Here’s a trivia question: Where were the big ideas for the field of biotechnology first discussed? Answer: At a since-demolished delicatessen in Waikiki Beach, Hawaii. Go figure. The year was 1972, and Stanley Cohen, MD, professor of medicine at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., and Herbert Boyer, PhD, a former professor and biochemist at the…
PARIS (Reuters)—Sanofi announced plans to invest 600 million euros ($673 million) annually over the next two to three years in the field of biologics production, an area of strong growth potential. In contrast to most drugs that are chemically synthesized, many biologics are produced using living cells. They are seen as a promising answer in…
(Reuters)—A synthetic version of a medicine traditionally extracted from chili plant relieved knee pain among osteoarthritis patients for up to six months, data showed, bringing Centrexion Therapeutics a step closer to developing a safe and effective analgesic. The drug, designed to be injected at the site of pain, is being developed by the privately-held company…
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday cut the time it will take for copycat versions of biologic drugs to get to the market in a pivotal ruling about an expensive class of medicines that can yield billions of dollars in sales for drug companies. The justices, in a 9–0 ruling, overturned a lower court…
(Reuters)—The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday it has asked Endo International to withdraw from the market its long-lasting opioid painkiller Opana ER, sending the company’s shares down as much as 13%. “After careful consideration, the agency is seeking removal based on its concern that the benefits of the drug may no longer…
Due to possible heart-related side effects, romosozumab is no longer expected to be approved this year for the treatment of osteoporosis…
BOSTON (Reuters)—A growing number of U.S. states, counties and cities are filing lawsuits accusing drug companies of deceptively marketing opioid painkillers to downplay their addictiveness, but some lawyers say the industry’s highly regulated nature could pose a hurdle to their success. Ohio on Wednesday became the latest, and largest, state or local government to bring…
(Reuters)—Pfizer Inc. has hiked the price of nearly a hundred drugs by an average of 20 percent so far this year in the U.S., the Financial Times reported on Friday. The U.S. drug maker raised the list price of 91 medicines—including that of its erectile dysfunction treatment, Viagra, and its pain drug, Lyrica—on June 1…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—The selective interleukin-17A inhibitor ixekizumab improved signs and symptoms of active psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in patients who had failed prior biologic therapy in the phase 3 SPIRIT-P2 trial. The SPIRIT-P2 trial joins the earlier phase 3 SPIRIT-P1 trial, which showed that ixekizumab was safe and effective in PsA patients not previously treated…
NSAIDs Increase Myocardial Infarction Risk According a recent meta-analysis of real-world non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use, NSAIDs may increase the risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The analysis used individual patient data meta-analysis of studies from healthcare databases in Canada, Finland and the U.K. to determine the time course for risk of AMI, as well…