Author: Claire Bowie

Pfizer’s HIV medicine Selzentry (maraviroc) could significantly expand its market today to include treatment-naïve patients, if a US Food and Drug Administration panel takes heed of briefing documents posted on the agency’s website ahead of the meeting.

The pharmaceutical industry faces an ethical dilemma when it conducts trials on its own drugs, Dr Jeffrey Drazen Editor in Chief of the New England Journal of Medicine and Dr Fiona Godlee, Editor in Chief of British Medical Journal, will argue in the world famous debating chamber at Oxford Union this month alongside Guardian Bad Science columnist Ben Goldacre.

The much anticipated approval of Wyeth’s new version of its blockbuster childhood vaccine Prevnar has been delayed by three months after the US Food and Drug Administration sought more time to review the data.

Denmark’s Lundbeck A/S has bucked the recession and posted second quarter revenue up 18% at constant exchange rates to 3.4 billion kroner as key drugs Cipralex (escitalopram; up 12% to 1.3 billion), Ebixa (memantine; up 18% to 539 million) and Azilect (rasagiline; up 43% to 88 million) all witnessed double-digit growth, and says it maintains its financial guidance for the full year.

AstraZeneca and Forest Laboratories have hooked up to develop and market a new antibiotic – ceftaroline – in all markets outside of the USA, Canada and Japan. The deal for Forest’s late-stage cephalosporin “complements our existing antibiotic Merrem and our significant investment in antibiotic research, as well as agents in development such as CytoFab,” says AZ CEO David Brennan.