Prescription Drug News and Research

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Transcript: President Obama Town Hall meeting in New Hampshire

President Barack Obama continued his press for public support of health reform initiatives at what the White House called a "Health Insurance Reform Town Hall" meeting at Portsmouth High School in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

12 Aug 2009

Providers, patients in States face budget squeeze

Local newspapers report on health care issues in Delaware, Lousiana and Hawaii. In Delaware, The News Journal reports on a Medicaid-related agreement regarding the state and prescription drug costs.

12 Aug 2009

Ranbaxy receives approval to market Sumatriptan Succinate tablets

Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc. (RPI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited (RLL), announced today that RLL has received final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to manufacture and market Sumatriptan Succinate Tablets, 25 mg (base), and 50 mg (base).

12 Aug 2009

Labopharm submits response to FDA for formulation of the antidepressant trazodone

Labopharm Inc. (TSX: DDS; NASDAQ: DDSS) today announced that it has submitted its response to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) complete response letter regarding the Company's novel formulation of the antidepressant trazodone.

11 Aug 2009

Gtx, Inc. reports Q2 2009 results

GTx, Inc. (Nasdaq: GTXI) today reported financial results for the second quarter of 2009. The net loss for the second quarter and six months ended June 30, 2009 was $11.3 million and $22.6 million, respectively, compared with a net loss of $13.2 million and $26.0 million for the same periods in 2008. At June 30, 2009 GTx had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $68.9 million.

10 Aug 2009

Sharing prescription advice among adolescents can have dangerous repercussions

What if a teenager with acne who is taking Accutane - a drug linked to birth defects - gives some to her friend, who is pregnant but does not yet realize it? Unfortunately, this is a realistic scenario.

10 Aug 2009

White House deal with drug industry sparks Democratic revolt

ongressional Democrats are challenging the Obama administration's deal with the pharmaceutical industry to limit how much it would cut prices to contribute to a health care overhaul.

7 Aug 2009

France struggling to provide universal care while controlling high costs

Wall Street Journal: "France claims it long ago achieved much of what today's U.S. health-care overhaul is seeking: It covers everyone, and provides what supporters say is high-quality care. But soaring costs are pushing the system into crisis.

7 Aug 2009

Merck shareholders overwhelmingly approve merger with Schering-Plough

Merck & Co. today announced that its shareholders voted overwhelmingly to approve the proposed merger with Schering-Plough. The preliminary tabulation indicates that more than 99% of the company’s outstanding shares voted in favor of the transaction. Merck today held its special shareholder meeting in Bridgewater, New Jersey to vote on the proposed merger.

7 Aug 2009

Physician practices help Michigan become a leading adopter of e-prescribing

Hundreds of physician practices in Michigan have teamed with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan to help a movement that has made the state one of the national leaders of e-prescribing.

6 Aug 2009

Obama to drug industry: We still have a deal

"Pressed by industry lobbyists, White House officials on Wednesday assured drug makers that the administration stood by a behind-the-scenes deal to block any Congressional effort to extract cost savings from them beyond an agreed-upon $80 billion," The New York Times reports.

6 Aug 2009

Take Care Health Systems now offering nebulizer treatments for acute respiratory distress

Take Care Health Systems is now offering nebulizer treatments, when clinically appropriate, for clinic patients exhibiting acute respiratory distress.

6 Aug 2009

Genzyme’s Mozobil approved in Europe

Genzyme Corporation announced today that the European Commission has granted marketing authorization for Mozobil ® (plerixafor injection), providing a significant new option for patients with the blood cancers lymphoma and multiple myeloma who require an autologous stem cell transplant.

6 Aug 2009

FDA approves Livalo (pitavastatin), a new cholesterol-lowering drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the 4 milligram maximum dose of Livalo (pitavastatin), a drug intended to improve blood cholesterol levels in persons with elevated or abnormal blood cholesterol levels.

3 Aug 2009

Comp. effectiveness promises better, cheaper health care but cricits link it to rationing

"Federal health agencies, seeking to hand out stimulus funds to research the effectiveness of various medical treatments, said they will include projects that look in part at the cost of drugs and other treatments.

3 Aug 2009

House panel passes protection for drug makers

The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed an amendment to their broad health reform bill giving drug makers 12 years of exclusive rights to market new biologic drugs, "a setback" to the administration and consumer advocates who hoped to make generic drugs more widely available, the Wall Street Journal reports.

3 Aug 2009

US FDA approves Lipsovir for cold sores

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has now approved Lipsovir, i.e. granted Medivir's New Drug Application (NDA) for the use of acyclovir and hydrocortisone for early treatment of recurrent cold sores to decreases the risk of cold sores, and to shorten the healing time for those cold sores which are not prevented.

3 Aug 2009

Tarceva shown to extend survival in advanced non-small cell lung cancer when used after initial chemo

OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced further results from the Phase III SATURN study showing that Tarceva® (erlotinib) extended the survival of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) when used as single agent, maintenance therapy in patients who did not progress following first-line treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy.

2 Aug 2009

Swine Flu - getting drugs to the market more rapidly

The pharmaceutical industry has been up in arms this year. Giants such as Pfizer, GSK and AstraZeneca are looking for deals in the downturn whilst competing against increasing generic competition as some of the best selling medicines are coming off patent. In addition to the sectors ever-changing landscape companies are under tremendous pressure from governments to combat the Swine flu pandemic that has gripped the world.

29 Jul 2009

Schering Plough’s CMO ‘very concerned’ about Obama’s healthcare reform agenda

Robert Spiegel, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Schering-Plough Corporation (NYSE: SGP), the global science-based healthcare company, says he is "very concerned" that changes to the healthcare system by the Obama administration could affect public health.

22 Jul 2009