Pharma Marketletter articles from June 2007

Pharma Marketletter archives from June 2007

BENEFiT study could add value to Tracleer for Actelion with CTEPH indication.
June 4, 2007... Results of the Phase III BENEFiT study exploring Swiss company Actelion's dual endothelin receptor antagonist Tracleer (bosentan) as a treatment for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) are encouraging, said experts, speaking...

FDA call for warning on contrast agents.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... The US Food and Drug Administration has asked manufacturers to include a new boxed warning on the product labeling of all gadolinium-based contrast agents which are used to enhance the quality of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This...

Vectura's fiscal 2006 revenues increase 67%.(revenue report)(Financial report)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Chippenham, UK-based Vectura says that, for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007, its total revenues rose 67% year-on-year, to L14.1 million ($18.9 million), as gross profit also rose 67% to L10.8 million. In its first results announcement...

Delpharm sees management buy out.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Delpharm, a leading French contract drug manufacturing company, has been the subject of a management buy-out. Previously owned 75% by the Activa Capital investment fund, 5% by the Aguettant enterprise and 20% by management, Delpharm has now...

Stada's 1st-qtr 2007 sales increase 20%.(Stada Arzneimittel revenue report)(Financial report)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... German pharmaceutical group Stada Arzneimittel's first-quarter 2007 sales increased 20% on the like, year-ago period to 360.1 million euros ($484.3 million), boosted by a strong performance from its generics segment, which recorded income...

BTG's fiscal 2006 pretax profit rises to $5.1M.(revenue report)(Financial report)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... London, UK-based life sciences BTG says that, in the 12 months ended March 31, 2007, it achieved its second consecutive year of profit, as net income before tax reached L2.6 million ($5.1 million) versus L1.5 million in the like, year-ago...

Fake parallel trade drug hits UK, product recall.
June 4, 2007... The UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) has issued a recall for specific batches of the schizophrenia drug Zyprexa (olanzapine), which is manufactured by US drugmaker Eli Lilly. The announcement follows the...

Thai pharma growing but lacks clin research.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... The pharmaceutical industry is growing rapidly in Thailand but, at present, lacks clinical research companies to help domestic pharmaceutical, cosmetics, herbal or biotechnology companies to test their products on international guidelines to...

China sets biotech industry targets.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... The Council Office of the Chinese government has announced its first five-year plan covering the biotechnology industry, with the target of 500.0 billion renminbi ($65.2 billion) in 2010, and 2,000.0 billion renminbi by 2020. During the term of...

Australia may sell blood plasma abroad.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Australian donor plasma would be sold overseas for the first time under a controversial proposal from the head of the nation's blood service. At an international conference in Japan, Australian Red Cross Blood Service chief executive Robert...

Study: limitations of complex TB market.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, a not-for-profit, product development partnership accelerating the discovery and development of new tuberculosis drugs, has released results from the first comprehensive study of the dynamics of the...

US life science companies see progress with FDA, but challenges still exist.(food drug administration)
June 4, 2007... The USA's pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies report that the Food and Drug Administration has made progress with improved guidance, expectations and approvals, but the industry remains concerned about a number of...

Wyeth's Pristiq extends relapse time in MDD.(major depressive disorder )(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... US drug major Wyeth's serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor Pristiq (desvenlafaxine succinate) significantly extended time to relapse in major depressive disorder patients versus placebo. The study, data from which were presented at the...

Strong Ph III data for Organon's asenapine.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Dutch drugmaker Organon's bipolar I disorder and schizophrenia medicine asenapine was more effective than placebo in treating acute manic and mixed episodes associated with bipolar I disorder, according to new Phase III study data presented at...

Cymbalta improves SDS score in GAD patients.(generalized anxiety disorder)(Sheehan Disability Scale)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... US drug major Eli Lilly says that generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) patients on its antidepressant Cymbalta (duloxetine HCl) experienced improved ability to perform everyday activities at home, work and in social situations versus a sugar...

Aripiprazole cuts PANSS in adolescent schizophrenics.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... In a six-week study in adolescents with schizophrenia, aripiprazole, an atypical antipsychotic developed by Japan's Otsuka Pharmaceutical and USA-based Bristol-Myers Squibb, demonstrated significant improvement compared to placebo on the...

Straterra improves ADHD with co-morbid alcohol abuse.(Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Study data presented at the 2007 annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, in San Diego, showed that US drug major Eli Lilly's Strattera (atomoxetine HCl) improved symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in patients...

Vanda's iloperidone shows good akathisia profile.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... According to study data presented at the 2007 American Psychiatric Association annual meeting, in San Diego, USA-based Vanda's investigational atypical antipsychotic iloperidone has a favorable akathisia profile. Akathisia, which is a...

Less pain for depressives switched to duloxetine.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim says that the antidepressant duloxetine, which is currently sold as Cymbalta in the USA by development partner Eli Lilly (Marketletter March 5), was equally effective in reducing painful symptoms in...

Bifeprunox prolongs time to deterioration.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... The US subsidiary of Belgium's Solvay, US drugmaker Wyeth and Danish firm H Lundbeck AS presented strong data on their co-developed antipsychotic bifeprunox at the 2007 annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, in San Diego. New...

Novartis chief to lead UN antibioterror unit.(United Nations)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... The United Nations has announced plans to establish a dedicated department to confront the threat of bioterrorism with the appointment of Switzerland-based drug major Novartis' chief executive to head the project. Daniel Vasella, who has...

Drugs for military or police work condemned.(British Medical Association)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... The British Medical Association has issued a report into the use by governments of drugs, usually delivered by airborne means, for disabling people in hostage situations, for example. The UK-based physicians' association noted the use of an...

Wal-Mart proposes new Rx drug pricing model.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... The world's biggest retailer, the USA's Wal-Mart, is examining ideas for identifying savings from the annual $200.0 billion US prescription drug bill. For the past eight months, the firm has offered a limited number of generic drugs at a flat...

Nw drugs, obesity epidemic will drive US drug spending higher, says Medco.
June 4, 2007... In the USA, an epidemic of diabetes, along with more aggressive treatment, could result in a near 70% increase in spending on endocrine and diabetes therapies from 2007 through 2009, according to a study released today by Medco Health...

Unparalleled rise in Rx drug use by adolescent girls in the USA creating concerns of risks.
June 4, 2007... New research suggests that adolescent girls in the USA may be at increasing risk for several physical and psychological health problems. The analysis, by pharmacy benefits manager Medco Health Solutions, finds a significant rise in the number...

Neose gets milestone on Factor IX program.(Neose Technologies )(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Pennsylvania, USA-based Neose Technologies has received a milestone payment from Denmark's Novo Nordisk A/S under a license agreement entered into November 2003 for the use of the former's GlycoPEGylation technology to develop a next-generation...

Sunesis prices public offering.(Sunesis Pharmaceuticals Inc.)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Sunesis Pharmaceuticals has priced its public offering of 4,750,000 shares of common stock at $4.43 each. All of the shares are being offered by the South San Francisco, USA, company. The offering is expected to close on or about May 30,...

Nektar restructures, cutting 25% of jobs.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... US biopharmaceutical firm Nektar Therapeutics has put into place a new organizational structure and has significantly reduced its ongoing spending. These initiatives, which include a 25% reduction in jobs, will allow the company to accelerate...

CardioVasc Bio secures $15M financing.(CardioVascular BioTherapeutics )(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Las Vegas, USA-based CardioVascular BioTherapeutics has secured a $15.0 million private equity placement from the Swiss investment boutique FirmInvest AG, whose principals are longstanding shareholders of CVBT. The contract is for 15 million...

Gynzyme to buy Bioenvision - and co-developed clofarabine - in $345M deal.
June 4, 2007... Biotechnology major Genzyme Corp says it has reached to acquire fellow USA-based Bioenvision, in an all-cash transaction of $5.60 a share, or a total of around $345.0 million. This represents a premium of about 50% on Bioenvision's share price...

UK's NICE to adopt more transparency.(National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence )(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the UK advisory body which recommends medical treatments, including drugs, in England and Wales under the National Health Service, has announced that it will open its committees...

Fake parallel trade drugs hit UK, product recalls issued by the MHRA.
June 4, 2007... The UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) has issued a recall for specific batches of both the schizophrenia drug Zyprexa (olanzapine), which is manufactured by US drugmaker Eli Lilly, as well as the hypertension...

Bulgarian pharma market grows 18.5%.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Total sales by pharmaceuticals producers in Bulgaria reached 909.0 million lev ($626.9 million) last year - an increase of 18.5% on the previous year. The latest figures from the Bulgarian Drug Agency show that turnover worth 166.0 million lev...

"No drug support cuts" for France.
June 4, 2007... The newly-appointed French Health Minister, Roselyne Bachelot, has stated there will be no action to remove drugs from reimbursement support, despite a warning from the government's health spending watchdog, the CdA, on the growth in such...

France's CRLC to double capacity.(Centre for Research on Language Change)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... The French regional cancer center, CRLC, in Montpellier, is to double its research capacity in a project supported by the government and the regional authorities. Research staff will doubled to form 10 teams in five mixed units from both the...

EC clears B-MS' Orencia for RA.(European Commission)(Bristol-Myers Co.)(rheumatoid arthritis)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... The European Commission has granted approval of US drug major Bristol-Myers Squibb's Orencia (abatacept) for rheumatoid arthritis, a disease that may affect up to 4.5 million people in the European Union. The agent, which is the first and only...

Roche's Mircera gets nod from CHMP.(Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Swiss drug major Roche has received a positive opinion from the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommending that marketing authorization be granted for Mircera, its new long-acting chemically synthesized...

CHMP gives tentative OK to Ipsen/Tercica's Increlex.(Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... USA-based Tercica says that Europe's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has given tentative approval to Increlex (mecasermin) 10mg/ml solution for injection for the long-term treatment of growth failure in children and...

EMEA rejects MAA for Amgen's Vectibix.(European Medicines Agency)(marketing authorization applicatio)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... US biotechnology major Amgen has received notice from the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) that the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has rejected its marketing authorization application for Vectibix (panitumumab)...

Amgen urges rejection of TRC mini-tender.(TRC Capital Corp )(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... US biotechnology major Amgen has urged investors to exercise caution over an unsolicited mini-tender offer which is being made by TRC Capital Corp to purchase up to 1,500,000 shares of its common stock, representing less than 0.13% of Amgen's...

Mylan's fiscal 4th-qtr hit by Matrix Labs charges.(Mylan Laboratories Inc. revenue report)(Financial report)
June 4, 2007... US generic drugmaker Mylan Laboratories swung to a loss in its fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31, 2007, due to charges related to its $736.0 million purchase of outstanding shares in India's Matrix Labs (Marketletter September 4, 2006). On...

CV to save $75M via job and R&D cuts.(CV Therapeutics)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Palo Alto, California, USA-based CV Therapeutics is lowering its annual operating expense guidance by approximately $75.0 million, and now estimates that these costs for the next four quarters (third-quarter 2007 to second-quarter 2008) will...

Mission Pharmacal's Tindamax gets FDA OK.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... USA-based family-owned pharmaceutical company Mission Pharmacal says that the Food and Drug Administration has approved its anti-infective Tindamax (tinidazole) as a treatment for bacterial vaginosis. The agent, which is a second-generation...

MedImmune's FluMist sBLA makes progress.(supplemental Biologics License Application )(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... US cancer and infectious and inflammatory diseases specialist MedImmune says that the Food and Drug Administration has completed its review of documents relating to a supplemental Biologics License Application for its influenza vaccine,...

FDA cracks down on guaifenesin-TR sale.(Food and Drug Administration)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... In a statement issued on May 25, the US Food and Drug Administration says it has taken action to stop the sale of unapproved timed-release versions of the cough medicine guaifenesin. The agency said that it intends to bring legal action against...

Avicena to work with MGH on ALS-02 trial.(Massachusetts General Hospital)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... California, USA-based biotechnology company Avicena says that a recently-initiated trial of its drug candidate ALS-02, under development for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, will see it collaborate with researchers from the...

Allergy Thera in 40M-euro debt facility deal.(Allergy Therapeutics)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... UK Alternative Investment Market-listed Allergy Therapeutics, a specialist pharmaceutical company focused on allergy vaccination, has entered into a 40.0 million-euro ($53.8 million) debt facility with RBS. The secured debt facility has a...

Orphan status for Phoqus' Chronocort.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Phoqus Group, a UK oral drug delivery and development company, says that the European Commission has granted Orphan Medicinal Product designation to Chronocort for the treatment of adrenal insufficiency. This is the second indication for which...

FDA C'tee to review Tysabri for Crohn's.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Ireland-based Elan Corp and US firm Biogen Idec say that the Gastrointestinal Drugs Advisory Committee and Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee of the US Food and Drug Administration will jointly review their Tysabri...

Japan's Sosei initiates Ph I with SD118.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Japan-based Sosei Group says that its collaborative project SD118, which is under development for the treatment of neuropathic pain, has commenced Phase I clinical trials, in a single center in the UK involving some 40 subjects. SD118 is...

Antisoma unveils EGM resolutions and reports on AS404.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... UK-based cancer drug developer Antisoma says that decisions taken at a recent extraordinary general meeting, including granting the firm power to "disapply" pre-emption rights, have provided it with a solid platform for growth. The company...

Viventia's Vicinium impresses in bladder cancer trial.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Canadian privately-held biopharmaceutical company Viventia Biotech says that data from a dose-ranging trial of Vicinium, its antibody-based anticancer drug, indicates that it has impressive efficacy. Specifically, the firm reported that, in a...

VaxGen ends anthrax vaccine development.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... California, USA-based vaccines developer VaxGen says it has discontinued development of its recombinant anthrax vaccine and is laying off 20 employees, around 25% of its workforce. The move follows the Department of Health and Human Services...

Novagali's Vekacia gets FDA OD status.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... French opthalmic drug developer Novagali Pharma says that the US Food and Drug Administration has granted Vekacia, a cyclosporin-based agent, Orphan Drug designation for vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC). The drug received similar...

Japan stock market week to May 28, 2007.(Financial report)
June 4, 2007... Tokyo bounced back moderately in the week to May 28 following mixed movements. The Nikkei 225 edged 0.2% higher, to close at the 17,500 level, while the Topix index inched up 0.8%. The market was lacking new incentives and momentum because most...

Death sentence for China's SFDA chief signals govt intent against corruption.
June 4, 2007... The former Director of China's State Food and Drug Administration, Zheng Xiaoyu, has been sentenced to death by a Beijing court for "taking bribes and dereliction of duty," despite pleading guilty, according to the Xinhua government-controlled...

Drug prices "not cause" of Africa's health crisis.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... The problems of ensuring access to medical treatment in Africa is not solvable by existing methods, because of health care staff shortages, according to a study by the Medecins Sans Frontieres, an international aid group. The report...

Indena's new synthetic paclitaxel plant opens.
June 4, 2007... Italy's Indena, a developer and producer of active pharmaceutical ingredients derived from plants, has inaugurated a new facility which will produce paclitaxel by semisynthesis at its main factory in Settala, near Milan. Semisynthetic API...

Bradley gets CEO-led buy-out proposal.(Bradley Pharmaceuticals)(chief executive officers)(Bradley Pharmaceuticals )(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... US specialty drugmaker Bradley Pharmaceuticals says that its board of directors has received a proposal from a group of investors led by Daniel Glassman, founder, president and chief executive of the company and the holder of nearly all of its...

Pfizer to appeal Norway Lipitor ruling.(cases)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Norway's Borgarting Court of Appeal has ruled that US drugs giant Pfizer's patents covering intermediate compounds used to make its blockbuster cholesterol-lowerer Lipitor (atorvastatin) would not be infringed by the sale of a generic version...

Boeh Ingelheim amends Viramune license.(Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... German, privately-owned drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim says it has amended its voluntary licensing policy regarding the production of generic versions of its anti-HIV drug Viramune (nevirapine) in an effort to improve patient access. Currently,...

Indian generic pressure for Sanofi's Acomplia.(Sanofi-Aventis S.A.)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis' anti-obesity treatment Acomplia (rimonabant) has come under immediate competitive pressure. The drug, which does not have patent protection in India, already faces competition from several generic versions...

GSK: new data will support Avandia safety.(GlaxoSmithKline PLC)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Results linking UK-based drug major GSK's antidiabetic Avandia (rosiglitazone) to an increased risk of heart attack caused the firm's share price to drop 5.1% when this was first announced last month (Marketletter May 28). Additionally,...

Ranbaxy buys 13 B-MS dermatology drugs.(Ranbaxy Laboratories)(Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Ranbaxy Laboratories, India's largest drugmaker, has purchased 13 pharmaceutical brands from USA-based Bristol-Myers Squibb. The firm explained that it had taken the step to strengthen its position in the $10.0 billion US dermatology market,...

Gilead's CF drug positive in Ph III trial.(Gilead Sciences Inc.)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... California, USA-based biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences says that its developmental cystic fibrosis treatment, aztreonam lysine, has achieved primary efficacy goals in a Phase III study. Specifically, the drug, which is being used as a...

UK's NICE recommends Pfizer's Champix.(National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellences)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... US drug major Pfizer says that the UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellences (NICE), the body that determines which drugs are provided by the National Health Service in England and Wales, has recommended that its anti-smoking...

FDA OKs UCB/Sanofi's Xyzal for allergies.(Sanofi-Aventis S.A.)(Food and Drug Administration )(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Belgian drugmaker UCB and French pharmaceutical major Sanofi-Aventis say that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved Xyzal (levocetirizine dihydrochloride) for seasonal and perennial allergic rhinitis. The approval also covers the...

Protherics withdraws Voraxaze from EMEA.(European Medicines Agency )(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... UK-based biopharmaceutical company Protherics says it has formally notified the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) of the withdrawal of its Marketing Authorization Application for Voraxaze (glucarpidase), a developmental treatment for patients at...

Japan's leading CRO ups half-year sales 22.4%.(Financial report)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... CMIC, a leading Tokyo, Japan-based contract research organization, has forecast a its 13th year of continuous sales growth since its establishment in 1993, based on its financial results for the half-year ended on March 31, 2007. During...

Shanghai Century buys Kelun Pharmaceutical.(Shanghai Century Acquisition Corp acquired with Sichuan Kelun Pharmaceutical)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Shanghai Century Acquisition Corp has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of privately-held Sichuan Kelun Pharmaceutical, China's largest producer of intravenous solution products. As initial consideration for the...

Forthcoming meetings and conferences.(Calendar)
June 4, 2007... - Pharmaceutical Innovation - Possibilities and Limits of Personalized Medicine, a specialist conference organized by the German Federal Ministry of Health and the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM), Bonn, Germany, June...

Roche agrees technology transfers to two African firms.(Addis Pharmaceutical)(Varichem Pharmaceuticals )(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Swiss drug major Roche has announced the agreement of technology transfers with two local drugmakers in Africa: Addis Pharmaceutical Factory in Ethiopia and Varichem Pharmaceuticals in Zimbabwe. Under the firm's Technology Transfer Initiative,...

Chromax shows better absorption profile.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... US supplements giant Nutrition 21 says that a new human clinical study shows that its Chromax chromium picolinate product is significantly better absorbed by the body than other forms of chromium. The results of the study, conducted by Ohio...

Long-term weight loss with DSM's Fabuless.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... A recent clinical trial suggests that daily consumption of yogurt containing Dutch firm DSM's satiety ingredient Fabuless significantly aids weight maintenance after weight loss. The placebo-controlled, double-blind test aimed to investigate...

Folic acid supplement slows cognitive decline.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Research highlighted in the April edition of Nature Clinical Practice Endocrinology & Metabolism shows that low folic acid concentration in serum is a possible risk factor for age-related cognitive decline. Folic acid supplementation is...

Fish oils and vit D lower risk of AMD.(age-related macular degeneration)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... A diet rich in omega-3 oils or vitamin D supplements lowers the risk of age-related macular degeneration, according to data from two separate studies that both appear in the May 15 issue of the Archives of Opthalmology. In one study,...

Hispanics/African Americans most at risk from high Rx costs.
June 4, 2007... The high costs of prescription drugs has led many Hispanics and African Americans in the USA to take desperate measures, like delaying filling a prescription or skipping doses of the medicines, according to a new AARP national study of adults...

Headlines 25 years ago this week....
June 4, 2007... West German drug sales growth almost all from exports says the trade body the BPI, which notes that the value of production rose around 8% to 16.3 billion Deutschemarks ($7.3 billion at then exchange rates) and exports leapt 17.3% to 6.55...

UPDATE: Genzyme to pay $345M for clofarabine to co-development partner Bioenvision.
June 4, 2007... Massachusetts, USA-based biotechnology major Genzyme Corp says that it has reached agreement to acquire Bioenvision, headquartered in New York, in an all-cash transaction of $5.60 a share, or a total of around $345.0 million. This represents a...

Rexahn to initiate Ph II trial of Archexin.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... The USA's Rexahn Pharmaceuticals has received Food and Drug Administration approval to initiate a Phase II trial of its lead oncology drug, Archexin (RX-0201), in patients with renal cell carcinoma. Enrollment is expected to begin in the third...

Phynova initiates Ph IIa US trial of PYN17.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... UK-based Phynova , a developer of prescription pharmaceuticals derived from Chinese botanical medicines, has commenced a Phase IIa US trial with PYN17, its lead drug candidate for the relief of inflammation and other symptoms suffered by...

Advalytix developing safer prenatal diagnostic.(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Munich, Germany-based Advalytix AG and the Medical University of Graz in Austria are cooperating on novel prenatal diagnostic technologies. Together they are testing a new method for the genetic analysis of fetal cells from maternal blood. ...

BioInvent returns rights to HIV drug in pipeline realignment.(Thymon)(Brief article)
June 4, 2007... Lund, Sweden-based drugmaker BioInvent has decided to focus its pipeline on products for the treatment of cancer and vascular diseases and return rights to its candidate HIV drug, BI-201, to the originator, Thymon. In a press release, the...

Canada's Rx market rises 5.8%, amid concerns.
June 4, 2007... The Canadian Institute for Health Information states in its annual report that prescription drug spending in Canada grew about 6.9% in 2006, reaching C$21.1 billion ($19.53 billion). Despite a relative fall - drug spending rose by a yearly...