Good morning, everyone, and nice to see you again. We apologize for our absence Monday, but personal matters intruded. Life does that sometimes, yes? Nonetheless, we are back now and as busy as ever, quaffing cups of stimulation and foraging for interesting items. No doubt, you can relate to the need to maintain the pace. Toward that end, here are some tidbits. Hope you have a smashing day and do stay in touch …
The move by Valeant Pharmaceuticals to single out two former top executives — including chief financial officer Howard Schiller — over its accounting problems may be a bid to win leniency from government agencies investigating the drug maker, Reuters tells us. Schiller and the corporate comptroller allegedly provided incorrect information to the board. But Schiller denied any “improper conduct” and has refused to resign from the board.
Several HIV organizations in the UK are angry that the National Health Service is declining to make the PrEP prevention treatment widely available, BuzzFeed reports. The NHS England, which will provide nearly $3 million over the next two years, maintains it is not responsible for commissioning HIV prevention services, although NHS England does fund other sexual health prevention medication, such as the oral contraceptive pill.
Almost 40 percent of Indian doctors surveyed disagree with a government ban placed on 344 fixed dose combination drugs due to safety concerns, DNA India reports. Meanwhile, an Indian court will resume a hearing in which more than two dozen drug makers have appealed the ban, which extends to some popular cough syrups, according to the Economic Times. The country’s regulator, meanwhile, is reviewing another 619 medicines, PharmaBiz says.
Several drug makers are in the later stages of testing a new class of migraine drugs, the Wall Street Journal reports. The therapies target a chemical known as CGRP that researchers have discovered is involved in the pain-signaling process that occurs in the brain during migraines. “A new era seems to be emerging,” David Dodick, who heads the migraine program at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona and chairs the American Migraine Foundation, tells the paper.
Johnson & Johnson is accelerating a project to learn how to predict who will develop certain diseases and find therapies to prevent or stop the illnesses early, the Associated Press writes. One project would identify which pregnant women will develop gestational diabetes. The other is being designed to identify and treat people at risk of or in early stages of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
A federal judge ruled that Bristol-Myers Squibb can proceed with a patent infringement lawsuit against Merck over its Keytruda cancer treatment, the Legal Intelligencer writes.
Sanofi, which is France’s biggest drug maker, denied plans to move its headquarters from central Paris to a suburb as part of a cost-cutting reorganization, Bloomberg News tells us.
The Chinese government plans to crack down on the black market for medicines after discovering that resellers may be marketing about $88 million in illegal vaccines, according to Reuters.
The UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence had a change of heart and is now recommending Johnson & Johnson’s Zytiga for treating advanced prostate cancer, Reuters writes.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals’s bankers are approaching the company’s lenders to determine what they would want in return for waiving a default caused by a delayed earnings filing, Bloomberg News reports.
The World Health Organization suspended authorization of Svizera Labs tuberculosis treatments made in Mumbai after finding problems with production standards and quality control, Reuters says.
Bernie Sanders wants the US Treasury Department to impose new tax rules that could be used to halt Pfizer’s proposed merger with Allergan, the Wall Street Journal reports.
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