News

FDA panel votes not to recommend dapagliflozin

Country
United States

A panel of the US Food and Drug and Administration voted narrowly not to recommend the approval of a first-in-class  therapy developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Astra-Zeneca Plc for diabetes.

Consort Medical leads investment in diagnostics company

Country
United Kingdom

Consort Medical Plc, a London Stock-Exchange listed medical device company, is leading a consortium of institutional investors who are committing up to £16.9 million over three years to a UK company with a point-of-care diagnostics platform.

BTG gives business update

Country
United Kingdom

The specialist UK healthcare company, BTG Plc, has reported progress in the development and commercialisation of its own and partnered programmes, including recent UK approval of its antidote for digoxin overdose.

Diversified portfolio boosts Novartis at Q2

Country
Switzerland

Novartis’s diversified healthcare portfolio underpinned group sales and profit in the 2011 second quarter with significant contributions made by sales of generic medicines, consumer health products and recently-acquired Alcon Inc.

Pfizer withdraws application for Macugen indication

Country
United States

Pfizer Ltd has withdrawn an application from the European Medicines Agency to extend the indication of its eye medicine, Macugen (pegaptanib sodium) to include the treatment of visual impairment due to diabetic macular oedema, the EMA said.

Roche buys diagnostics company

Country
Switzerland

The Roche group has agreed to pay €130 million upfront to acquire 100% of a Heidelberg-based company which is developing in vitro diagnostics for the early detection and diagnosis of cervical cancer. The company is Mtm Laboratories AG.

Convergence starts study of drug for pain

Country
United Kingdom

A recently created spin-out of GlaxoSmithKline Plc has started a Phase 2 study of a new small-molecule treatment for pain that acts against a sodium channel known as Nav1.7. The company is Convergence Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

New indication for Lialda approved in US

Country
United States

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new indication for the ulcerative colitis drug, Lialda (mesalamine), for the maintenance of remission in patients with the disease, according to the drug’s sponsor, Shire Plc.

Roche says combination therapy met primary endpoint

Country
Switzerland

A combination therapy of pertuzumab, trastuzumab and docetaxel for women with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer has met its primary endpoint of progression-free survival in a Phase 3 study, according to the trial’s sponsor, Roche.