Pharma Roundup: Glaxo, Cardio R&D, and Dynavax; Abbott, Ibis, and Isis; and More

GlaxoSmithKline bets on cardiovascular research, Dynavax partnership — Big strategic moves this week at GSK. The drug maker has launched a three year, 15,000 patient clinical trial for darapladib, which it hopes will stop the plaque that clogs arteries. The trial will be expensive, but analysts at UBS say the drug could bring in upwards of $7 billion annually. Meanwhile, GSK has spent $810 million to acquire commercialization rights to several drugs at Dynavax, a Berkeley, Calif.-based specialist in “novel inhibitors of endosomal toll-like receptors.” [Source: Pharmalot, PharmaTimes]

Abbott spends $215 million for Ibis — Ibis, a unit of Isis, and perhaps the subsidiary with the most gratingly similar name to its parent in the entire world (seriously, whose idea was that?), is now a part of Abbott, which hopes the new acquisition will boost its presence in molecular diagnostics. [Source: Reuters, via Corey Nahman]

Did AstraZeneca influence this year’s Nobel Prize in medicine? — Swedish anti-trust regulators think it’s worth checking out, at least. Two Nobel committee members have ties to AstraZeneca, and the winning research this year centered around the link between HPV and cervical cancer — AZ reportedly owns several patents for HPV treatments. [Source: PharmaGossip]

Too bizarre to miss — Emory University professor Charles Nemeroff, whose undisclosed payments from GlaxoSmithKline have placed him under ethical scrutiny, once wrote himself a letter — complete with the absurd salutation “Dear Me” — promising to pay himself $3,000 to write an article celebrating a Wyeth product. What? See the letter after the jump. [Source: WSJ Health Blog and Pharmalot]