Pharma News 9_12

King begins hostile takeover proceedings with Alpharma – Brain Markison, King’s ceo, is disappointed that Dean Mitchell, Alpharma’s ceo, hasn’t responded to his initial offer $1.4 billion offer, which amounted to $33 a share. So Markison raised the bid to $37, or $1.6 billion, and is going directly to shareholders…more

J&J’s Christine Poon to retire.

ImClone to BMS: maybe we’re already dating – The drugmaker calls the $60-a-share bid by Bristol-Myers Squibb ‘inadequate,’ and goes on to say in a statement this morning that famed corporate raider Carl Icahn, who chairs ImClone’s board, has had ’several conversations with the ceo of a large pharmaceutical company,’ which was not named…more And more BMS-to-ImClone here, and on the response here.

Meanwhile, BMS grounding its fleet – Bristol-Myers Squibb is preparing to shut down its aviation operation at Trenton-Mercer Airport, sell four aircraft and dismiss about 32 employees as the drugmaker and leading Mercer County employer seeks to cut costs, according to sources familiar with the company’s plans…more

Amgen violating patents?

Can Botox relieve migraines?

FDA reports rare brain infection/death with Rituxan – The agency says a woman died of the rare viral infection more than a year and a half after discontinuing the drug, which is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and is marketed in the US by Genentech and Biogen Idec…more

Sanofi fills top job with Viehbacher from Glaxo – Chris Viehbacher, GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s head of North American operations, is to take a top job with French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis, a person familiar with the situation said on Tuesday…more

Januvia, 2 years in: thumbs up – Merck & Co’s diabetes drug Januvia substantially improves blood sugar levels over two years of treatment when combined with the older drug metformin and is generally well tolerated, new data on Tuesday showed…more

Experimental diabetes drug (BMS/AZ) promising – Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca’s experimental diabetes drug Onglyza significantly improves blood sugar control when added to older medicines, researchers said on Monday…more

Fast track for cancer drug Afinitor – An experimental drug from Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG has been granted priority review in the United States as a treatment for advanced kidney cancer. Novartis said on Tuesday that RAD001 or everolimus, which it plans to sell under the brand name Afinitor, had been accepted for fast review given the medicine’s potential to help patients who fail to respond to standard therapy…more

Tysabri for cancer? – Biogen Idec and Elan Corp have launched the first clinical trial of their multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri for patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, the companies said on Friday…more

Celgene gets a fast track for lung cancer drug – Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG) today announced that Amrubicin has been granted Fast Track product designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of small cell lung cancer after first-line chemotherapy…more

Is Pfizer interested in Bayer?

Sample trouble: drives up costs? – Free drug samples provided by drugmakers to doctors could actually be costing uninsured patients more in the long run, according to a new retrospective study in the Southern Medical Journal…more

The Allergan-Medicis “death match” – Allergan and Medicis have been locked in a highly profitable death-match for several years, with both companies bringing out me-too versions of the others’ products, just like Coke and Pepsi…more

But will it be posted in the Post Office? The FDA 20 – The first list is a bare-bones compilation naming 20 medications and the potential issue for each. It provides no indication of how widespread or serious the problems might be, leading some consumer advocates to question its usefulness, and prompting industry worries that skittish patients might stop taking a useful medication if they see it listed…more

Zimmer growing some spine.

GSK and Valeant on epilepsy drug tie-up.

Pfizer and Medivation to work together on Alzheimer’s/Huntington’s treatment.

Genentech and Roche acting merged: facilities closing – The fallout from Roche’s looming acquisition of Genentech has started. Roche will close a research facility in Palo Alto, Calif., where a 1,000 people work, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Back in July Roche said it would pull the plug on the lab in Stanford Research Park, but the company hedged, saying the closure would happen if the bid for Genentech were successful. Genentech has demurred so far, but most people think it’s just a matter of time before the deal happens. And now, Roche told the Mercury News it’s closing the plant, no matter what…more

No vigil for Provigil at Takeda – Cephalon Inc. will end its co- promotion agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. in North America for the sleep-disorder drug Provigil, because net sales dropped to less than $850 million this year…more

UCB: Yep, we’re specialty now. Translation: downsizing – If you can’t buy a biopharmaceutical company, you might as well become one. UCB Pharma last week announced that it will trim 17 percent of its work force—about 2,000 employees—in order to reestablish the company as specialty drug firm….more

Every once in a while you want to visit here – Forbes’ New Drugs to Watch page.

This is way cool – A little-used cancer drug called bryostatin can repair brain tissue if it’s administered within 24 hours after a stroke, according to U.S. researchers. Current stroke treatments must be administered within three hours and aren’t able to repair damaged brain tissue, the scientists said…more

Shire and Vyvanse for ADHD – One of the recent unheralded successes of the drug world was Shire Pharmaceuticals‘ launch of Vyvanse, a new, long-acting treatment for attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder. The fact that so little attention has been paid to Vyvanse is a shame because the take-up of this drug has been impressive — it appears to be well on its way to supplanting Adderall XR as the king of the ADHD drugs…more

I kinda think this one’s a no-win for Genentech – Negative public opinion just keeps piling on to Genentech regarding its pricing policy on Lucentis and Avastin. This weekend saw a big Associated Press story describe how the company is refusing to ask the FDA to approve Avastin for use in treating “wet age-related macular degeneration,” an eye condition that leads to blindness. Genentech is doing this, most people believe, because Avastin would be a much cheaper treatment for wet AMD than Lucentis, another Genentech drug. It costs about $60 per dose to use Avastin on the disease, and $2,000 to use Lucentis…more

Speaking of no-win – releasing Vytorin data…more