Pharma Industry Archive

Emory University, the institution at the center of a Congressional inquiry into undisclosed drug company payments to academics, has asked one of its professors to remove the Emory name from a blog he writes that is often critical of the pharmaceutical industry. J. Douglas Bremner, M.D., professor of psychiatry and radiology at Emory’s School of Medicine, wrote in a June 18 post: I have...

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ABC’s Good Morning America was ahead of the FDA in calling suspicion to Matrixx Initiatives’ Zicam, according to an inspection report. The FDA triggered a recall of Zicam in June. Matrixx said last week that six class-action suits had been filed alleging that its Zicam cold “remedy” can disable a person’s sense of smell, plus a another suit featuring 117...

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The FDA stopped two clinical trials run by Sepracor studying sleeping pill Lunesta in children. The July 4 weekend is traditionally one of those times when companies drop bad news into the media in the hopes that America will be too busy eating and drinking to notice. This year was no exception as Sepracor unveiled this release, which states that a trial of its new depression candidate failed...

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Could a patent infringement case filed against Pfizer just before the holiday help Elan CEO Kelly Martin in his negotiations with Wyeth over revenues from bapineuzamab, his Alzheimer’s drug? The commercialization of bapi will be “complicated,” Martin said, given Johnson & Johnson’s recent deal for a stake in them and Wyeth’s previous agreement on the same. The...

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New Jersey Supreme Court’s consolidation of cases regarding the antibiotic Levaquin into a mass tort in Atlantic County Superior Court at first looks like bad news for Johnson & Johnson. After all, Judge Carol Higbee’s courthouse-by-the-casinos is where Merck was eventually forced into a $4.85 billion settlement of its Vioxx cases. But there’s reason to believe that...

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Johnson & Johnson’s investment of $1 billion for an 18.34 percent stake in Elan raises more questions than answers. It promises to bring Elan’s Alzheimer’s candidate, bapineuzumab, to market but details of exactly how that will happen have yet to be revealed. On its face, the deal seems to provide some adult supervision — in the form of J&J — at Elan....

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For American employees of Sanofi-Aventis, the most interesting part of CEO Chris Viehbacher’s recent restructuring statement was a line buried near the end, which said: The research reorganization project will also concern preclinical activities in some sites of Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan where divestment or reconversion solutions will be sought for certain...

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Cephalon will ask the FDA to approve its sleep drug Nuvigil for “Eastbound” jet lag. Not Westbound. Eastbound, the company says. Why such a strange indication? Turns out Cephalon put 427 adults through what has to be the best clinical trial ever: They flew them from the East Coast of the U.S. to France for a drug-filled vacation observation. Regs chief Lesley Russell told...

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The editors of a medical journal backed off from a study they published suggesting Sanofi-Aventis‘ diabetes drug Lantus was linked to cancer. At the same time, it emerged that the doctor who warned of an “earthquake” on Lantus has done work endorsed or sponsored by Amylin and Eli Lilly, marketers of competing diabetes drug Byetta. UPDATE: Amylin and Lilly defended the doctor,...

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