Top of the morning to you, and a fine, but cold one, it is. Here in chilly New England, where we have briefly parked ourselves, we are going about the usual routine, although we do miss our short person and the official mascots. To compensate, we are quaffing our mandatory cups of stimulation. Our flavor today is Golden French Toast for those keeping track. Quite nice, actually. Of course, we have not forgotten the tidbits. Hope these are helpful and you have a delightful day. And as always, do drop us a line if you run across anything fascinating. Have a good one …
Imprimis Pharmaceuticals will make a cheaper, compounded version of Thiola, a kidney stone pill sold by Retrophin, which used to be run by Martin Shkreli, The Economic Times says. Under Shkreli, Retrophin raised the price from $1.50 to $30 per tablet after buying the rights in 2014. Imprimis is also selling a compounded version of a drug that Turing Pharmaceuticals, also once headed by Shkreli, bought and then raised the price from by 5,000 percent.
Walgreens has given Theranos a 30-day deadline to resolve several major infractions that violate federal law governing clinical laboratories, The Wall Street Journal tells us. The move is a crucial test for Theranos, because Walgreens had opened 40 so-called wellness centers for Theranos at its stores in Arizona, and these are the primary source of revenue for the troubled blood-testing company.
An analysis of US Food and Drug Administration inspection reports of Chinese manufacturing plants found many of the same issues that appear in inspections of facilities in India, Regulatory Focus informs us. Overall, more than 80 such reports were issued to Chinese companies last year following 132 inspections, which was just 15 more than the number conducted in 2014, but up significantly from 19 FDA inspections conducted in 2007.
The UK’s Review on Antimicrobial Resistance issued a new report recommending several steps to stimulate vaccine development. The report, which was overseen by Jim O’Neill, commercial secretary to the UK Treasury and a former Goldman Sachs chief economist, suggests using existing products more widely in humans and animals, renewing impetus for early research and sustaining a viable market for needed products.
Mylan agreed to pay $7.2 billion in cash and stock to buy Meda, a Swedish company that the generic drug maker attempted to purchase in 2014, The Wall Street Journal writes.
AstraZeneca wants to increase sales in Africa by almost 10 percent annually as the drug maker hopes to capitalize on efforts by governments to improve their health-care systems, Bloomberg News reports.
The European Medicines Agency accepted an application from Sandoz to sell a biosimilar version of Amgen’s Neulasta, which fights infections in cancer patients, Reuters writes.
CTI BioPharma stock sank after it withdrew an application for an experimental blood-cancer drug because patients in a clinical trial were dying, Investor’s Business Daily reports.
An Indian court rejected a petition by a union representing Sun Pharmaceutical workers who objected to the transfer of sales reps following the purchase of Ranbaxy Laboratories, The Economic Times says.
GlaxoSmithKline’s Philippines unit voluntarily recalled more than 30 batches of an antibiotic cream as a precautionary measure against potential contamination of paint chips, glass particles, and rust, The Inquirer writes.
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