Roche's blockbuster cancer drug, Avastin, could lose its U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for use against breast cancer after an FDA panel recommended the withdrawal. Studies failed to show the drug extends breast-cancer patients' lives, panelists say.
Pharmaceutical sales representatives have been battered during the recession -- thousands were laid off by drugmakers hunting for ways to trim their budgets. But even if the economy recovers with a vengeance, don't expect pharmaceutical firms to go on a hiring binge.
A marijuana-based prescription drug for multiple sclerosis, Sativex, hit U.K. pharmacies Monday after winning regulator approval Friday. In light of the new approval, are arguments against medical marijuana half-baked?
An FDA panel unanimously ruled Friday that the side effects of Boehinger Ingelheim's much-anticipated sex pill for women outweigh its benefits. The search for female Viagra continues.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration rejected Boehringer Ingelheim's pink pill, flibanserin, which aims to boost women's sex drive.
Pharmaceutical giant Roche said Friday that it would delay an FDA filing for its new diabetes drug for 12 to 18 months due to safety concerns. The beneficiary of Roche's misfortune is rival Amylin, which now jumps ahead in the race to get first approval of a once-weekly injectable type 2 diabetes drug.
The stock of the world's largest drugmaker has been a laggard lately. But that could be soon changing if analysts who are pointing to a solid lineup of new products are right. They think the giant can easily offset the patent loss for Lipitor.
Now, Johnson & Johnson faces a congressional hearing on its recall of Tylenol products for infants and children next week, an expanded Federal Drug Administration probe and angry parents. But so far, shareholders seem unconcerned.
For several years now, Big Pharma has been cutting massive numbers of jobs, so the announcement Tuesday from Pfizer, the world's largest pharmaceutical firm, that it will lay off 6,000 more people as part of a manufacturing reorganization shouldn't surprise anyone.
Resveratrol, a substance found in red wine, could slow age-related disease and extend patients' life spans. But GlaxoSmithKline has suspended a trial of a resveratrol drug as a result of safety concerns.
Like other Big Pharmas, Merck has estimated how much the new law will crimp revenues. Unlike its peers, however, the damage here looks like it'll less. Merck has some advantages, including the Schering acquisition, that should help it thrive in the new era.
The pharmaceutical sector had it tough Thursday, falling amid poor earnings, a lost legal battle over cheap medicines and the specter of increasing competition from generic drugmakers as they lose patent protection on many blockbuster drugs.
If you could prevent cancer by taking a pill, would you? Probably. Should you? That's a matter of debate among doctors. Merck's Proscar and now GlaxoSmithKline's Avodart have been shown in studies to cut prostate cancers. But whether those studies are conclusive is the question.
A government investigator found the Food and Drug Administration lax in overseeing 80% of the U.S. food supply. While food safety violations aren't always followed up and the FDA conducts fewer reviews of food manufacturing sites, it seems its work overseeing drugmakers is busier than ever.
For years, Pfizer has been trying to prepare for 2011, when its cholesterol drug Lipitor -- the biggest-selling drug ever -- will lose patent protection. Now, the world's No. 1 drugmaker says it expects upcoming treatments for Alzheimer's, cancer and pain will help it make up for some of that soon-to-be-lost revenue.
The Golden State's legitimate growers and distributors fear that current pot profits could go up in smoke if voters approve a measure to legalize marijuana in November. A cannabis crash could further undermine the state's shaky economy.
GSK has made a new alliance to support its new strategy of targeting rare, serious diseases, while Sanofi-Aventis is revamping its plants for a fresh focus. Both are facing a revenue falloff when their drugs go off patent.
Are people who eat lots of junk food addicts? A new study provides evidence that some people who consume a lot of junk food experience cravings much like drug addicts do, require increasingly larger amounts of food to feel good, and have an even harder time quitting.
Health care reform will benefit millions of people, and many companies stand to gain as well. In particular, pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers will garner new business as they help cover newly insured Americans. And their profits should rise accordingly.
Two new books raise some deep questions about the American concept of mental health: One is a searing investigation of how we export, not just our drugs, but our idea of mental illness. The other is the upcoming revision of the psychiatric diagnostic manual, which proposed some very necessary changes to the standards of treatment.
An FDA advisory panel recommended approval of Bristol-Myers Squibb's belatacept, an experimental drug used in kidney transplants -- with at least one caveat. It recommended further long-term studies after a full FDA approval.
Consumers making assumptions about similarly named over-the-counter drugs with very different active ingredients have led the the FDA to issue a warning: Make sure you're grabbing the right Maalox.
Biotech stocks surprised in 2009 by surging. Equally surprising was the robust performance of the young and small-cap crowd of mostly development-stage companies, which trumped their large-cap brethren. That pattern could prevail again this year.
Company news that could affect stock prices today including: a Swiss court's decision that chief financial markets regulator broke the law when it ordered UBS AG to give the U.S. data about its clients, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries' withdrawal of its appeal of a U.S. court ruling that favored Merck and its patent on the asthma treatment Singulair.
