News Features Case Studies Consultancy Profiles Listing Consultancy Search Who's Who New Accounts Practical Guides Essential Information Awards PMLive.com: Login About Communiqué Online Archive FREE Email Alerts Links PMLive.com Homepage About PMLive.com Apply for a free copy of our industry publications: Pharmaceutical Marketing Pharmaceutical Marketing Europe Communiqué The Directory of Advertising Agencies About Pharmaceutical Marketing Limited Communiqué Awards show that healthcare education is in safe hands 11-Jul-2008 At last night’s annual Communiqué Awards at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London, which recognise best practice in pharmaceutical PR and medical education, it was clear that both in-house and agency communicators are creating new and purposeful coalitions with healthcare professionals and patient groups, in a climate of change for health services. Read more... FDA gives Gilvec priority review status 28-Aug-2008 The US Food and Drug Administration has granted priority review status for Novartis’ Glivec Read more... GSK signs development agreement with Valeant 28-Aug-2008 GlaxoSmithKline has signed a new deal with Valeant Pharmaceuticals International in the US to develop investigational drug retigabine Read more... Merck hits out at controversial paper 27-Aug-2008 Merck has responded strongly to an article in the Annals of Internal Medicine criticising the company for allegedly disguising a marketing ploy Read more... NICE recommends sight-saving drug 27-Aug-2008 The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recommended Novartis and Genentech’s sight–saving drug Read more... NICE recommends statins for treatment of FH 27-Aug-2008 The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has recommended that high intensity statins be used in the treatment of patients with familial hypercholesterolaemia Read more... Calls for Hep B child vaccinations 26-Aug-2008 The ABPI, alongside the British Liver Trust and the Hepatitis B Foundation, is petitioning the government to vaccinate all children in Britain against hepatitis B, a disease 50 times more infectious than HIV Read more... Lilly's Cymbalta reduces low back pain 26-Aug-2008 Eli Lilly & Co has announced results from a new study that showed Cymbalta taken as a once-daily therapy significantly reduced chronic low back pain Read more... Boehringer extends Ablynx Alzheimer's collaboration 21-Aug-2008 Boehringer's collaboration with Ablynx to discover and develop new Alzheimer's therapies has been extended for a further year, after making strong progress Read more... Eli Lilly completes SGX acquisition 21-Aug-2008 Eli Lilly & Co has completed its acquisition of SGX Pharmaceuticals, a San Diego-based biotechnology company, following a special stockholder's meeting that saw the majority of SGX shareholders vote in favour of the merger deal Read more... FDA requests more data on J&J's Doribax 21-Aug-2008 The US FDA has requested more data on J&JPRD's Doribax before it can approve a new drug application for the product Read more... Diabetes care improving in the NHS 20-Aug-2008 The DH has published a new report saying diabetes care available on the NHS is improving and is in line with the government’s commitment to providing a preventative health service Read more... MS Society launches information library 20-Aug-2008 The UK-based MS Society has launched a new online information library, which provides global access to thousands of books, journals, papers and magazines about the condition Read more... New development deal between BMS and PDL BioPharma 20-Aug-2008 BMS has signed a new agreement for the global development and commercialisation of PDL BioPharma's anti–CS1 antibody, elotuzumab, a novel treatment for mutiple myeloma Read more... FDA issues Byetta warning 19-Aug-2008 The US Food and Drug Administration has received six reports of haemorrhagic or necrotising pancreatitis in patients taking Byetta Read more... Terry Pratchett criticises NICE 19-Aug-2008 Renowned fantasy author, Terry Pratchett, has criticised the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence for its decision to limit NHS patient access Read more... Vertex to begin trial into hep C drug 19-Aug-2008 Vertex Pharmaceuticals has been given approval by US and EU regulatory authorities to start the Realize trial into its hepatitis C virus... Read more... EMEA investigates Tysabri 18-Aug-2008 The European Medicines Agency is investigating two reports of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in patients taking the multiple sclerosis drug, Tysabri Read more... Rawlins slams pharma 18-Aug-2008 Professor Sir Michael Rawlins, chairman of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has attacked the pharmaceutical industry Read more... Roche sells four drugs to Meda 18-Aug-2008 Roche has signed a new agreement to sell four of its products to Swedish pharma company, Meda, for €120m.. Read more... Abbott to promote AZ’s Crestor in the US 14-Aug-2008 AstraZeneca has given Abbott Laboratories non-exclusive rights to promote Crestor in the US, excluding Puerto Rico. The financial details of the deal have not been disclosed. Read more... British scientists research new arthritis vaccine 14-Aug-2008 Scientists at Newcastle University are researching a potential new arthritis vaccine, which could suppress the effects of rheumatoid arthritis using patients’ own blood cells Read more... NICE recommends J&J’s Remicade 14-Aug-2008 The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued draft guidance recommending reimbursable NHS prescription Read more... FDA changes advisory committee policies 13-Aug-2008 The US Food and Drug Administration has announced changes to the way it handles its advisory committees Read more... Roche offer undervalues Genentech 13-Aug-2008 The special committee of the Board of Directors at US pharmaceutical company Genentech has unanimously concluded that acquisition offer of $43.7bn... Read more... Crucell posts 51 per cent rise in total revenue and operating income 12-Aug-2008 Dutch pharmaceutical company Crucell has posted total revenue and other operating income of €59.6m for the second quarter of 2008 Read more... Pfizer helps launch quit smoking campaign for fire fighters 12-Aug-2008 The International Association of Fire Fighters in the US has launched a new quit smoking campaign in collaboration with pharmaceutical company Pfizer Read more... FDA assigns priority review for Multaq 11-Aug-2008 The US Food and Drug Administration has assigned priority review status to a new drug application for sanofi-aventis’ Multag Read more... GPs fear drop in morale 11-Aug-2008 Half of UK physicians say that the new five-yearly revalidation process for doctors will belittle their profession and 65 per cent fear that it will cause a drop in morale Read more... Electronic clinical trials on the rise 07-Aug-2008 More and more companies are turning to electronic clinical trials to cut costs and improve inefficiencies, according to a new Datamonitor report Read more... NICE rejects kidney cancer drugs 07-Aug-2008 The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has decided not to recommend four advanced and metastatic kidney cancer drugs Read more... Antibiotic to be available without prescription 06-Aug-2008 The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has approved the first ever oral antibiotic to be made available without prescription for the treatment of chlamydia Read more... Pharmion pulls application for Orplatna 06-Aug-2008 Pharmion has withdrawn its marketing authorisation application for its cancer drug Orplatna. Read more... Web lags behind in search for OTC drug information 05-Aug-2008 Despite the rise of online blogs and digital communities, patients still turn to company-led information when researching OTC drugs, according to a survey by Millward Brown Read more... Boehringer Ingelheim's HIV-1 therapy is effective in children 04-Aug-2008 Data presented at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City shows that Aptivus is an effective and well-tolerated antiretroviral therapy for children Read more... Schering-Plough's sugammadex rejected by FDA 04-Aug-2008 The US FDA has issued a non-approvable letter for Schering-Plough's anaesthetic drug sugammadex (marketed as Bridion in the EU) despite its independent advisory panel backing the drug in March 2008 Read more... Tysabri safety fears 04-Aug-2008 Elan and its research partner Biogen have reported two cases of the brain infection PML in patients taking its multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri Read more... AZ reports rise in Q2 figures 31-Jul-2008 AstraZeneca has posted sales of $7.96bn for the second quarter of 2008, a rise of 2 per cent at constant exchange rates Read more... BMS offers $4.5bn for ImClone 31-Jul-2008 Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) has made an all-cash offer to buy ImClone Systems for $4.5bn or $60 per share Read more... FDA recommends approval of Roche arthritis drug 31-Jul-2008 The Arthritis Advisory Committee of the US Food and Drug Administration has by a near unanimous – 10 to one – vote recommended approval of Roche drug Actemra Read more... FDA approves generic version of Abbott drug 30-Jul-2008 The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the first generic version of Abbott Laboratories drug Depakote Read more... Is co-pay the answer? 30-Jul-2008 The key underlying principle of the NHS is to provide medical treatment according to clinical need and not ability to pay Read more... J&J files NDA for Bayer’s Rivaroxaban 30-Jul-2008 Bayer Healthcare’s cooperation partner, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development, has filed a new drug application Read more... Impotence drugs could help fight cancer 29-Jul-2008 Treatments for impotence could help chemotherapy drugs reach malignant brain tumours, according to researchers from the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute Read more... NICE recommends Pradaxa 29-Jul-2008 The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued a draft recommendation in favour of Boehringer Ingelheim’s Pradaxa Read more... Positive opinion for Bayer drug 28-Jul-2008 The European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has recommended the approval of rivaroxaban, an anticoagulant being developed and researched by Bayer Schering Pharma UK Read more... Ranbaxy launches generic version of AZ drug 28-Jul-2008 Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals in agreement with AstraZeneca (AZ) has launched a generic version of Prilosec in the US Read more... Sanofi Pasteur Holding to buy Acambis 28-Jul-2008 Sanofi Pasteur Holding, the parent company of sanofi-aventis’ vaccine division, Sanofi Pasteur, has agreed to buy British biotech firm, Acambis, for a total cash offer of £276m Read more... £3,000 fine for suspended pharmacist 28-Jul-2008 A suspended pharmacist from Worcester Park in Surrey has been fined £3,000 and given a £200,000 confiscation order by Kingston Crown Court Read more... Aclasta recommended for EU approval 25-Jul-2008 The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, the review arm of the European Medicines Agency, has recommended Novartis’ Aclasta Read more... GSK in R&D deal with Harvard 25-Jul-2008 GlaxoSmithKline has signed a five-year deal with Harvard University worth upwards of $25m Read more... Sanofi-aventis gets EC approval for Apidra 25-Jul-2008 The European Commission has approved sanofi-aventis drug, Apidra, for the control of hyperglycemia in adolescents and children over six-years old with type I diabetes Read more... Lilly posts rise in sales 24-Jul-2008 Eli Lilly & Co has posted sales of $5.15bn for the second quarter of 2008, an 11 per cent rise on figures for the same period in 2007, marking a strong start to the 2008/09 fiscal year Read more... MHRA launches review of legislation 24-Jul-2008 The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in the UK has launched a new project to review and consolidate current medicines legislation Read more... New strategic priorities for GSK 24-Jul-2008 The CEO of GlaxoSmithKline, Andrew Witty, has set out new strategic priorities that aim to increase the company’s growth Read more... Roche faces Genentech lawsuit 24-Jul-2008 A Genentech shareholder has filed a lawsuit over the proposed $43.7bn purchase offer from majority stakeholder Roche Holdings, claiming that the bid is inadequate Read more... GSK driving growth in emerging markets 23-Jul-2008 GlaxoSmithKline has entered into a transformational agreement with South African pharmaceutical company Read more... Pfizer posts a rise in revenues 23-Jul-2008 Pfizer has posted revenues of $12.1bn for the second quarter of 2008, an increase of 9 per cent on the $11.1bn in the same quarter in 2007 Read more... Shire launches ADHD drug 23-Jul-2008 Pharmaceutical company, Shire, has launched Vyvanse in the US for the treatment of adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Read more...