Novartis announced today that Prexige? (lumiracoxib), an oral selective COX-2 inhibitor anti-inflammatory drug, has been cleared for approval in the European Union as a new treatment option for patients suffering from osteoarthritis. This is the most common form of arthritis and a leading cause of chronic pain[2].
Novartis announced plans to build an integrated biomedical Research & Development center in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park that will become an integral part of the Group’s global research and development network.
GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) and Adolor Corporation (Nasdaq: ADLR) announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a letter stating that the new drug application (NDA) for Entereg (alvimopan 12mg) for the management of post operative ileus (POI) is approvable. The FDA has requested 12-month safety data, including analysis of serious cardiovascular events, from study 014 (767905/014), an ongoing safety study in opioid-induced bowel dysfunction (OBD). The FDA also requested a risk management plan as part of the submission.
Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc. (RPI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited (RLL), announced today that RLL has received tentative approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to manufacture and market Cetirizine Hydrochloride Syrup, 5 mg/5 mL. Total annual market sales for Cetirizine Hydrochloride Syrup were $146.3 million (IMS ? MAT: June 2006).
Bringing hope to hundreds of children in one of the countries hardest hit by HIV/AIDS, the Abbott Fund, Baylor College of Medicine and the Government of Malawi have joined forces to build the country’s first pediatric HIV clinic. The First Lady of Malawi, Madame Ethel Zvauya Mutharika and other dignitaries at Kamuzu Central Hospital officially opened the new clinic today in the city of Lilongwe.
Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Pfizer Inc today announced the formation of Balance It Out: Arkansas, a new school-based community program to reduce the number of children who are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight, effectively diminishing their risk of developing chronic illness. In December 2006, the program will begin in Little Rock, AR, with a health fair for state employees designed to increase awareness of health risk factors and steps to prevent disease. Beginning in early 2007, the program will reach children and their families in the Dollarway (Pine Bluff), Harrison and Paragould school districts.
Just a small fraction of patients who have a stroke receive the only drug — TPA — available to treat the condition. Now doctors and scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center have developed a potential new treatment that will reach a milestone in the next few months, when the experimental treatment is tested for the first time in people who have suffered a stroke or “brain attack.”
An important new study released finds that the tobacco companies’ youth prevention campaigns do nothing to reduce youth smoking rates and the industry?s parent-focused ads may actually increase intention to smoke among older teens. The findings, published in the latest edition of the American Journal of Public Health, are further evidence that Big Tobacco cannot be the source for kids when it comes to learning about the dangers associated with tobacco use.
Researchers have used a single compound to increase the lifespan of obese mice, and found that the drug reversed nearly all of the changes in gene expression patterns found in mice on high calorie diets–some of which are associated with diabetes, heart disease, and other significant diseases related to obesity. The research, led by investigators at Harvard Medical School and the National Institute on Aging, is the first time that the small molecule resveratrol has been shown to offer survival benefits in a mammal. The study is reported in the November 1 advanced online edition of Nature.
Merck & Co., Inc. announced that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has added Merck’s cervical cancer vaccine, GARDASIL? [Quadrivalent Human Papillomavirus (Types 6, 11, 16, 18) Recombinant Vaccine] to the CDC’s Vaccines for Children (VFC) contract for girls and women aged 9 to 18. GARDASIL was approved on June 8 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in girls and women ages 9 to 26 years. GARDASIL is the world’s first and only vaccine available for the prevention of HPV types 16- and 18-related cervical cancer, cervical pre-cancers (CIN 2/3 and AIS), vulvar pre-cancers (VIN 2/3) and vaginal pre-cancers (VaIN 2/3) and for the prevention of genital warts and low-grade cervical lesions (CIN 1) caused by HPV types 6, 11, 16 and 18.