Hello, everyone, and how are you today? The middle of the week has arrived, and this is cause for celebration. You made it this far, so why not? After all, consider the alternatives. So please join us as we down another delicious cup of stimulation — Cinnamon French Toast is a favorite this week. Remember, no prescription is required. Meanwhile, here are the tidbits. Have a lovely day and do drop us a line when something secret needs to exposed …
The pharmaceutical industry is campaigning hard against a Los Angeles County proposal to require drug makers to finance a take-back disposal program for unused medicines, the Los Angeles Times writes. The effort comes after the industry failed to overturn similar ordinances passed elsewhere in the state and as more local governments now look to companies to pay the cost of these programs.
A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended an Acadia Pharmaceuticals drug for psychosis related to Parkinson’s disease, Reuters reports. The panel voted 12-to-2 that the benefits of the drug, called Nuplazid, outweigh the risks, despite a lukewarm review by FDA medical staffers. Several panel members said the effectiveness was not as robust as they would have liked, but it was “certainly better than nothing.”
Valeant Pharmaceuticals is asking its lenders to extend a deadline for filing its annual 2015 financial statement to May 31 and to waive a default under its credit agreement. The drug company made a proposal that would restrict its ability to make certain acquisitions and other investments, and to pay dividends until its financial statements are filed and certain leverage ratios are met.
Many drugs that failed to make it to the market in the US and elsewhere are finding new life in China, where demand for new treatments is growing rapidly, the Wall Street Journal reports. But development of some medicines was halted by global drug makers, raising questions about whether China has become a “dumping ground” for inferior treatments thanks to differences in regulatory standards.
Ariad Pharmaceuticals is cutting 25 percent of its workforce, or 90 jobs, from its Cambridge, Mass., headquarters and offices in Lausanne, Switzerland, the Boston Globe reports.
The FDA declined to expand Brintellix, a drug from Lundbeck and Takeda Pharmaceuticals, for treating certain aspects of cognitive dysfunction in adults with major depressive disorder, STAT writes.
Sun Pharma, which is India’s largest drug maker, is buying 14 prescription brands from Novartis for $293 million, according to the Economic Times.
An Indian court refused to lift a pause on a government ban on hundreds of fixed-dose combination medicines until a hearing to review industry complaints is held, the Economic Times says.
Aclaris Therapeutics is buying Vixen Pharmaceuticals to gain access to an experimental drug being studied for male and female pattern baldness, the Philadelphia Business Journal tells us.
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