J&J Slammed With $1 Billion Fine
Source In a huge blow to Johnson & Johnson, an Arkansas judge has fined the healthcare giant and its Janssen subisdiary more than $1.1 billion one day after a jury found the companies downplayed and hid risks – notably, diabetes and weight gain – associated with its Risperdal antipsychotic drug. The jury decided J&J engaged […]
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Israeli pharmaceutical giant Teva mulls halting development of brand drugs
Jeremy Levin, the incoming chief executive of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, has set up a team to reexamine the company’s pipeline of brand drugs under development. The team rethinking policy is headed by Dr. Medy Wiener, former head of medical research at Novartis Israel. It is being advised by the head of Teva Innovative Ventures, Dr. […]
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ViroPharma Loses Long Fight With FDA Over Antibiotic
Source: Pharmalot For the past several years, ViroPharma has battled the FDA over the standards that the agency can employ to permit generic versions of it Vancocin antibiotic, which is used to treat gastrointestinal infections. The latest – but maybe not the final – chapter ended yesterday when the FDA denied a ViroPharma citizen petition, […]
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Abbott Under Fire For Free Baby Formula Samples
Source: Pharmalot Once again, Abbott Laboratories is under microscope for marketing its infant formula to new moms. In the latest episode, some 100 consumer groups have written more than 2,600 US hospitals to say samples should not be included in discharge bags given to new mothers because the practice is “unethical and violates good public […]
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Abbott Reformulation a Bad Deal
Source: Pharmalot In 1998, Abbott Laboratories launched the TriCor cholesterol pill, which the drugmaker turned into a money-making machine thanks to an aggressive patent strategy involving numerous reformulations. Basically, Abbott retired one version of TriCor and replaced it with a modified version, which prevented generic substitution. The approach succeeded, even though a large study found […]
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Some AstraZeneca investors want CEO replaced
Some of AstraZeneca’s biggest investors are calling for a radical shake-up of the drugmaker’s board and executive team, including the replacement of David Brennan as CEO, the Financial Times reported on Monday. The move comes as Leif Johansson is set to be elected to the board as chairman-designate at the group’s annual general meeting on […]
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J&J Exec Leaves for Avon
Source: Pharmalot Having lost the horse race to succeed Bill Weldon as ceo at Johnson & Johnson, Sheri McCoy has resigned to become ceo at the Avon cosmetics marketer. The move comes two months after the J&J board chose Alex Gorsky over McCoy, 53, who was a member of the executive committee and held a […]
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FDA chief wants more inspectors at Savannah port
The Food and Drug Administration’s top official said Monday she wants more inspectors at the booming Port of Savannah GA, where the agency keeps a lookout for safety hazards ranging from spoiled fish to counterfeit drugs. FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said her agency has only four inspectors in Savannah and that “we’re hoping to double […]
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FDA will take 3 more months to review diet pill
Drugmaker Vivus Inc. said Monday that regulators will take another three months to make a decision on its closely-watched obesity drug Qnexa, which could become the first new prescription weight loss pill to reach the market in more than a decade. Vivus said the Food and Drug Administration pushed back its target date to July […]
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FDA Disbars Four Able Lab Employees
Seven years ago, a little-known generic drugmaker landed on the national radar screen in a big way. Able Laboratories was cited by the FDA for all sorts of serious problems that resulted in one of the largest product recalls ever, and the implications were widespread since the drugmaker made billions of tablets and capsules for […]
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