Pharma Marketletter articles from January 2007

Pharma Marketletter archives from January 2007

Manufacturers and patients to foot bill for Hungarian health care reform.
January 8, 2007... The new "Pharma Economic Act" will come into force on January 15 in Hungary as part of the comprehensive health care reforms by the Gyurcsany government. This was approved by the Parliament on November 21, despite protests from the Association...

French Health Minister aims to expand OTCs.(Xavier Bertrand, over-the-counter drugs)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... French Health Minister Xavier Bertrand has called for a report on the functioning of the self-medication - or over-the-counter drugs - market in France with a view to reversing the current contraction. Non-prescription medicines account for...

French antibiotics consumption falls.(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... The French are consuming fewer antibiotics but the authorities say the level is still far too high and want to reduce it even further. The reimbursement of antibacterials is expected to have fallen 8% in 2006, according to the health fund...

German health funds' drug prices complaint.(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... German public sector health funds have called on the government to intervene over action by drug companies in reducing the price of a wide range of products at the end of 2006. Since April 1, 2006, drugmakers have had to offer the funds a 10%...

"Smarter" prescribing of statins could save millions for NHS, says Health Dept.(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Savings of at least L85.0 million ($166.4 million) a year could be achieved for the UK's National Health Service through more efficient prescribing of cholesterol-lowering drugs, ie, statins, according to new figures released by the Department...

ABPI Code of Conduct "too restrictive" claim.(Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry)
January 8, 2007... The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry's Code of Practice, which is administered by the independent Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority, is so strict that it may be harming legitimate contacts between the drug...

Vatican invests in biotech cancer research.
January 8, 2007... A Vatican-based Roman Catholic religious order has entered the biotechnology research sector, aiming to develop anticancer agents. The Congregation of the Children of the Immaculate Conception first developed a health care products business...

France's CNAM reports 15-fold fraud rise.(Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... France's national health insurance fund (CNAM) has reported the detection of 120.0 million euros ($158.6 million) in fraudulent transactions during 2006, an increase of 1,500% over the previous year. Responding to the report, the CNAM noted...

Antibacterial pipeline represemts $3B potential sales by 2015.(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Launches of premium-priced glycopeptides from Pfizer, Theravance/Astellas and Targanta, as well as next-generation cephalosporins from Johnson & Johnson/Basilea and Cerexa/Takeda, will take market share from generic vancomycin, the most widely...

GSK's strategy for Advair.(GlaxoSmithKline PLC)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... GlaxoSmithKline has implemented strategic initiatives to help ensure continuing strong sales of Advair (fluticasone). The respiratory area is expected to continue to be GSK's leading therapeutic area throughout the forecast period due largely...

Headlines 25 years ago this week....
January 8, 2007... UK Parliament to debate bill calling for strict liability compensation for drug damage which, if passed, would allow victims to make claims without having to go through the expensive legal process of proving that the company making the product...

Reduced Medicaid fees for pharmacists.(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... The US federal government is aiming to save $8.4 billion over the next five years by reducing payments to pharmacies for dispensing drugs under the Medicaid program. The new regulation ensures that Medicaid can obtain prescription drugs at...

Conflict of interest claim hits FDA contract.(Food and Drug Administration contract with Platinum Solutions )(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... A US Food and Drug Administration official allegedly influenced the decision by the agency to terminate a contract for a data project with one supplier and hire, without competitive tendering, a firm for which her husband was a paid advisor....

US uninsured find cheap drugs with software.(Pharmacy Connection)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Almost 125,000 uninsured residents of Virginia, USA, are using a new software tool to receive more than $374.8 million since 1997 in low-cost or free prescription drugs. The scheme, called Pharmacy Connection, was developed by the non-profit...

Liability reform threat of Michigan Democrat win.(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Triumphant Michigan, USA, Democrats intend to celebrate taking control of the state legislature by repealing legislation that prevents drugmakers from being sued in cases where products have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration....

Medicare Ohas less market cloutO than PBMs.(pharmacy benefits management)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... As the prospect of a US Democratic party onslaught on brand-name drugmakers nears, with the change of control in both houses of Congress taking effect this month, "many of the most onerous ideas they have pushed appear to have been taken off...

Clinical Data completes vilazodone technology transfer.(Clinical Data Inc.)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Clinical Data Inc says that it has completed the transfer of the manufacturing technology necessary to produce a commercial supply of vilazodone, its dual serotonergic antidepressant currently in pivotal Phase III clinical trials in the USA....

Astellas submits sNDA for Mycamine.(new drug application)(Astellas Pharma Inc.)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Astellas Pharma US, a part of the Japanese Astellas group, has submitted a supplemental New Drug Application to the Food and Drug Administration seeking approval for the use of its echinocandin Mycamine (micafungin sodium) for injection in the...

Columbia Labs raises $40 million.(Columbia Laboratories Inc.)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... New Jersey, USA-based Columbia Laboratories has raised approximately $40.0 million in gross proceeds through an offering of convertible subordinated notes and warrants in a private placement to a group of existing institutional investors. The...

Valeant sells preclinical assets to Ardea.(Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Ardea Biosciences)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... US firm Valeant Pharmaceuticals International has sold certain of its discovery and preclinical assets to Ardea Biosciences. This includes the rights to Valeant's HIV and cancer development programs. Under the terms of the agreement, Ardea...

EU grant for ThromboGenics and BioInvent.(ThromboGenics NV and BioInvent International AB )(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Belgium's ThromboGenics NV and Sweden's BioInvent International AB have received a 2.0 million-euro ($2.6 million) grant from the European Union for the joint development of a new class of anti-angiogenesis agents. The new agents will be based...

RA biological competitors spent $195M on promotion.(of antirheumatic agents)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... The six companies with approved rheumatoid arthritis biologics in 2005 (Amgen, Wyeth, Centocor, Schering-Plough, Abbot Laboratories and Bristol-Myers Squibb) spent some $195.0 million promoting the five biologics that were approved for RA at...

FDA approves first generic ondansetron.(Food and Drug Administration)(drug approval)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the first generic versions of GlaxoSmithKline's Zofran (ondansetron) Tablets, orally-disintegrating tablets and oral solution which are indicated to prevent nausea and vomiting associated with...

MMRC and Keryx initiate Ph I KRX-0401 study.(Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium, Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Inc.)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... The USA-based Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium and Keryx Biopharmaceuticals have initiated a multicenter Phase I clinical program to explore the convenient all-oral combination of KRX-0401 (perifosine), Celegene's Revlimid (lenalidomide)...

Surveys reveal Part D approval and savings.
January 8, 2007... A study of US Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit users has found that only 5% are likely to switch providers, with 29% who are uncertain. Overall, the survey finds that seniors enrolled on the Part D program, which launched last year...

US breast cancer fall: better drugs or less HRT?(Hormone replacement therapy)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... A debate has arisen in the USA, following the announcement at the annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium of figures which show a 7% drop, over a one year period to 2003, in the number of reported breast cancer cases. The fall represents...

US pharma sales reps have Ono carrotsO for doctors.(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... The California Health Care Foundation, a non-profit organization which studies health care and drug-related issues, has reported that pharmaceutical sales representatives are increasingly rejected by physicians. The trend is linked to the...

Pennsaid gets FDA approvable letter.(Food and Drug Administration)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Canadian Pharmaceutical company Nuvo Research says that its osteoarthritis treatment Pennsaid (1.5% diclofenac sodium solution) is the subject of an approvable letter issued by the US Food and Drug Administration. The company added that it...

Colazal cleared for pediatric use by FDA.(Food and Drug Administration)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... US drugmaker Salix Pharmaceuticals, a specialist developer of drugs for gastrointestinal diseases, says that the Food and Drug Administration has approved its ulcerative collitis treatment Colazal (balsalazide disodium) for pediatric patients....

Novartis' Exforge approved by FDA.(Food and Drug Administration )(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Swiss drug major Novartis says that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved its agent Exforge (amlodipine and valsartan) for the treatment of high blood pressure. The company explained that tentative clearance had been granted by the...

FDA issues approvable letter for GSK's Altabax.(GlaxoSmithKline)(Food and Drug Administration )(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... UK-based drug major GlaxoSmithKline says that the US Food and Drug Administration has issued an approvable letter for Altabax (retapamulin ointment) 1%, its developmental antibacterial for the treatment of secondarily-infected traumatic lesions...

Combigen gets FDA approvable letter.(Food and Drug Administration)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... California, USA-based pharmaceutical firm Allergan says that Combigan (brimonidine tartrate/timolol maleate opthalmic solution) 0.2%/0.5%, under development as a treatment for patients with glaucoma or ocular hypertension, is the subject on an...

Byetta gets FDA OK for use with TZD.(food and drug administration)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... US drug firms Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly say that their co-developed diabetes drug Byetta (exenatide) has been approved by the FDA as an adjunctive therapy for blood sugar control in diabetic patients. Specifically, the agent has been...

Vyvanse receives 2nd FDA approvable letter.(Food and Drug Administration )(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... UK-based drugmaker Shire and its US partner New River Pharmaceuticals say they have been issued with a second US Food and Drug Administration approvable letter regarding the co-developed attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder treatment...

Japan stock market week to Jan 1, 2007.
January 8, 2007... Tokyo saw a strong advance in the three weeks to January 1 (the latter was a national holiday in Japan). The Nikkei 225 rose 4.2%, to close at 17,225.83, while the Topix index was up 3.3%. In late December, the Bank of Japan's Tanken quarterly...

EPO grants SR Pharma core RNAi patent.(European Patent Office)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... SR Pharma, a leading European RNAi therapeutics company, says that the European Patent Office has granted its core RNAi patent, EP 03784183.0. This covers its novel, stabilized, small interfering RNA (siRNA) molecules with blunt ends and...

Abcam's Japan unit ships first order.(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Cambridge, UK headquartered Abcam, a rapidly-growing company that markets antibodies via its own on-line catalogue, says that the first antibody orders have been successfully shipped from the company's new sales operation in Japan, the world's...

Galapagos expands drug discovery collaboration with Amgen.(Galapagos Genomics N.V.)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Belgium's Galapagos NV says that its service division, BioFocus DPI, has expanded and extended its longstanding drug discovery collaboration with US biotechnology major Amgen through 2007 and 2008. BioFocus DPI will continue to provide biology,...

Tripos to sell drug discovery business.(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... USA firm Tripos Inc has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its UK-based discovery research business to Provid Phamaceuticals, a New Jersey-based drug discovery company, for around $2.0 million. This sale, expected to close in the first...

FDA accepts Spectrum's IND for ozarelix.(Food and Drug Administration)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted California-based Spectrum Pharmaceuticals' Investigational New Drug application for ozarelix in benign prostate hypertrophy (BPH) and has approved the protocol for the Phase IIb study of...

VaxGen raises $51.3M via sales of Celltrion interest.(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... California, USA-based VaxGen, which has had a $877.5 million supply contract for anthrax vaccine terminated by the Department of Health and Human Services, has realized gross proceeds of $51.3 million from the sale of most of its remaining...

SemBioSys proceeds with plant-produced insulin.(SemBioSys Genetics Inc.)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Canada's SemBioSys Genetics, a biotechnology company developing a broad pipeline of protein-based pharmaceuticals and non-pharmaceutical products, has provided an update on the expected regulatory strategy for its plant-produced insulin after a...

EU label extension for S-P's Remicade.(European Union)(Schering-Plough)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... The European Commission has approved a label extension for US drug major Schering-Plough's Remicade (infliximab) allowing for a shortened infusion time in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The EC approval follows a positive opinion by the...

Atenolol gets US regulatory go-ahead.(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Indian drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories says that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved the marketing and manufacture of its generic hypertension treatment atenolol. The firm added that the FDA's Office of Generic Drugs has determined...

BN gets FDA OK to start cancer vacc trial.(Bavarian Nordic AS)(Food and Drug Administration)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Denmark's Bavarian Nordic AS says that its USA-based subsidiary, BN ImmunoTherapeutics, has been granted Food and Drug Administration clearance to initiate a trial of the breast cancer vaccine MVA-BN-HER-2. The firm added that it will begin...

Pharma M&A activity continues apace through 2006, but no mega deals.(mergers and acquisitions)
January 8, 2007... Total industry global mergers and acquisitions during 2006 reached a massive value of $3,611.0 billion, which was up 24.5% on the 2005 total of $2,900.0 billion, and that had been 38% higher than the previous year. There was also a great deal...

Japan's MHLW budget rises 2.6% to 21,476B yen.(Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare)
January 8, 2007... Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has raised its fiscal year 2006 draft budget 2.6% to 21,476.0 billion yen ($180.25 billion) compared to a year ago. The disease management budget earmarked 22.7 billion yen for cancer,...

Public consultation on Japan clinical trials report.(Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare )(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is holding a public consultation on a draft report concerning a new five-year plan for facilitating clinical trials. The MHLW proposes that the number of core hospitals of medical facilities for...

Drug sales up 5% in year to October 2006.
January 8, 2007... Drug sales through retail pharmacies in 13 major markets grew 5% overall at constant exchange rates, or 4% in US$ terms, in the 12 months to October 2006, to total $383.73 billion, reports IMS Health's Retail Drug Monitor. The rate of increase...

Sanofi chief savages third world generics.(Jean-Francois Dehecq of Sanofi-Aventis S.A.)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... The chairman of the world's third largest drugmaker, Jean-Francois Dehecq of France's Sanofi-Aventis, has issued a blistering attack on third world generic drugmakers in an interview with the Financial Times. Mr Dehecq said that copycat drug...

Stock Commentary - Europe - week to Jan 1, 2007.(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... EUROPEAN: bourses stomped ahead during the three-week, holiday-spattered reporting period to January 1, with strong gains for the full year. In US dollar terms, Germany was up 35.2%, France 34.0% and Switzerland 27.5% over the year. In ZURICH,...

Stock Commentary - New York week to Jan 1, 2007.(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... NEW YORK: equities gyrated through the three-week holiday season period to January 1 (that date also being a public holiday), with the Dow Jones ending 1.1% higher overall. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology stocks were generally weaker, with...

Last-minute 2006 US FDA decisions end with mostly "approvable" letters.
January 8, 2007... Although, historically, the US Food and Drug Administration has made a lot of drug approval decisions in the last few days before a year end, 2006 was a little different in that the last moment rulings were mostly in the form of "approvable"...

New IFPMA code of marketing practices takes effect.(International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations' revised version of the IFPMA Code of Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices has come into effect worldwide on January 1 this year, having been agreed in May last year...

Court affirms $7M damages for Innogenetics from Abbott.(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Gent, Belgium-based biotechnology firm Innogenetics says that a US District Court judge for the Western District of Wisconsin affirmed a previously-awarded $7.0 million damages verdict against health care major Abbott Laboratories for...

Merck KGaA may sell generics business.(mergers and acquisitions)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Germany's Merck KGaA may sell its generic drugs division, according to reports in Handelsblatt citing unidentified sources. The newspaper reported that board approval may already have been given to start looking for a possible buyer. ...

MA for GTC Bio's ATryn goes to Leo.(market authorization)(GTC Biotherapeutics)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... US firm GTC Biotherapeutics says that the market authorization of ATryn for the prophylaxis of venous thromboembolism in surgery of patients with congenital antithrombin deficiency has been transferred to its distribution and development...

ImClone initiates IMC-3G3 Ph I trial.
January 8, 2007... New York, USA-based ImClone Systems says it has commenced patient treatment in a Phase I clinical trial of its fully-human IgG1 monoclonal antibody targeting the platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFRa), IMC-3G3, in patients with...

Schwarz Pharma's rotigotine performs well in PD trial.(mergers and acquisitions)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... German drugmaker Schwarz Pharma, which is in the process of being acquired by Belgium's UCB, says that it has seen positive results in a Phase III trial of its developmental dopamine agonist, rotigotine. Data from the study, which examined the...

Abraxis launches generic ondansetron injection in USA.(Abraxis BioScience)(ondansetron injection)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Los Angeles, USA-based biopharmaceutical company Abraxis BioScience has launched ondansetron injection, USP, the generic equivalent of GlaxoSmithKline's Zofran. The company added that it will market the product in single- and multiple-dose bar...

Orphan Australia buys local rights to Viragen's Multiferon.(Orphan Australia)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Viragen has signed a licensing agreement that grants exclusive rights to market, sell and distribute Multiferon (multi-subtype, human alpha interferon) in Australia and New Zealand to Orphan Australia. The latter firm will initially focus its...

Enrollment complete in landmark ADAGIO trial.(Israeli drugmaker Teva)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... The largest clinical trial to investigate disease modification in early Parkinson's disease has completed enrollment. The ADAGIO study is evaluating approximately 1,200 recently-diagnosed patients worldwide to determine if once-daily treatment...

Oscient amends Factive deal with LG Life Sciences.(Oscient Pharmaceuticals)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Oscient Pharmaceuticals has amended its license and option agreement with fellow USA-based LG Life Sciences for its oral antibiotic Factive (gemifloxacin mesylate). The amendment adds several European countries to the license agreement so that...

BioSante initiates Ph III trial of LibiGel.(product development LibiGel)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... The USA's BioSante Pharmaceuticals has initiated a Phase III safety and efficacy trial of LibiGel (transdermal testosterone gel) in the treatment of female sexual dysfunction. The double-blind, placebo-controlled trial will assess approximately...

Sanofi board confirms Le Fur as CEO.(appointment of Gerard Le Fur)(retirement of Jean-Francois Dehecq)(chief executive officers)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... The board of French pharmaceutical major Sanofi-Aventis has confirmed the appointment of Gerard Le Fur as chief executive, effective January 1, replacing Jean-Francois Dehecq, who is retiring from the post but will remain as chairman of the...

Adrian Rawcliffe to head GSK's global business development.(appointment of Adrian Rawcliffe)(GlaxoSmithKline)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... World number two drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline has appointed Adrian Rawcliffe senior vice president, worldwide business development, R&D, replacing Moncef Slaoui, who becomes chairman, R&D, for the group.

Bayer Yakuhin names new president.(Jean-Luc Lowinski)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Jean-Luc Lowinski, head of Bayer HealthCare AG's Asia Pacific region, has been named president of the Japanese subsidiary Bayer Yakuhin, effective January 1. He replaces Norikazu Eiki, who becomes chairman.

Giacomo di Nepi joins Takeda Pharma Europe as CEO.
January 8, 2007... Former Novartis executive Giacomo di Nepi has been recruited by Takeda Pharmaceutical Europe as chief executive, based in London, UK.

Ian Clark joins Vernalis board.
January 8, 2007... Ian Clark, most recently executive vice president, commercial, at Genentech, has become a non-executive director of Vernalis in the UK.

Randall Lutter promoted to Acting FDA Deputy Commissioner for Policy.(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... The US Food and Drug Administration has promoted Randall Lutter to Acting Deputy Commissioner for Policy, following the proposed resignation of Scott Gottlieb, effective late January.

Good patent news for Lilly, Pfizer and Sanofi-Aventis.
January 8, 2007... The end of 2006 saw: the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington DC uphold Eli Lilly's Zyprexa (olanzapine) patent expiring in 2011; a Chinese court, Beijing No 1 Intermediate Court, protect the validity of Pfizer's Viagra...

US govt cancels' VaxGen antrax vaccine contract.(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... California, USA-based VaxGen saw its share price drop 3.5% to $1.40, after it revealed that the Department of Health and Human Services had terminated for default the company's contract to provide 75 million doses of a modern anthrax vaccine,...

SkyePharma gets L35M loan, but at punitive rate, to finance Flutiform.(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... UK-based SkyePharma has finalized a L35.0 million ($68.3 million) financing agreement from an unnamed Irish lender. However, the loan pays an interest of 5.85% above US and euro base lending rates, which is seen as punitive. The funds will be...

S-P signs $250M deal for local rights to ALK-Abello's Grazax.(ALK-Abello)(contracts)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Danish drugmaker ALK-Abello has signed an agreement with US drug major Schering-Plough to develop and commercialize the former's tablet-based allergy immunotherapies in the USA, Canada and Mexico. The agreement gives the US firm exclusive...

Shionogi's S-7701 meets Ph III endpoints in IPF trial.(Marnac)(KDL)
January 8, 2007... Japanese drugmaker Shionogi says that S-7701 (pirfenidone) has achieved the primary objectives in Phase III evaluations in the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. In the study of the drug, which it is developing in Japan under a license...

Targacept gets $20M milestone as AstraZeneca continues developing AZD3480.(AZD3480 (TC-1734))(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... USA-based Targacept says that Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca plans to continue development of AZD3480 (TC-1734) in Alzheimer's disease and cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, triggering a $20.0 million milestone payment under the...

Crucell signs cross-licensing deal with Merck & Co.(licensing agreements)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Dutch biotechnology company Crucell NV has signed a cross-licensing agreement with US drug major Merck & Co. In addition to previously-licensed rights to Crucell's PER.C6 cell line, the agreement allows Merck to use Crucell technology on an...

Otsuka licenses domestic rights to B-MS' saxagliptin.(Otsuka Pharmaceutical)(Bristol-Myers Squibb Co)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Japan's Otsuka Pharmaceutical has been granted exclusive domestic rights to develop and commercialize US drug major Bristol-Myers Squibb's investigational compound saxagliptin, for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Otsuka gains rights to the...

GSK's Tykerb plus Xeloda superior to Xeloda alone, says NEJM study.(GlaxoSmithKline)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... UK drug major GlaxoSmithKline says that new Phase III data published in the December 28 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine show that its drug Tykerb (lapatinib) plus Roche's Xeloda (capecitabine) is superior to Xeloda alone in...

Pfizer and Merck & Co CEOs names chairmen.
January 8, 2007... US drug majors Pfizer and Merck & Co have both named their recently-appointed chief executives, Jeffrey Kindler and Richard Clark, respectively, to the additional position of chairman.

Schering-Plough's Indian unit recruits KG Ananthakrishnan.
January 8, 2007... Fulford (India) Ltd, a subsidiary of US drug major Schering-Plough, has recruited former Pfizer India executive, KG Ananthakrishnan, as chief operating officer and president and managing director designate.

Merck KGaA exploring generic drug unit sale.
January 15, 2007... Although Merck KGaA's response to the Marketletter's morning questions about the disposal of its generics business was "no comment," around mid-day January 5, the company confirmed that it is "evaluating the divestiture of the business as one...

Eli Lilly settles further Zyprexa law suits.
January 15, 2007... US pharmaceutical major Eli Lilly has entered into settlement agreements with 14 plaintiffs' firms (or groups of plaintiffs' firms) involved in product liability litigation relating to its atypical antipsychotic drug Zyprexa (olanzapine) to...

Canada: new formulary for new year - Ontario introducing reform.(Transparent Drug System for Patients Act of 2006 to be reformed)
January 15, 2007... Since the Transparent Drug System for Patients Act (Bill 102) came into effect on October 1, 2006, the Ontario, Canada, government has listed 32 new brand name drugs - Avandia (rosiglitazone), Eprex (erythropoietin), Gleevec (imatinib...