Rise and shine, everyone, another busy day is on the way. And we are no exception as we take our regular sojourn to the STAT offices far from the Pharmalot campus. This calls for a few cups of stimulation, which we will have to procure from sources other than our trusty coffee kettle. While we forage, you may enjoy some of items of interest we have assembled below. Hope you conquer the world today and, of course, keep us in mind when you hear something fascinating …
Valeant Pharmaceuticals is trying to find a buyer for Paragon Vision Services, a contact lens manufacturing unit, amid scrutiny from the US Federal Trade Commission, Reuters reports. The FTC is looking at whether purchasing Paragon gave Valeant monopoly control over the market for rigid contact lenses. Valeant purchased Paragon last May and acquired Bausch & Lomb in 2013.
Meanwhile, Valeant Pharmaceuticals is chafing from the withering attacks on its business practices over the past several weeks, according to The Wall Street Journal. “We are being attacked by everyone. We have few friends to defend ourselves,” Theo Melas-Kyriazi, a Valeant director since 2005, tells the paper.
Men taking drugs to block testosterone to treat prostate cancer have nearly twice the risk of developing Alzheimer’s as men using other treatments, writes The Wall Street Journal. A study identified 16,888 patients with non-metastatic prostate cancer between 1994 and 2013. Nearly 2,400 were treated with anti-androgen drugs and had an 88 percent higher risk of an Alzheimer’s diagnosis than those who did not take the drugs.
The FDA approved a chewable tablet containing extended-release methylphenidate, which is the key ingredient in Ritalin, for treating ADHD in children six years and older, MedPage Today informs us.
AstraZeneca plans to use a mobile app to gather information about side effects in three clinical trials studying a treatment for ovarian cancer, Medical Marketing & Media says.
TherapeuticsMD stock jumped after the drug maker said a trial of a hormonal treatment to reduce vaginal pain during intercourse was successful, Bloomberg News writes.
Drug makers asked the FDA to further explain the intended use of quality metrics data to be collected after the agency issued draft guidance this summer, Regulatory Focus reports.
Roche signed a development deal that could be worth more than $500 million with SQZ Biotech, which developed a chip for helping the body’s immune system to fight disease, The Boston Business Journal tells us.
Hetero became the first company in India to receive approval to market a generic version of Gilead Sciences’s Harvoni hepatitis C treatment under a non-exclusive licensing agreement, The Economic Times writes.
A meta-analysis that compared the safety and efficacy of once-weekly GLP-1RAs treatments for type 2 diabetes failed to find a clear winner, MedPage Today says.
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