The latest in Biotechnology Sector

Carl Icahn's largest positions

2010-03-20T19:15:21Z

<div id="subtitle">Includes BIIB, GENZ</div><div><p>Legendary activist investor, Carl Icahn, has made some big bets in the biotechnology sector. Two of his largest holdings are Genzyme (NASDAQ: GENZ) and Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB). Icahn's position in GENZ is worth around $235 million. His...

FDA warns of greater muscle risk from Zocor

2010-03-19T10:00:10Z

<div><p>The Food and Drug Administration said Friday the highest available dose of Zocor, a component in cholesterol drugs, can cause muscle damage as well as severe and potentially lethal kidney damage.</p><p>The agency said statin drugs like Zocor are known to cause muscle damage in some patients, but the risk is more severe when patients are...

Will a fresh look at pain overcome drug barriers?

2010-03-19T08:30:26Z

<div><p>LONDON (Reuters) - Barriers to understanding pain are starting to fall and scientists and drug firms say a fresh approach is producing potential new drugs to hit where it hurts.</p><p>Millions of people across the world suffer chronic pain -- such as nerve, joint or muscle pain that lasts weeks, months or years -- and many fail to get adequate relief, partly because doctors have a relatively scant g...

Many Avandia defenders have drug co. ties: study

2010-03-18T17:30:44Z

<div><p>CHICAGO (Reuters) - Virtually all of the experts who wrote favorably about GlaxoSmithKline Plc's troubled diabetes drug Avandia had financial ties to drug makers, a finding that shows the need for reform of such relationships, U.S. researchers said on ...

New collaboration aims to speed TB drugs to market

2010-03-18T15:30:34Z

<div><p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators, drug companies, philanthropists and advocates announced a new alliance on Thursday to speed tuberculosis drugs to market, a day after cancer researchers and drugmakers launched a similar initiative.</p><p>The U.S. Food a...

AstraZeneca wins 1st trial over alleged drug harm

2010-03-18T11:45:22Z

<div><p>AstraZeneca PLC's blockbuster psychiatric drug Seroquel did not trigger diabetes in a Vietnam veteran, a jury ruled Thursday in the first trial out of thousands of cases alleging the powerful drug caused diabetes.</p><p>The British drugmaker said a jury in Reuters) - Novartis AG and Astellas Pharma eczema drugs may need their warning labels expanded after dozens of new reported cases of cancer and infection in children, U.S. Food and Drug Admini...

Pfizer drug filings on track despite setbacks

2010-03-18T09:45:40Z

<div><p>LONDON (Reuters) - It's been a bad month for Pfizer's <PFE.N> research labs but its head of R&D says the world's biggest drugmaker is on track to hit earlier targets for new drug filings despite the setbacks.</p><p>"We have had some disappointments, there is no getting away from it," Reuters) - AstraZeneca Plc <AZN.L> won a U.S. court battle on Thursday over product liability claims for its blockbuster Seroquel schizophrenia treatment, the first such case to go to trial.</p><p>Thousands of plaintiffs have filed lawsuits claiming that Se...

AstraZeneca Seroquel Trial

2010-03-18T09:00:53Z

In this undated product image released by AstraZaneca, Seroquel tablets are shown. AstraZeneca on Thursday, March 18, 2010 said a jury in Middlesex County Superior Court in New Jersey ruled in favor of the British drugmaker in the first trial brought by a patient allegi...

Teva to buy German generic drug maker Ratiopharm

2010-03-18T08:00:18Z

<div><p>Israeli drug maker Teva has beaten out rivals Pfizer and Actavis to acquire German generic drug maker Ratiopharm GmbH — in a deal announced Thursday worth some euro3.6 billion, or nearly $5 billion.</p><p>Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.'s success...

Israel's Teva buys German drug firm for $4.9-bln

2010-03-18T06:15:49Z

<div><p>Israeli pharma giant Teva said on Thursday it had signed a deal to buy Ratiopharm, Germany's second largest generic drugs producer, for 3.6 billion euros (4.9 billion dollars).</p><p>"The acquisition will position Teva as the leading generic pharmaceutical company in Europe," the Ratiopharm] on a building of the headquarters in Ulm, southern Germany. Israeli drug maker Teva said Thursday, March 18, 2010 it has beat out other rivals to acquire German generic drug maker Ratiopharm GmbH in a deal worth euro 3.6 billion (US$4.95 billion). Reuters) - A Senate Democrat asked top drugmakers on Wednesday to explain why Americans pay higher prices for prescription drugs than patients do in other developed nations.</p><p>Senator Herb Kohl, who chairs the Special Committee on Aging, sent letters t...

Theravance plans to sell 7.5M shares of stock

2010-03-17T16:15:11Z

<div id="subtitle">Theravance says it will sell new stock to raise money for drug research or other purposes</div><div><p>Drug developer Theravance Inc. said Wednesday it will sell 7.5 million shares of stock to raise money for general corporate purposes.</p><p>Theravance said the underwriters of the offering will have the option to buy another 1.1 million shares. The joint book-running managers of ...

Prescription-drug heists on the rise

2010-03-17T14:30:19Z

<div><p>The $75 million heist at a pharmaceutical warehouse in Connecticut this week was just the most audacious example of a growing phenomenon: Thieves are stealing large quantities of prescription drugs for resale on the black market.</p><p>Pharmaceutical heists in the U.S. have quadrupled since 2006, a coalition of industry and law enforcement estimates. And...

Teva and Merck agree on generic Temodar launch

2010-03-17T12:17:05Z

<div id="subtitle">Teva to launch generic version of cancer drug this year if court finds patent unenforceable</div><div><p>Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. said Wednesday it agreed to hold off on launching a generic version of Merck & Co.'s cancer drug Temodar until a federal appeals court weighs in on the drug's p...

Three-way Ratiopharm auction comes to head: sources

2010-03-17T06:45:08Z

<div><p>FRANKFURT/COLOGNE (Reuters) - The tussle over German generic drugs maker Ratiopharm is drawing to a close as the three remaining contenders square off in the final round of bidding, sources close to the deal told Reuters on Wednesday.</p><p>

Judge allows genetically engineered beet harvest

2010-03-16T17:45:27Z

<div id="subtitle">Calif. judge allows genetically engineered beet harvest; amounts to half nation's sugar supply</div><div><p>A federal judge on Tuesday said farmers can harvest their genetically engineered sugar beets this year, ruling the economic impact too great and that environmental groups waited too long to request that the crop be yanked from the ground and otherwise barred from the market.</p><p>Nea...

Clarification: Amylin FDA info request story

2010-03-16T13:31:00Z

<div id="subtitle">Clarification: Amylin FDA information request story</div><div><p>In a story March 15, The Associated Press reported that Bydureon is the proposed trade name of exenatide, a diabetes treatment being developed by Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc.,