Hello, everyone, and how are you today? The middle of a busy week has now arrived, and you should congratulate yourself on making it this far. And why not? Just consider the alternatives. To celebrate, yes, we are downing a few cups of stimulation — French Vanilla is our flavor, for those keeping track — and, as always, we invite you to join us. Hope your day goes well and you are as productive as possible …
Michael Pearson, the outgoing Valeant Pharmaceuticals chief executive, will tell the Senate Special Committee on Aging Wednesday that “the company was too aggressive — and I, as its leader, was too aggressive — in pursuing price increases on certain drugs. In hindsight, I regret pursuing, transactions where a central premise was a planned increase in the prices of the medicines,” according to prepared remarks. Watch the hearing here at 3:30 p.m. EST.
The UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence agreed to recommend Entresto, the new Novartis heart failure drug, but its use is restricted to patients with moderate-to-severe symptoms and already taking hypertension medicines, Pharma Times tells us. The decision is a boost for Novartis, which did not have to offer a discount, because the drug maker is struggling to win acceptance for its drug in the US.
The number of patent litigation filings concerning generic drug applications submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration rose 80 percent between 2009 and 2015, according to the Lex Machina database. Sandoz, the generic unit of Novartis, was involved in more cases than any other drug maker. And the OxyContin painkiller sold by Purdue Pharma remains the most litigated trade name.
Doctors Without Borders plans to deliver a petition signed by 370,000 people to Pfizer headquarters in New York Wednesday to demand the drug maker lower the price of its Prevnar pneumococcal vaccine. To underscore its point, the nonprofit group also plans to place 2,500 flowers in an empty crib outside to illustrate the number of children who die of pneumonia each day.
Strides Shasun says its business will not be affected by a World Health Organization notice about issues with a contract research organization that was cited for data integrity issues, the Economic Times writes. The drug maker maintains that two tuberculosis medicines for which Semler conducted clinical trials have already been discontinued.
The FDA is evaluating the results of a Danish study that found a possible increased risk of miscarriage in people who used the Diflucan treatment for yeast infections, Regulatory Focus reports.
Novartis received three breakthrough therapy designations from the FDA for its Ilaris drug to treat rare types of periodic fever syndromes, according to Reuters.
The European Commission approved Eli Lilly’s Taltz as a new treatment for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis in adults, PM Live informs us.
A New York panel of pharmacists, physicians, and consumer representatives meets Wednesday to consider the cost and effectiveness of hepatitis C treatments for Medicaid patients, the Albany Business Review says.
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