News

FDA approves two suppliers to address cancer drug shortages
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 Two new suppliers of cancer treatments have been called upon by the US Food and Drug Administration to help the country cope with ongoing drug...

New drug combination destroys pancreatic cancer cells
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 Eli Lilly's chemotherapy agent Gemzar has been found to destroy pancreatic cancer cells when combined with an experimental drug called...

Gilead suffers hepatitis C drug setback
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 Gilead Sciences has suffered a setback in the development of its oral hepatitis C drug...

Pfizer could launch $3bn part-IPO
Monday, February 20, 2012 Pfizer is considering a partial spin off of its animal health division as the company looks to raise around...

Critical Pharma to collaborate with University of Nottingham
Monday, February 20, 2012 UK-based biotechnology company Critical Pharmaceuticals is to collaborate with the University of Nottingham for the development of a nano-enabled intranasal formulation of...

World’s first trial on drug-delivery microchip proves successful
Friday, February 17, 2012 The world’s first clinical trial on a microchip implanted in the body to control the release of drugs has been carried out by US...

Merck pushes into Brazilian market with joint venture
Friday, February 17, 2012 US-based Merck has created a joint venture with Brazilian pharmaceutical company Supera Farma Laboratorios as it looks to enter further emerging...

Wyeth seeks $960m damages from Sun Pharma
Thursday, February 16, 2012 Wyeth Pharmaceuticals is seeking $960m in damages from Sun Pharmaceutical for alleged patent infringement of acid reflex drug...

Teva profits jump amidst warnings of generic competition
Thursday, February 16, 2012 Israel-based generic drug manufacturer Teva Pharmaceutical announced a jump in Q4 profits amidst warnings that the company must reduce its dependence on specific...

NICE rejects GSK/Roche breast cancer drugs
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 A UK health watchdog has published draft guidance that proposes to advise the National Health Service that GlaskoSmithKline's Tyverb and Roche's Herceptin should not be prescribed to...

Proposed US healthcare budget criticised
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 US President Barack Obama's proposed budget for healthcare, which aims to reduce the nation's spend on healthcare programmes, has been heavily criticised by the country's pharmaceutical...

Bristol-Myers Squibb completes $2.5bn acquisition of Inhibitex
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 US-based pharmaceutical firm Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) has completed the acquisition of drug developer Inhibitex in a $2.5bn...

Obama requests FDA budget increase
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Industry fees could pay for almost half of the Food and Drug Administration’s $4.5bn budget, it has been...

Eisai leukaemia treatment Dacogen suffers approval setback
Monday, February 13, 2012 Potential leukaemia drug Dacogen, co-developed by Eisai and Astex Pharmaceuticals, has suffered a setback after the US Food and Drug Administration’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee...

Alzheimer’s patients call for off-label drug release
Monday, February 13, 2012 US Alzheimer's patients and their families have urged physicians and advocacy groups to deliver an off-label cancer drug proved to reverse the disease in...

Cancer drug reverses Alzheimer’s symptoms
Friday, February 10, 2012 An existing skin cancer drug has been proven to dramatically decrease amyloid-beta, a protein associated with Alzheimer's disease, in the brains of...

Former Takeda employee charged with insider trading
Friday, February 10, 2012 A former employee of Takeda Pharmaceutical has been charged with insider trading by US regulatory authorities after making more than $63,000 in illegal profits, based on inside...

Greece confirms state pharmaceutical spend
Thursday, February 09, 2012 Greece will spend no less than €2.8bn on pharmaceuticals in 2012 in spite of pleas from authorities to cap its spending at €2.1bn due to the chronic economical crisis gripping the...

FDA rejects Amgen’s request to expand use of prostate cancer drug
Thursday, February 09, 2012 An advisory panel for the US Food and Drug Administration has rejected the use of Amgen’s drug Xgeva to prevent prostate cancer from spreading to the...

Brain cells made in US lab open doors for Parkinson’s research
Wednesday, February 08, 2012 US scientists have paved the way for major research into Parkinson’s disease after successfully making human brain cells in the lab that are an exact replica of a genetically-caused form of...