Pharma News this week

Sanofi-Aventis suspends sale of Acomplia in Europe. Acomplia, an obesity drug that once looked like it would be a blockbuster for Sanofi-Aventis, is being pulled off the market in Europe. The EMEA, the European version of the FDA, said today that a key committee “concluded that the benefits of Acomplia no longer outweigh its risks and the marketing authorisation should be suspended across the European Union.”…more

Jim Edwards summarizes what he calls Pfizer‘s Race to the Bottom. With some similar commentary on Novartis‘ growth/shrinkage.

Merck announces more big cuts – As part of its earnings announcement, the drugmaker says it expects to eliminate approximately 7,200 positions – 6,800 active employees and 400 vacancies – across all areas of the company worldwide by the end of 2011, with about 40 percent of the total reductions coming in the US (see statement). This amounts to 12 percent of the workforce…more

Pfizer’s Chantix: going down…or up, depending on which continent you’re on…US researchers say even more warnings needed.

FDA: Another day, another stall – U.S. regulators have extended by three months their review of a proposed osteoporosis drug from Pfizer Inc to study the pill in more depth, a company spokeswoman said on Tuesday…more And, while we’re at it, a thumbs down (for now) for Abbott‘s new version of Vicodin. Oh, and hey, let’s delay Abbott’s new cholesterol drug while we’re in foot-dragging mode!

Novartis buys up Nektar’s pulmonary business – Nektar Therapeutics  today announced that Novartis AG has agreed to acquire from Nektar specific pulmonary delivery assets, technology, and intellectual property for $115 million in cash…more

Will BMS lead the charge in buying up undervalued biotechs?

Earnings roundup for Schering, Pfizer, Roche – here’s the scoop.

What about Amgen’s growth? An interesting analysis here. Plus – how 6 pharma companies have dodged (or not) the current financial crisis (extracts from earnings announcements from Pfizer, Bayer, Abbott Labs, Gilead, Wyeth and Genentech, all on the topic of how each company has fared in the crisis.)

Celgene seems to be doing quite OK.

J&J’s HIV drug gets expanded approval – U.S. health regulators have expanded approval for Johnson & Johnson’s Prezista in combination with other drugs to treat HIV patients who are just beginning to take medication for the virus, the company said on Wednesday…more

Avastin: what doesn’t this drug do? – After tagging the antibody drug with a radioactive tracer and injecting it into mice, researchers found it successfully targeted cancer cells and this enabled them to produce well-defined images of tumours during scanning…more

Speaking of which, does leukemia drug Campath help stop early stage MS? Fascinating possibility – A drug developed to fight leukemia appears to stop multiple sclerosis in its early stages and restore lost function to patients, British researchers said on Wednesday…more

Forest Labs growing green – Forest Laboratories Inc posted higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday, fueled by stronger sales of its drugs for Alzheimer’s disease and depression and lower research spending…more

Biologics and safety concerns: really not a big surprise here – Approximately one in four biologics approved since 1995 in the US and Europe have had at least one safety-related regulatory action issued for them 10 years after their approval, including about 11 percent receiving a Black Box warning, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association…more

Take a Chill, Pill: are oral cancer drugs all they’re cracked up to be?

B-I has some encouraging potential early results for novel cancer drugs.

The WSJ talks about healthcare, IT, and the future. Interesting stuff.