Baxter International Inc. said Friday that it will pay as much as $285 million to buy a hemophilia drug candidate and other assets from privately held biotechnology company Archemix.
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Filed under: Pharmaceuticals
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Baxter adds to hemophilia drug portfolio
Painkiller Darvon pulled off market
The maker of the painkiller Darvon is pulling the drug off the market under pressure from U.S. health officials who say it causes dangerous heart rhythms.
The Food and Drug Administration says the drugmaker Xanodyne will halt marketing of Darvon and related brand Darvocet. The FDA has also called on generic drugmakers to stop marketing low-cost versions of the drug. Get the full story »
Merck ‘good cholesterol’ drug study wows doctors
Dr. Christopher Cannon, the leader of a study on an experimental Merck cholesterol drug, at the Chicago AHA conference. (AP Photo/AHA)
Merck’s highly potent drug to raise heart-protective HDL cholesterol may give doctors a new sledgehammer against heart attacks and strokes, and be prescribed as often as the leading current statin treatments for heart disease, doctors said on Wednesday.
Thousands of doctors listened raptly earlier at midday as researchers presented findings from a highly anticipated study of Merck’s drug, anacetrapib, at the annual scientific meeting of the American Heart Association in Chicago.
They were told that levels of HDL in patients taking the pill jumped 138 percent during the 18-month study, while levels of artery-clogging “bad” LDL cholesterol fell 40 percent. Get the full story »
Drug-coated stents safe for large heart arteries
Drug-coated heart stents, such as the Xience model made by Abbott Labs, are as safe as the old bare metal variety for patients with narrowed large coronary arteries, a large European study showed, alleviating concerns about their long-term use.
There was no increase in the number of deaths or heart attacks two years after the drug-coated stent was implanted, according to data presented at the scientific sessions of the American Heart Association in Chicago. Get the full story »
Bayer, J&J anti-clot drug shines in stroke trial
A once-daily pill being developed by Bayer AG and Johnson & Johnson was better at preventing stroke than standard treatment, with less risk of the most worrisome types of bleeding, researchers said on Monday. Get the full story »
Abbott gets naming rights for Shedd oceanarium
From the Daily Herald | Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium said Tuesday its ocean mammal area will be called the Abbott Oceanarium. The renaming recognizes significant support provided for the Shedd Aquarium by the North Chicago-based pharmaceutical giant and its philanthropic foundation the Abbott Fund. Get the full story>>
Former Glaxo lawyer charged with obstruction
A former lawyer for pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline Plc has been indicted on charges of lying and obstructing an investigation into the company’s promotion of an anti-depressant drug, the U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday.
The lawyer, Lauren Stevens, was indicted on four counts of making false statements, one count of obstruction of justice and one count of falsifying and concealing documents related to Glaxo’s promotion of the drug for weight loss, which had not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Get the full story »
Nov. 4, 2010 at 11:25 a.m.
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Filed under: Chicago executives, Pharmaceuticals, Retail, Updated Walgreen Co. CEO emphasizes health, wellness
Walgreens chief executive officer Greg Wasson this morning said the drugstore chain will step up investments in services to help Americans manage chronic diseases, saying the company wants to capitalize on what he called the “retailization” of the nation’s health care system.
The Deerfield-based pharmacy giant, meeting with Wall Street analysts and investors, said it wants to continue to expand its network of medical care providers and the services they provide. Walgreens increasingly has been lobbying to give pharmacists a greater role in medical care such as providing immunizations in its stores as well as establishing retail health clinics staffed by nurse practitioners. Get the full story »
Lilly CEO sees health reform staying largely intact
The chief of drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co. said Wednesday that he expects the bulk of this year’s U.S. health care overhaul to remain intact despite Tuesday’s election victories by anti-overhaul Republicans.
But with Republicans taking control of the House of Representatives from the Democrats, Chief Executive John Lechleiter said he will lobby to overturn at least one provision of the overhaul: the creation of an independent payment advisory board tasked with controlling growth in spending by Medicare. Get the full story »
Duane Reade boosts Walgreens October sales
Drugstore giant Walgreens said October sales rose nearly 4 percent buoyed by its acquisition in April of large New York pharmacy chain Duane Reade stores. The Deerfield-based pharmacy chain said October sales were $5.85 billion, up of 3.7 percent from $5.64 billion compared to October of 2009. Get the full story »
Wyeth purchase lifts, slams Pfizer 3Q results
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc.’s mega-acquisition of Wyeth boosted its third-quarter revenue 39 percent, but hefty charges and a higher tax rate, both related to that $68 billion purchase, dragged its profit down 70 percent, the company said Tuesday.
The New York-based maker of cholesterol blockbuster Lipitor and impotence pill Viagra posted net income of $866 million, or 11 cents per share. That’s down from $2.88 billion, or 43 cents per share, a year earlier. Get the full story »
Nov. 2, 2010 at 2:09 p.m.
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Filed under: Criminal charges, Government, Investing, Litigation, Pharmaceuticals, Stock activity Doctor charged with insider trading on drug info
U.S. investigators filed criminal and civil fraud charges against a French doctor they say leaked negative inside information about a Human Genome Sciences Inc. hepatitis drug trial, enabling six hedge funds to avoid $30 million of losses.
Yves Benhamou was accused by the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission of tipping a portfolio manager about Human Genome’s experimental hepatitis C treatment Albuferon in late 2007 and early 2008. Get the full story »
Bayer, J&J blood pill shows mass-market promise
A new stroke prevention drug developed by Bayer and Johnson & Johnson proved a safe alternative to the standard treatment, lifting their chances of entering a $12 billion plus market, the German drug company said.
A late-stage study called Rocket-AF showed that the Xarelto pill was as good as the established warfarin pill at reducing the risk of strokes due to a form of irregular heartbeat that is common among the elderly, Bayer said on Sunday. Get the full story »
Pfizer recalls 2 more lots of ’smelly’ Lipitor
Pfizer Inc. is recalling two more lots of its widely-used Lipitor cholesterol drug after chemicals from wooden pallets contaminated some bottles with an “uncharacteristic odor.” Get the full story »
Baxter selling generic injectables business for $112M
Baxter International Inc. announced the sale of its U.S. generic injectables business to Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC for approximately $112 million, a move that will require Baxter to take an after-tax third-quarter special charge of $70 million, or 12 cents a share, to write down the assets of the business.
The sale involves Baxter’s high-volume, generic injectable products in vials and ampoules, which are sold primarily in the United States including chronic pain, anti-infective and anti-emetic products, along with the Cherry Hill, N.J., manufacturing facility, and a Memphis-area warehouse and distribution center. Approximately 750 employees who support the business will also transfer as part of the arrangement. Get the full story »
