jump in opiate positives in the general U.S. workforce in a single year (2008 to 2009), and a more than 40 percent climb from 2005 to 2009.

17 Sep 2010

Vital Therapies expands SILVER clinical trial to Middle East

Vital Therapies, Inc., is pleased to announce that the first subject has been enrolled at National Guard Hospital in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the further expansion of its SILVER clinical trial to the Middle East. The trial is evaluating whether VTI's biological cellular therapy product, ELAD, can prevent deterioration of liver function and improve the survival of patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure.

17 Sep 2010

Arena, Eisai provide update on lorcaserin NDA

Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Eisai Inc. announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee voted 9 to 5 that the available data do not adequately demonstrate that the potential benefits of lorcaserin outweigh the potential risks, when used long-term in a population of overweight and obese individuals to allow marketing approval.

17 Sep 2010

Elite Pharmaceuticals signs agreements with Precision Dose for four generic products

Elite Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today the signing of a license agreement and a manufacturing and supply agreement with Precision Dose, Inc. which has a wholly owned subsidiary, TAGI Pharma, Inc. which will distribute the products covered by the agreement. Pursuant to the License Agreement, TAGI Pharma will market and sell four Elite generic products in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada.

17 Sep 2010

NIH to implement ScriptPro pharmacy automation systems

ScriptPro has been awarded a contract to provide pharmacy automation systems to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD.

17 Sep 2010

Metabolic Solutions to present MSDC-0160 clinical candidate data at EASD conference

Metabolic Solutions Development Company (MSDC), will present research at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) annual conference in Stockholm, Sweden on Sept. 23, 2010. The research indicates that the company's clinical candidate, MSDC-0160, promotes the proliferation of stem cells that create brown fat, leading to the creation of more brown fat. The research was conducted in tissue cultures and mice.

17 Sep 2010

Common Alzheimer's disease drug enhances learning of new skills

Research on a drug commonly prescribed to Alzheimer's disease patients is helping neuroscientists at the University of California, Berkeley, better understand perceptual learning in healthy adults.

17 Sep 2010

Researchers reveal Prozac reactions to increase serotonin level

The response time to antidepressants, such as Prozac, is around three weeks. The adaptation mechanisms of the neurons to antidepressants has, until now, remained enigmatic. In particular, the researchers have revealed, for the first time, a sequence of reactions caused by Prozac at the neuron level, which contributes to an increase in the amounts of serotonin, a chemical "messenger" essential to the brain, and deficient in depressive individuals.

17 Sep 2010

Diclectin's effectiveness for morning sickness: Report

In the latest issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, a group of American and Canadian researchers report on the effectiveness of Diclectin(R) (the delayed-release formulation of doxylamine and vitamin B6) for morning sickness.

17 Sep 2010

Alcohol addiction drug may help opioid addicts: FDA panel considers reports

A U.S. Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) panel, this Thursday agreed that a new drug Vivitrol helps alcoholics and opioid addicts kick the habit. The panel voted 11 to 2 that there was sufficient evidence from a single clinical trial that Vivitrol is effective when it comes to helping people addicted to painkillers.

17 Sep 2010

FDA Advisory Committee recommends approval of Alkermes' VIVITROL for opioid dependence

Alkermes, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted 12 to 1 that VIVITROL® (naltrexone for extended-release injectable suspension) should be approved for the treatment of opioid dependence.

17 Sep 2010

FDA approves CRT-D device to treat heart failure patients

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved a new indication for three cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-D) used to treat certain heart failure patients.

17 Sep 2010