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Here's a roundup of some of Wednesday's major pharmaceutical news: An FDA panel gave Human Genome Sciences a boost with a thumbs-up for its lupus drug, Benlysta; Merck's experimental heart drug appears to work well without side effects; and Novartis announced its plans for long-term growth.
GlaxoSmithKline Plc agreed to pay $750 million to settle charges that the drug making giant sold contaminated anti-nausea medication and baby ointment made at a now-closed Cidra plant in Puerto Rico.
Tiny biotech Clinical Data has developed a potential blockbuster called Vilazodone. If OK'd, it would be the first new depression treatment in 15 years. Its potential is so huge that several Big Pharmas may be looking to buy the startup.
Shares of pharmaceutical companies Amylin, Alkermes, and Eli Lilly -- partners in a new diabetes drug Bydureon -- have tanked in morning trading as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declined on Tuesday to approve the drug without additional clinical studies.
Federal investigators are looking into allegations that major drug companies, including Merck, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb and GlaxoSmithKline, paid bribes overseas to boost sales and accelerate approvals.
GlaxoSmithKline's Avandia diabetes drug got hit with a double whammy from regulators on both sides of the pond Thursday. The European Medicines Agency announced plans to yank the drug from the market in the coming months, while U.S. officials placed greater restrictions on its use.
Shares of Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis were up about 1.5% in morning trading Monday following its announcement over the weekend that its Onbrez Breezhaler was found to be more effective at treating lung disease than a standard medicine from GlaxoSmithKline.
Pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis is unwilling to pay more than $70 a share in its bid to buy biotech firm Genzyme, media outlets reported Wednesday. If a deal can't be reached, the French drugmaker may consider alternative takeover targets.
Scientists say NDM-1, a new superbug from India that makes bacteria resistant to antibiotics, could spread around the world, aided in part by medical tourism. Meanwhile, MRSA infections, which are antibiotic resistant, have fallen in the U.S.
Though the threat of H1N1 infection remains, the World Health Organization has declared an end to the Swine Flu pandemic, citing "pure good luck" to explain why the disease wasn't as lethal as feared.
Drug-resistant bacteria has become a pressing public health problem, exacting a rising human and financial toll. GlaxoSmithKline announced that it has found a compound that could help attack such 'superbugs'.
Rumors are that Sanofi has proposed to buy Genzyme for $70 a share. But analysts believe the likes of Pfizer and the U.K. 's GlaxoSmithKline could be interested as well.
In a case that tested the boundaries of the Supreme Court's recent expansion of Second Amendment gun rights, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that some limits still apply: A federal law banning the possession of a gun with an obliterated serial number is constitutional, the court said.
