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Tips for lessening needle anxiety

Experts believe fear of needles may be preventing people from rolling up their sleeves for the H1N1 vaccination.

18 Nov 2009

U.S. health officials testify before Senate Committee about H1N1 vaccine campaign

U.S. health officials defended their handling of the country's H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine campaign Tuesday "against criticism that their plan to protect Americans was confusing and over-optimistic," Reuters reports (Fox, 11/17).

18 Nov 2009

Generic and brand-name drug makers face off

"Teva Pharmaceuticals, a leading manufacturer of generic drugs, has been aggressively lobbying Congress to scrap provisions in the health care bills it claims would shut it out of the biologic drug market for too long," Roll Call reports. Lobbyists for the biologics makers have charged, however, that Teva is hypocritical because it is fighting to restrict generic production of its own brand-name product.

18 Nov 2009

New data on Synta Pharmaceuticals' elesclomol presented at the AACR-NCI-EORTC Conference

Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp., a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing small molecule drugs to treat severe medical conditions, today presented new data on the mechanism of action of elesclomol, a first-in-class oxidative stress inducer, at the AACR-NCI-EORTC Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Boston, Mass.

18 Nov 2009

New pre-clinical data from Alnylam Pharmaceuticals' ALN-VSP program presented

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, today announced new pre-clinical data from its ALN-VSP program presented at the AACR-NCI-EORTC Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics International conference being held November 15 - 19, 2009 in Boston, Mass.

18 Nov 2009

Pfizer Canada accepts Prix Galien Canada 2009 Innovative Product Award for CHAMPIX

Pfizer Canada accepted the Prix Galien Canada 2009 Innovative Product Award for CHAMPIX (varenicline tartrate), the first prescription treatment for smoking cessation in adults specifically designed to target nicotine addiction. The award was presented last night at a gala in Ottawa recognizing excellence in pharmaceutical research.

18 Nov 2009

Insights into evolving pharmacovigilance trends and their impact on biosimilars and generic products

Experts from PAREXEL International Corporation, a leading global biopharmaceutical services provider, will provide insights into evolving pharmacovigilance trends and their impact on biosimilars and generic products at the World Generic Medicines Congress Americas, being held November 17 - 20, 2009 in Washington, DC.

From Parexel 18 Nov 2009

Sinovac Biotech receives a revised production license for its Panflu.1 vaccine

Sinovac Biotech Ltd., a leading developer and provider of vaccines in China, announced today that it received a revised production license from State Food and Drug Administration for Panflu.1, the Company's H1N1 vaccine. The population has been expanded to include people over 60 years old. The shelf life for PANFLU.1 was extended to one year from six months.

18 Nov 2009

Positive results from REVIVE, a phase 3 pivotal study of avanafil announced

VIVUS, Inc. today announced positive results from REVIVE (TA-301), a phase 3 pivotal study evaluating the safety and efficacy of avanafil, an investigational drug candidate for the treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED), in 646 patients.

18 Nov 2009

Study: Larger dose of ARBs is more effective in heart failure patients

A larger dose of angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) is more effective than a smaller dose in heart failure patients, researchers said at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2009.

18 Nov 2009

Drug interaction between clopidogrel and omeprazole: New safety information

Today the FDA notified healthcare professionals of new safety information concerning a drug interaction between clopidogrel, an anti-clotting medication, and omeprazole, a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) used to reduce stomach acid.

18 Nov 2009

KAI Pharmaceuticals to receive manufacturing services from Formatech

Today, Formatech announced that they have selected KAI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and their KAI-4169 compound as the second clinical candidate to receive Formatech’s manufacturing services under its Fillanthropy Program.

18 Nov 2009

Pentavalent price drops: the GAVI effect

Following the increasing impact of the GAVI Alliance on the vaccine market, the price of one of the major combination vaccines, the pentavalent, is falling considerably, enabling GAVI’s partners to vaccinate millions of more children in the developing world.

18 Nov 2009

Request for pre-IND meeting to discuss IND application for therapeutic vaccine granted by FDA

GeoVax Labs, Inc. (the "Company"), an Atlanta-based, biopharmaceutical company developing human vaccines for diseases caused by HIV-1 (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and other infectious agents, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted its request for a pre-IND meeting to discuss the proposed Investigational New Drug (IND) application for GeoVax's therapeutic vaccine as a treatment for individuals already infected with HIV.

18 Nov 2009

Ambrisentan improves health and exercise capacity of PAH patients, find researchers

In one of the few studies of the long-term effects of medication in the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) disease, a team of researchers found the health and exercise capacity of PAH patients improved after two years of treatment with ambrisentan, according to a study published in the current edition of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

18 Nov 2009

CRESTOR reduces major cardiovascular events in women by 46%

A new analysis of the JUPITER trial, released today at the American Heart Association meeting in Orlando, Florida, demonstrates that CRESTOR (rosuvastatin calcium) 20mg reduced first major cardiovascular events by 46%.

18 Nov 2009

Pediatric data for Pfizer's Lipitor submitted to the EMEA

Pfizer Inc announced it has submitted pediatric data for Lipitor® (atorvastatin) to the European Medicines Agency (EMEA). Pfizer has also developed a new chewable form of Lipitor, including a pediatric-appropriate 5 mg dose, which is part of this submission.

18 Nov 2009

Data demonstrate that danger of low levels of HDL is not reduced by statin treatment

Data released today at the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions 2009 define the increased risk of heart attacks and cardiovascular disease in patients with low levels of HDL-C (known as "good cholesterol"). The data also determine that statins are unable to significantly impact the heart attack or cardiovascular disease risks associated with low HDL-C.

18 Nov 2009

Drug market for acute ischemic stroke to reach $450M in 2018

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that sales of agents to treat acute ischemic stroke will remain relatively flat over the next decade, increasing from $360 million in 2008 to $450 million in 2018 in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Japan.

18 Nov 2009

New study reveals certain prescription drugs can be harmful to fetus

More than six percent of expectant mothers in Quebec consume prescription drugs that are known to be harmful to their fetuses, according to a Universit- de Montr-al investigation published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology

18 Nov 2009